英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

laid [laid 词源字典]: past tense and past participle of lay (v.). Laid-up "injured, sick," originally was a nautical term (1769) describing a ship moored in harbor. Laid off "temporarily unemployed" is from 1916. Get laid "have sex" (with someone) attested from 1952, U.S. slang. Laid-back "relaxed" is first attested 1973, perhaps in reference to the posture of highway motorcyclists. Laid up "incapacitated" originally was of ships.[laid etymology, laid origin, 英语词源]
laidly (adj.): c. 1300, Scottish and northern English variant of loathly "hideous, repulsive" (see loath).
lain: past participle of lie (v.2).
lair (n.): Old English leger "bed, couch, grave; act or place of lying down," from Proto-Germanic *legraz (cognates: Old Norse legr "grave," also "nuptials" ("a lying down"); Old Frisian leger "situation," Old Saxon legar "bed," Middle Dutch legher "act or place of lying down," Dutch leger "bed, camp," Old High German legar "bed, a lying down," German Lager "bed, lair, camp, storehouse," Gothic ligrs "place of lying"), from PIE *legh- "to lie, lay" (see lie (v.2)). Meaning "animal's den" is from early 15c.
laird (n.): mid-15c. (mid-13c. as a surname), Scottish and northern England dialectal variant of lord, from Middle English laverd (see lord). Related: Lairdship.
laissez-faire: laissez faire, 1822, French, literally "let (people) do (as they think best)," from laissez, imperative of laisser "to let, to leave" (from Latin laxare, from laxus "loose;" see lax) + faire "to do" (from Latin facere; see factitious). From the phrase laissez faire et laissez passer, motto of certain 18c. French economists, chosen to express the ideal of government non-interference in business and industry.
laity (n.): "body of people not in religious orders," early 15c., from Anglo-French laite, from lay (adj.) + -ity.
lake (n.1): "body of water," early 12c., from Old French lack and directly from Latin lacus "pond, lake," also "basin, tank," related to lacuna "hole, pit," from PIE *laku- (cognates: Greek lakkos "pit, tank, pond," Old Church Slavonic loky "pool, puddle, cistern," Old Irish loch "lake, pond"). The common notion is "basin." There was a Germanic form of the word, which yielded cognate Old Norse lögr "sea flood, water," Old English lacu "stream," lagu "sea flood, water," leccan "to moisten" (see leak (v.)). In Middle English, lake, as a descendant of the Old English word, also could mean "stream; river gully; ditch; marsh; grave; pit of hell," and this might have influenced the form of the borrowed word. The North American Great Lakes so called from 1660s.
lake (n.2): "deep red coloring matter," 1610s, from French laque (see lac), from which it was obtained.
laker (n.): used of people or things associated in various ways with a lake or lakes, including tourists to the English Lake country (1798); the poets (Wordsworth, etc.) who settled in that region (1814); boats on the North American Great Lakes (1887), and a person whose work is on lakes (1838); see lake (n.1). The U.S. professional basketball team began 1947 as the Minneapolis Lakers, where the name was appropriate; before the 1960-1 season it moved to Los Angeles, but the name was kept.
Lakshmi: Hindu goddess of beauty, from Sanskrit lakshmi "mark, fortue, riches, beauty."
lallygag (v.): 1862; see lollygag. Related: Lallygagged; lallygagging.
lam (n.): "flight," as in on the lam, 1897, from a U.S. slang verb meaning "to run off" (1886), of uncertain origin, perhaps somehow from the first element of lambaste, which was used in British student slang for "beat" since 1590s; if so, it would give the word the same etymological sense as the slang expression beat it.
lama (n.): "Buddhist priest of Mongolia or Tibet," 1650s, from Tibetan blama "chief, high priest," with silent b-. Related: Lamasery.
Lamarckian (adj.): 1846, pertaining to French botanist and zoologist J.B.P. Lamarck (1744-1829), especially his view that the process of evolution includes the inheritance of acquired characteristics.
Lamaze: childbirth technique, developed 1940s by French obstetrician Dr. Fernand Lamaze (1891-1957) and named for him.
lamb (n.): Old English lamb "lamb," from Proto-Germanic *lambaz (cognates: Old Norse, Old Frisian, Gothic lamb, Middle Dutch, Dutch lam, Middle High German lamp, German Lamm "lamb"). Common to the Germanic languages, but with no certain cognates outside them. Old English plural was lomberu. Applied to persons (especially young Church members, gentle souls, etc.) from late Old English. Also sometimes used ironically for cruel or rough characters (such as Kirke's Lambs in wars of 1684-86). Lamb's-wool (adj.) is from 1550s.
lambada (n.): "sensual Brazilian dance," 1988, from Portuguese, said in some sources to be literally "a beating, a lashing." But others connect it ultimately to Latin lumbus "loin."
lambaste (v.): 1630s, from lam (1590s, ultimately from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse lemja "to beat, to lame") + baste "to thrash" (see baste). Related: Lambasted; lambasting.
lambda (n.): Greek letter name, from a Semitic source akin to Hebrew lamedh.