英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

messrs [messrs 词源字典]: abbreviation of messieurs (1620s), which is the plural of French monsieur (see monsieur).[messrs etymology, messrs origin, 英语词源]
messuage (n.): legal term for "dwelling," late 14c., (late 13c. in Anglo-Latin), from Anglo-French messuage, which probably is a clerical error for mesnage (see menage). Originally the portion of land set aside for a dwelling-house and outbuildings, whether occupied by them or not; later chiefly in reference to the house and buildings and the attached land.
messy (adj.): 1843, "untidy," from mess (n.) + -y (2). Figurative use ("unethical") by 1924. Related: Messily; messiness.
mestizo (adj.): 1580s, from Spanish mestizo "of mixed European and Amerindian parentage," from Late Latin mixticius "mixed, mongrel," from Latin mixtus "mixed," past participle of miscere "to mix, mingle" (see mix (v.)). Fem. form mestiza is attested from 1580s.
Met (n.): 1879 as colloquial shortening of Metropolitan (n.) "member of the New York Metropolitan Base-Ball Club."
THE baseball season has opened, and along with the twittering of the birds, the budding of the trees, and the clattering of the truck, comes the news that the "Mets were beaten yesterday 17 to 5." It is an infallible sign of spring when the Mets are beaten 17 to 5, and we invariably put on our thinner clothing when we read that refreshing, though perennial news in the papers. ["Life," May 12, 1887]
Used variously to abbreviate other proper names beginning with Metropolitan, such as "Metropolitan Museum of Art" (N.Y.), by 1919; "Metropolitan Railway" (stock), by 1890; "Metropolitan Opera Company (N.Y.), by 1922. Related: Mets.
met (v.): past tense and past participle of meet (v.).
meta-: word-forming element meaning 1. "after, behind," 2. "changed, altered," 3. "higher, beyond;" from Greek meta (prep.) "in the midst of, in common with, by means of, in pursuit or quest of," from PIE *me- "in the middle" (cognates: German mit, Gothic miþ, Old English mið "with, together with, among;" see mid). Notion of "changing places with" probably led to senses "change of place, order, or nature," which was a principal meaning of the Greek word when used as a prefix (but also denoting "community, participation; in common with; pursuing").

Third sense, "higher than, transcending, overarching, dealing with the most fundamental matters of," is due to misinterpretation of metaphysics as "science of that which transcends the physical." This has led to a prodigious erroneous extension in modern usage, with meta- affixed to the names of other sciences and disciplines, especially in the academic jargon of literary criticism.
metabolic (adj.): 1845 in biological sense, from German metabolisch (1839), from Greek metabolikos "changeable," from metabole "a change, changing, a transition" (see metabolism). Used earlier in a general sense of "involving change" (1743). Related: Metabolically.
metabolism (n.): in physiology sense, 1878, from French métabolisme, from Greek metabole "a change," from metaballein "to change," from meta- "over" (see meta-) + ballein "to throw" (see ballistics).
metabolize (v.): 1887 (transitive), 1934 (intransitive), from Greek metabole "a change" (see metabolism) + -ize. Related: Metabolized; metabolizing.
metacarpus (n.): 1650s, Modern Latin, from Greek metakarpion, from meta- (see meta-) + karpos "wrist" (see carpus). Related: Metacarpal.
metacommunication (n.): 1951, from meta- + communication.
metal (n.): mid-13c., from Old French metal "metal; material, substance, stuff" (12c.), from Latin metallum "metal; mine, quarry, mineral, what is got by mining," from Greek metallon "metal, ore" (senses only in post-classical texts; originally "mine, quarry, pit"), probably from metalleuein "to mine, to quarry," of unknown origin, but related somehow to metallan "to seek after." Compare Greek metalleutes "a miner," metalleia "a searching for metals, mining."
metal (adj.): late 14c., from metal (n.).
metallic (adj.): 1560s, from Middle French métallique or directly from Latin metallicus, from Greek metallikos, from metallon (see metal).
metallurgy (n.): 1704, from Modern Latin metallurgia, from Greek metallourgos "worker in metal," from metallon "metal" (see metal) + ergon "work" (see organ). Related: Metallurgical; metallurgist.
metamathematics (n.): 1890, from meta- + mathematics.
metamorphic (adj.): 1833 (Lyell) in the geological sense, in reference to rock whose form has been changed by heat or pressure, from metamorphosis + -ic. Earlier (1816) in non-technical sense "characterized by change."
metamorphism (n.): 1837, from metamorphic + -ism.
metamorphize (v.): "metamorphose," 1590s, from Greek meta (see meta-) + morphe (see Morpheus) + -ize. Related: Metamorphized; metamorphizing. Alternative verbal form metamorphosize attested from 1841.