英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

gummy (adj.)[gummy 词源字典]: "gum-like, sticky," late 14c., from gum (n.1) + -y (2). Related: Gumminess.[gummy etymology, gummy origin, 英语词源]
gump (n.): "dolt, numskull, foolish person," 1825, "a term most generally applied to a female" [Jamieson]; meaning "chicken" is from 1914, U.S. thieves' slang.
gumption (n.): 1719, originally Scottish, "common sense, shrewdness, acuteness of practical understanding," also "drive, initiative," possibly connected with Middle English gome "attention, heed," from Old Norse gaumr "heed, attention." Sense of "initiative" is first recorded 1812. Related: Gumptious (adj.), attested from 1823.
gumshoe (n.): "plainclothes detective," 1906, from the rubber-soled shoes they wore (allowing stealthy movement), which were so called from 1863 (gums "rubber shoes" is attested by 1859); from gum (n.1) + shoe (n.).
gun (n.): mid-14c., gunne "an engine of war that throws rocks, arrows or other missiles from a tube by the force of explosive powder or other substance," apparently a shortening of woman's name Gunilda, found in Middle English gonnilde "cannon" and in an Anglo-Latin reference to a specific gun from a 1330 munitions inventory of Windsor Castle ("... una magna balista de cornu quae Domina Gunilda ..."). Also compare gonnilde gnoste "spark or flame used to fire a cannon" (early 14c.). The woman's name is from Old Norse Gunnhildr, a compound of gunnr and hildr, both meaning "war, battle." First element from PIE *gwhen- "to strike, kill" (see bane); for second, see Hilda. The identification of women with powerful weapons is common historically (such as Big Bertha, Brown Bess, Mons Meg, etc.). Or perhaps directly from Old Norse gunnr "battle." The word was perhaps influenced by or confirmed by (or possibly from) Old French engon, dialectal variant of engin "engine."

Meaning grew with technology, from cannons to firearms as they developed 15c.; popularly applied to pistols and revolvers from 1744. In modern military use the word is restricted to cannons (which must be mounted), especially long ones used for high velocity and long trajectory. Hence great guns (1884 as an exclamation) distinguished from small guns (such as muskets) from c. 1400. Meaning "thief, rascal" is from 1858. For son of a gun, see son. To jump the gun (1912, American English) is a figurative use from track and field. Guns "a woman's breasts" (especially if prominent) attested by 2006.
[G]un covers firearms from the heaviest naval or siege guns (but in technical use excluding mortars and howitzers) to the soldier's rifle or the sportsman's shotgun, and in current U.S. use even the gangster's revolver. In the other European languages there is no such comprehensive word, but different terms for the small or hand gun of the soldier or sportsman (even these, sometimes differentiated) and the heavy naval guns or artillery pieces .... [Buck, 1949]
gun (v.): "shoot with a gun," 1620s, from gun (n.). Related: Gunned; gunning. The sense of "accelerate an engine" is from 1930, from earlier phrase give (her) the gun (1917), which appears to have originated in pilots' jargon in World War I; perhaps from the old military expression give a gun "order a gun to be fired" (c. 1600).
gun moll (n.): "female criminal," 1908, second element from nickname of Mary, used of disreputable females since early 1600s; first element from slang gonif "thief" (1885), from Yiddish, from Hebrew gannabh "thief" (compare gonoph); influenced by gun (n.).
gun-metal (n.): type of bronze or other alloy formerly used in the manufacture of light cannons (since superseded by steel), 1540s, from gun (n.) + metal. Used attributively of a dull blue-gray color since 1905.
gun-shy (adj.): 1849, originally of sporting dogs, from gun (n.) + shy (adj.).
gun-slinger (n.): 1916, American English, from gun (n.) + agent noun from sling (v.).
gunboat (n.): also gun-boat, "small boat fitted with guns for service inshore or up rivers," 1793, from gun (n.) + boat (n.). Gunboat diplomacy is from 1916, originally with reference to Western policies in China.
gunfight (n.): also gun-fight, a combat with handguns, 1889, American English, from gun (n.) + fight (n.). Related: Gunfighter.
gung ho (adj.): also gung-ho, gungho, 1942, slang motto of Carlson's Raiders (2nd Marine Raider Battalion, under Lt. Col. Evans Carlson, 1896-1947), U.S. guerrilla unit operating in the Pacific in World War II, from Chinese kung ho "work together, cooperate." Widely adopted in American English 1959.
Borrowing an idea from China, Carlson frequently has what he calls 'kung-hou' meetings .... Problems are threshed out and orders explained. ["New York Times Magazine," Nov. 8, 1942]
gunk (n.): "viscous substance," 1949, American English, apparently from Gunk, trademark for a thick liquid soap patented 1932 by A.F. Curran Co. of Malden, Mass.
gunman (n.): 1620s, from gun (n.) + man (n.). In early American English use, especially of Indian warriors.
gunnel (n.): small marine fish, 1680s, of unknown origin; perhaps from Cornish.
gunner (n.): mid-14c., gonner "one who works a cannon, catapult, or mangonel," from gun (n.) + -er (1).
gunnery (n.): c. 1600, "science of gun-making," from gun + -ery. Meaning "science of firing guns" is from 1816.
gunning (n.): 1560s, "science of firing guns;" 1620s, "shooting," verbal noun from gun (v.).
gunny (n.1): 1711, Anglo-Indian goney name of a strong, coarse fabric made from jute or hemp, from Hindi goni, from Sanskrit goni "sack." Gunny sack attested by 1862.