quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- hammerhead (adj.)[hammerhead 词源字典]
- also hammer-head, 1560s, "head of a hammer," from hammer (n.) + head (n.). From 1796 (American English) in reference to a kind of shark, so called for its broad, transverse head. The animal is referred to as hammer-headed shark from 1752 and hammer-fish from 1745. The older name for it was balance-fish; there was a full specimen and a head of another under that name in the Royal Society Museum by 1681:
He hath his Name not unaptly from the ſhape of his Head, very different from that of all other Fiſhes, being ſpread out horizontally, like the Beam of a Balance; his eyes ſtanding at the two extremes, as the iron Hooks do at the end of the Beam. He grows sometimes to the length of four or five yards: but this is a young one. [Nehemiah Grew, M.D., "Catalogue & Deſcription Of the Natural and Artificial Rarities Belonging to the Royal Society And preſerved at Greſham Colledge. Whereunto is Subjoyned the Comparative Anatomy of Stomachs and Guts. By the ſame author" London, 1681 ]
.[hammerhead etymology, hammerhead origin, 英语词源] - hammock (n.)
- type of hanging bed, 1650s, alteration of hamack, hamaca (1550s), from Spanish hamaca, from Arawakan (Haiti) word apparently meaning "fish nets" (compare Yukuna hamaca, Taino amaca). The forms of the word in Dutch (hangmat) and German (Hangmatte) were altered by folk-etymology as if it meant "hang-mat."
- Hammond
- type of electric organ favored by 1960s rock bands, trademark name (1935), invented 1929 by U.S. inventor and clockmaker Laurens Hammond (1895-1973).
- hamper (v.)
- late 14c., hampren "to surround, imprison, confine," also "to pack in a container;" of uncertain origin; probably from hamper (n.1), unless it is somehow connected to Middle English hamelian "to maim." Meaning "impede in motion or progress" is from late 14c. Related: Hampered; hampering.
- hamper (n.1)
- "large basket," early 14c., hampyre, probably a contraction of Anglo-French hanaper (Anglo-Latin hanepario), from Old French hanepier "case for holding a large goblet or cup;" in medical use "skull," also "helmet; armored leather cap," from hanap "goblet, chalice," from Frankish or some other Germanic source (cognates: Old Saxon hnapp "cup, bowl;" Old High German hnapf, German Napf, Old English hnæpp). The first -a- may be a French attempt to render Germanic hn- into an acceptable Romanic form. The English word also meant "the department of Chancery into which fees were paid for sealing and enrolling charters, etc." (15c.).
- hamper (n.2)
- "things important for a ship but in the way at certain times" (Klein's definition), 1835, from hamper (n.) "a fetter, shackles," from French hamper "to impede." Hence top hamper, originally "upper masts, spars, rigging, etc. of a sailing ship."
- Hampshire
- reduced from Old English Hamtunscir; named for the city of Southampton, which originally was simply Hamtun. Norman scribes mangled the county name to Hauntunescire, later Hantescire, hence the abbrev. Hants.
- hamster (n.)
- c. 1600, from German Hamster, from Middle High German hamastra "hamster," probably from Old Church Slavonic chomestoru "hamster" (the animal is native to southeastern Europe), which is perhaps a blend of Russian chomiak and Lithuanian staras, both meaning "hamster." The older English name for it was German rat.
- hamstring (v.)
- 1640s, "to disable, render useless," a figurative verbal extension from hamstring (n.) "tendon at the back of the knee." Cutting this would render a person or animal lame. Literal sense of the verb is attested from 1670s. Since it is a verb from a noun-noun compound, hamstrung as a past participle is technically incorrect.
[I]n hamstring, -string is not the verb string; we do not string the ham, but do something to the tendon called the hamstring; the verb, that is, is made not from the two words ham & string, but from the noun hamstring. It must therefore make hamstringed. [Fowler]
- hamstring (n.)
- "tendon at the back of the knee," 1560s, from ham "bend of the knee" (see ham (n.1)) + string (n.).
- Han
- Chinese dynasty, 206 B.C.E.-220 C.E., its rule was marked by prosperity, military success, and the introduction of Buddhism.
