英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

daydream (n.)[daydream 词源字典]: 1680s, from day + dream (n.). As a verb, attested from 1820. Related: Daydreamer; daydreaming.[daydream etymology, daydream origin, 英语词源]
daylight (n.): c. 1300 (as two words from mid-12c., daies liht), from day + light (n.); its figurative sense of "clearly visible open space between two things" (1820) has been used in references to boats in a race, U.S. football running backs avoiding opposing tackles, a rider and a saddle, and the rim of a glass and the surface of the liquor. The (living) daylights that you beat out of someone were originally slang for "the eyes" (1752), extended figuratively to the vital senses.
daylong (adj.): Old English dæglang; see day + long (adj.).
daytime (n.): 1530s, from day + time (n.).
daze (v.): early 14c., dasen, perhaps from Old Norse *dasa (compare dasask "to become weary," with reflexive suffix -sk). Or perhaps from Middle Dutch dasen "act silly." Perhaps originally "to make weary with cold," which is the sense of Icelandic dasask (from the Old Norse word). Related: Dazed.
daze (n.): "a dazed condition," 1825, from daze (v.).
dazzle (v.): late 15c., frequentative of Middle English dasen (see daze (v.)). Originally intransitive; the transitive sense is from 1530s. Related: Dazzled; dazzling.
de: Latin adverb and preposition of separation in space, meaning "down from, off, away from," and figuratively "concerning, by reason of, according to;" from PIE demonstrative stem *de- (see to).
de facto: Latin, literally "in fact, in reality," thus, "existing, but not necessarily legally ordained;" from facto, ablative of factum "deed, act" (see fact).
de jure: Latin, literally "of law," thus "legitimate, lawful, by right of law, required by law." Jure is ablative of ius (see just (adj.)).
de minimis: Latin, literally "of little things," thus, "so minor as to not be worth regarding."
de novo: Latin, literally "anew, afresh."
de profundis: the 130th Psalm, so called for its opening words, Latin, literally "out of the depths."
de rigueur: 1849, French, literally "of strictness," thus "according to obligation of convention." See rigor.
de-: active word-forming element in English and in many words inherited from French and Latin, from Latin de "down, down from, from, off; concerning" (see de), also used as a prefix in Latin usually meaning "down, off, away, from among, down from," but also "down to the bottom, totally" hence "completely" (intensive or completive), which is its sense in many English words. As a Latin prefix it also had the function of undoing or reversing a verb's action, and hence it came to be used as a pure privative -- "not, do the opposite of, undo" -- which is its primary function as a living prefix in English, as in defrost (1895), defuse (1943), etc. Compare also dis-.
de-emphasize (v.): also deemphasize, 1938, from de- + emphasize. Related: De-emphasized; de-emphasizing.
de-escalate (v.): also deescalate, 1964, from de- + escalate. Related: De-escalated; de-escalating; de-escalation.
deacon (n.): Old English deacon, diacon, from Late Latin diaconus, from Greek diakonos "servant of the church, religious official," literally "servant," from dia- "thoroughly" + PIE *kon-o-, from root *ken- (1) "to set oneself in motion."
deactivate (v.): 1904, from de- + activate. Related: Deactivated; deactivating; deactivation.
dead (adj.): Old English dead "dead," also "torpid, dull;" of water, "still, standing," from Proto-Germanic *daudaz (cognates: Old Saxon dod, Danish død, Swedish död, Old Frisian dad, Middle Dutch doot, Dutch dood, Old High German tot, German tot, Old Norse dauðr, Gothic dauþs "dead"), from PIE *dhou-toz-, from root *dheu- (3) "to die" (see die (v.)).

Meaning "insensible" is first attested early 13c. Of places, "inactive, dull," from 1580s. Used from 16c. in adjectival sense of "utter, absolute, quite" (as in dead drunk, first attested 1590s; dead heat, 1796). As an adverb, from late 14c. Dead on is 1889, from marksmanship. Dead duck is from 1844. Dead letter is from 1703, used of laws lacking force as well as uncollected mail. Phrase in the dead of the night first recorded 1540s. Dead soldier "emptied liquor bottle" is from 1913 in that form; the image is older.
For but ich haue bote of mi bale I am ded as dorenail (c. 1350).