英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

measurability (n.)[measurability 词源字典]: 1690s; see measurable + -ity.[measurability etymology, measurability origin, 英语词源]
measurable (adj.): c. 1300, "moderate," from Old French mesurable "restrained, moderate, sensible; restricted," from Late Latin mensurabilis, from mensurare (see measure (v.)). Meaning "that can be measured" is from mid-14c. Related: Measurably.
measure (v.): c. 1300, "to deal out by measure," from Old French mesurer "measure; moderate, curb" (12c.), from Late Latin mensurare "to measure," from Latin mensura "a measuring, a measurement; thing to measure by," from mensus, past participle of metiri "to measure," from PIE *me- (2) "to measure" (see meter (n.2)).

Replaced Old English cognate mæð "measure." Meaning "to ascertain spatial dimensions of" is mid-14c. To measure up "have the necessary abilities" is 1910, American English. Related: Measured; measuring.
measure (n.): c. 1200, "moderation, temperance, abstemiousness;" c. 1300, "instrument for measuring," from Old French mesure "limit, boundary; quantity, dimension; occasion, time" (12c.), from Latin mensura "measure" (see measure (v.)). Meaning "size or quantity as ascertained by measuring" is from early 14c. Meaning "action of measuring; standard measure of quantity; system of measuring; appointed or alloted amount of anything" is late 14c. Also from late 14c. are senses "proper proportion, balance." Sense of "that to which something is compared to determine its quantity" is from 1570s. Meaning "rhythmic pattern in music" is late 14c.; from mid-15c. in poetry, c. 1500 in dance. Meaning "treatment 'meted out' to someone" is from 1590s; that of "plan or course of action intended to obtain some goal" is from 1690s; sense of "legislative enactment" is from 1759. Phrase for good measure (late 14c.) is literally "ample in quantity, in goods sold by measure."
measured (adj.): late 14c., "deliberate, restrained," adjective from past participle of measure (v.). Meaning "uniform, regular" is from c. 1400.
measurement (n.): 1751, "act of measuring," from measure (v.) + -ment. Related: Measurements. Meaning "dimension obtained by measuring" is from 1756.
meat (n.): Old English mete "food, item of food" (paired with drink), from Proto-Germanic *mati (cognates: Old Frisian mete, Old Saxon meti, Old Norse matr, Old High German maz, Gothic mats "food," Middle Dutch, Dutch metworst, German Mettwurst "type of sausage"), from PIE *mad-i-, from root *mad- "moist, wet," also with reference to food qualities, (cognates: Sanskrit medas- "fat" (n.), Old Irish mat "pig;" see mast (n.2)).

Narrower sense of "flesh used as food" is first attested c. 1300; similar sense evolution in French viande "meat," originally "food." In Middle English, vegetables still could be called grene-mete (15c.). Figurative sense of "essential part" is from 1901. Dark meat, white meat popularized 19c., supposedly as euphemisms for leg and breast, but earliest sources use both terms without apparent embarrassment.
The choicest parts of a turkey are the side bones, the breast, and the thigh bones. The breast and wings are called light meat; the thigh-bones and side-bones dark meat. When a person declines expressing a preference, it is polite to help to both kinds. [Lydia Maria Child, "The American Frugal Housewife," Boston, 1835]
First record of meat loaf is from 1876. Meat-market "place where one looks for sex partners" is from 1896 (meat in various sexual senses of "penis, vagina, body regarded as a sex object, prostitute" are attested from 1590s; Old English for "meat-market" was flæsccyping ('flesh-cheaping')); meat wagon "ambulance" is from 1920, American English slang, said to date from World War I (in a literal sense by 1857). Meat-grinder in the figurative sense attested by 1951. Meat-hook in colloquial transferred sense "arm" attested by 1919.
meatball (n.): 1801, from meat + ball (n.1). As an insult to a person, by 1941.
Meath: county in Ireland, from Irish An Mhi, literally "the middle."
meathead (n.): "stupid person," 1945, from meat + head (n.).
meatless (adj.): Old English meteleas "without food, without eating," see meat + -less. Meaning "without meat" is from mid-14c.
meaty (adj.): "full of meat," 1787, from meat (n.) + -y (2). Figurative sense "full of substance" is from 1881. Related: Meatiness.
Mecca: Arabic Makkah, sacred city of Islam, birthplace of Muhammad, which every Muslim must visit at least once. Origins have been proposed in Phoenician maqaq "ruined" or Arabic mahrab "sanctuary." Figurative sense of "any place one holds supremely sacred" (usually with lower-case m-) is in English from 1850. Related: Meccan.
mechanic (adj.): late 14c., "pertaining to or involving mechanical labor" (now usually mechanical), also "having to do with tools," from Latin mechanicus, from Greek mekhanikos "full of resources, inventive, ingenious," literally "mechanical, pertaining to machines," from mekhane (see machine (n.)). Meaning "of the nature of or pertaining to machines" is from 1620s.
mechanic (n.): "manual laborer," late 14c., from Latin mechanicus, from Greek mekhanikos "an engineer," noun use of adjective meaning "full of resources, inventive, ingenious" (see mechanic (adj.)). Sense of "one who is employed in manual labor, a handicraft worker, an artisan" (chief sense through early 19c.) is attested from 1560s. Sense of "skilled workman who is concerned with making or repair of machinery" is from 1660s, but not the main sense until the rise of the automobile.
mechanical (adj.): early 15c., "of or pertaining to machines," from mechanic (adj.) + -al (1); of persons or human actions, "resembling machines, automatic" it is from c. 1600. Related: Mechanically. Mechanical-minded is recorded from 1820.
mechanics (n.): 1640s, based on Late Latin mechanica, from Greek mekhanike, mekhanika (see mechanic (adj.)); also see -ics.
mechanism (n.): 1660s, from Modern Latin mechanismus, from Greek mekhane "machine, instrument" (see machine (n.)).
mechanization (n.): 1834, from mechanize + -ation.
In our country, the ancient languages are studied, to a sad extent, as a mere exercise in the technics of etymology, syntax and prosody; and when thus pursued, there can be no good reason for so great a sacrifice of time and labor, or for that mechanization (if we may make a term) of mind which is the natural result. ["American Annals of Education and Instruction," December 1834]
mechanize (v.): 1670s; see mechanic (adj.) + -ize. Related: Mechanized; mechanizing.