- Hanafi
- Sunni school or sect in Islam, from Arabic, from the name of founder Abu Hanifah of Kufa (c. 700-770).
- Hanbali
- Sunni school or sect in Islam, from Arabic, from the name of founder Ahmad ibn Hanbal (780-855).
- hand (n.)
- Old English hond, hand "the human hand;" also "side, part, direction" (in defining position, to either right or left); also "power, control, possession" (on the notion of the hand's grip or hold), from Proto-Germanic *handuz (cognates: Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Dutch, German hand, Old Norse hönd, Gothic handus), which is of uncertain origin. The original Old English plural handa was superseded in Middle English by handen, later hands. Indo-European "hand" words tend to be from roots meaning "seize, take, collect" or are extended from words originally meaning only a part of the hand (such as Irish lam, Welsh llaw, cognate with Latin palma and originally meaning "palm of the hand"). One ancient root, represented by Latin manus (see manual (adj.)) is represented in Old English by mund "hand," but more usually "protection, guardianship; a protector, guardian."
Meaning "manual worker, person who does something with his hands" is from 1580s, hence "hired workman" (1630s) and "sailor in a ship's crew" (1660s). Meaning "agency, part in doing something" is from 1590s. Clock and watch sense is from 1570s. Meaning "round of applause" is from 1838. The linear measure of 4 inches (originally 3) is from 1560s, now used only in giving the height of horses. The meaning "playing cards held in one player's hand" is from 1620s; that of "a round at a card game" is from 1620s. Meaning "handwriting" is from late 14c.; also "one's style of penmanship" (early 15c.). The word in reference to the various uses of hands in making a pledge is by c. 1200; specifically "one's pledge of marriage" by late 14c.
First hand, second hand, etc. (mid-15c.) are from the notion of something being passed from hand to hand. At hand is from c. 1200 as "near in time," c. 1300 as "within reach." Out of hand (1590s) is opposite of in hand "under control" (c. 1200). Adverbial phrase hand-over-fist (1803) is nautical, suggestive of hauling or climbing by passing the hands one before the other alternately. To win something hands down (1855) is from horse racing, from a jockey's gesture of letting the reins go loose in an easy victory.
The Two Thousand Guinea Stakes was not the best contested one that it has been our fortune to assist at. ... [T]hey were won by Meteor, with Scott for his rider; who went by the post with his hands down, the easiest of all easy half-lengths. Wiseacre certainly did the best in his power to spoil his position, and Misdeal was at one time a little vexatious. ["The Sportsman," report from April 26, 1840]
Phrase on the one hand ... on the other hand is recorded from 1630s, a figurative use of the physical sense of hand in reference to position on one side or the other side of the body (as in the lefthand side), which goes back to Old English Hands up! as a command from a policeman, robber, etc., is from 1863, from the image of holding up one's hands as a token of submission or non-resistance. Hand-to-hand "in close contact," of fighting, is from c. 1400. Hand-to-mouth is from c. 1500. Hand-in-hand attested from c. 1500 as "with hands clasped;" figurative sense of "concurrently" recorded from 1570s. - hand (v.)
- c. 1400, "take charge of, seize," from hand (n.). Earlier verbs were hend (Old English genehdan), handle. Meaning "to pass (something to someone)" is from 1640s. To hand it to (someone) "acknowledge someone's ability or superiority" is slang from 1906, the it perhaps meant to suggest a trophy cup, award, etc. Related: Handed; handing.
- hand job (n.)
- 1940s, from hand (n.) + job (n.) "piece of work."
- hand of glory (n.)
- 1707, originally a piece of mandrake root, translation of French maindeglorie, from a corruption of Latin mandragora "mandrake" (see mandrake). The dead man's hand charm is described from mid-15c., but not by this name.
- hand-basket (n.)
- late 15c., from hand (n.) + basket (n.).
- hand-car (n.)
- 1846 in railroading sense, from hand (n.) + car.
- hand-cloth (n.)
- Old English hand-claþe; see hand (n.) + cloth (n.).