英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

molehill (n.)[molehill 词源字典]: also mole-hill, mid-15c., from mole (n.2) + hill (n.).
To much amplifying thinges yt. be but small, makyng mountaines of Molehils. [John Foxe, "Acts and Monuments," 1570]
[molehill etymology, molehill origin, 英语词源]
moleskin (n.): 1660s, from mole (2) + skin (n.).
molest (v.): late 14c., "to cause trouble, grief, or vexation," from Old French molester "to torment, trouble, bother" (12c.) and directly from Latin molestare "to disturb, trouble, annoy," from molestus "troublesome, annoying, unmanageable," perhaps related to moles "mass" (see mole (n.3)) on notion of either "burden" or "barrier." Meaning "sexually assault" first attested 1950. Related: Molested; molesting.
molestation (n.): c. 1400, "action of annoying or vexing," from Old French molestacion "vexation, harassing," and directly from Medieval Latin molestationem (nominative molestatio), noun of action from past participle stem of molestare (see molest). It meant "the harassing of a person in his possession or occupation of lands" in Scottish law; in English common law it came to mean "injury inflicted upon another."
molester (n.): 1570s, agent noun from molest.
Moll: female proper name, shortened form of Molly, itself familiar for Mary. Used from c. 1600 for "prostitute;" meaning "companion of a thief" is first recorded 1823. A general word for "woman" in old underworld slang, for instance Moll-buzzer "pickpocket who specializes in women;" Moll-tooler "female pick-pocket." U.S. sense of "a gangster's girlfriend" is from 1923.
mollification (n.): late 14c., from Old French mollificacion (Modern French mollification), from Medieval Latin mollificationem (nominative mollificatio), noun of action from past participle stem of mollificare (see mollify).
mollified (adj.): 1620s, past participle adjective from mollify.
mollify (v.): late 14c., "to soften (a substance)," from Old French mollifier or directly from Late Latin mollificare "make soft, mollify" from mollificus "softening," from Latin mollis "soft" (see melt (v.)) + root of facere "to make" (see factitious). Transferred sense of "soften in temper, appease, pacify" is recorded from early 15c. Related: Mollified; mollifying.
mollusc (n.): see mollusk.
Mollusca (n.): 1797, from Modern Latin mollusca, chosen by Linnaeus as the name of an invertebrate order (1758), from neuter plural of Latin molluscus "thin-shelled," from mollis "soft" (see melt (v.)). Linnæus applied the word to a heterogeneous group of invertebrates, not originally including mollusks with shells; the modern scientific use is after a classification proposed 1790s by French naturalist Georges Léopole Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert, Baron Cuvier (1769-1832).
mollusk (n.): 1783, mollusque (modern spelling from 1839), from French mollusque, from Modern Latin Mollusca (see Mollusca), the phylum name. Related: Molluscuous; molluscan.
molly (n.): seabird, 1857, short for mollymawk, from Dutch mallemok, from mal "foolish" + mok "gull."
Molly: fem. proper name, a familiar form of Mary.
Molly Maguire (n.): secret society in the mining districts of Pennsylvania, 1867 (suppressed 1876); named for earlier secret society formed in Ireland (1843) to resist payment of rents. From Molly (see Moll) + common Irish surname Maguire. Memebers were said to sometimes wear women's clothing as disguise.
mollycoddle (v.): also molly-coddle, 1870, from a noun (1833) meaning "one who coddles himself," from Molly (pet name formation from Mary), which had been used contemptuously since 1754 for "a milksop, an effeminate man," + coddle (q.v.). Related: Mollycoddled; mollycoddling.
Moloch: Canaanite god said to have been propitiated by sacrificing children (Lev. xviii:21), from Latin Moloch, from Greek Molokh, from Hebrew molekh, from melekh "king," altered by the Jews with the vowel points from basheth "shame" to express their horror of the worship.
Molotov cocktail (n.): 1940, a term from Russo-Finnish War (used and satirically named by the Finns), from Molotov (from Russian molot "hammer") name taken by Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Skriabin (1890-1986), Soviet minister of foreign affairs 1939-1949.
molt (v.): also moult, mid-14c., mouten, of feathers, "to be shed," from Old English *mutian "to change" (in bemutian "to exchange"), from Latin mutare "to change" (see mutable). Transitive sense, of birds, "to shed feathers" is first attested 1520s. With parasitic -l-, late 16c., on model of fault, etc. Related: Molted, moulted; molting, moulting. As a noun from 1815.
molten (adj.): late 13c., from archaic past participle of Old English meltian, a class III strong verb (see melt (v.)).