英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

tortfeasor (n.)[tortfeasor 词源字典]: 1650s, from Old French tortfesor, from tort "wrong, evil" (see tort) + -fesor "doer," from Latin facere "to make, do" (see factitious).[tortfeasor etymology, tortfeasor origin, 英语词源]
torticollis (n.): wryneck, 1811, Modern Latin, from Latin tortus "crooked, twisted," from torquere "to twist" (see torque (n.)) + collum "neck" (see collar (n.)).
tortilla (n.): 1690s, from American Spanish tortilla, from Spanish, "a tart," literally "a little cake," diminutive of torta "cake," from Late Latin torta "flat cake" (see torte).
tortious (adj.): late 14c., "wrongful, illegal," from Anglo-French torcious (14c.), from stem of torcion, literally "a twisting," from Late Latin tortionem (see torsion, and compare tort). Meaning "pertaining to a tort" is from 1540s.
tortoise (n.): 1550s, altered (perhaps by influence of porpoise) from Middle English tortuse (late 15c.), tortuce (mid-15c.), tortuge (late 14c.), from Medieval Latin tortuca (mid-13c.), perhaps from Late Latin tartaruchus "of the underworld" (see Tartarus). Others propose a source in Latin tortus "twisted," based on the shape of the feet. The classical Latin word was testudo, from testa "shell." First record of tortoise shell as a pattern of markings is from 1782.
tortuous (adj.): late 14c., "full of twists and turns," from Anglo-French tortuous (12c.), Old French tortuos, from Latin tortuosus "full of twists, winding," from tortus "a twisting, winding," from stem of torquere "to twist, wring, distort" (see torque (n.)). Related: Tortuously; tortuousness.
torture (n.): early 15c., "contortion, twisting, distortion; a disorder characterized by contortion," from Old French torture "infliction of great pain; great pain, agony" (12c.), and directly from Late Latin tortura "a twisting, writhing," in Medieval Latin "pain inflicted by judicial or ecclesiastical authority as a means of punishment or persuasion," from stem of Latin torquere "to twist, turn, wind, wring, distort" (see torque (n.)). The meaning "infliction of severe bodily pain as a means of punishment or persuasion" in English is from 1550s. The theory behind judicial torture was that a guilty person could be made to confess, but an innocent one could not, by this means. Macaulay writes that it was last inflicted in England in May 1640.
torture (v.): 1580s, from torture (n.). Related: Tortured; torturing.
torturous (adj.): "pertaining to or characterized by torture," late 15c., from Anglo-French torturous, from Old French tortureus, from Latin tortura (see torture (n.)).
torus (n.): 1560s, in architecture, "large, rounded molding at the base of a column," from Latin torus "a swelling, bulge, knot; cushion, couch."
Tory (n.): 1566, "an outlaw," specifically "one of a class of Irish robbers noted for outrages and savage cruelty," from Irish toruighe "plunderer," originally "pursuer, searcher," from Old Irish toirighim "I pursue," from toir "pursuit," from Celtic *to-wo-ret- "a running up to," from PIE root *ret- "to run, roll" (see rotary).

About 1646, it emerged as a derogatory term for Irish Catholics dispossessed of their land (some of whom subsequently turned to outlawry); c. 1680 applied by Exclusioners to supporters of the Catholic Duke of York (later James II) in his succession to the throne of England. After 1689, Tory was the name of a British political party at first composed of Yorkist Tories of 1680. Superseded c. 1830 by Conservative, though it continues to be used colloquially. In American history, Tory was the name given after 1769 to colonists who remained loyal to George III of England; it represents their relative position in the pre-revolutionary English political order in the colonies. As an adjective from 1680s.
tosh (adj.): "neat, clean, trim," 1776, Scottish, of unknown origin.
tosh (n.): "valuables collected from drains," 1852, London slang, of unknown origin.
toss (v.): mid-15c., "to lift or throw with a sudden movement," of uncertain origin, possibly from a Scandinavian source (compare dialectal Norwegian tossa "to strew, spread"). Food preparation sense (with reference to salad, etc.) is recorded from 1723. Intransitive sense "be restless; throw oneself about" is from 1550s. Related: Tossed; tossing.
toss (n.): "an act of throwing," 1630s, from toss (v.). Meaning "a coin toss" is from 1798.
toss-up (n.): "even matter," 1809, from earlier sense of "a flipping of a coin to arrive at a decision" (c. 1700), from verbal phrase, from toss (v.) + up (adv.).
tosser (n.): term of contempt in British slang, by 1977, probably from slang toss off "act of masturbation" (1735). Agent noun from toss (v.). Compare jerk (n.).
tosspot (n.): "heavy drinker," 1560s, from toss (v.) + pot (n.1).
tostada (n.): 1945, from Mexican Spanish, from past participle of Spanish tostar "to toast" (see toast (v.1)).
tot (n.): "little child," 1725, Scottish, of uncertain origin, perhaps a shortened form of totter, or related to Old Norse tottr, nickname of a dwarf (compare Swedish tutte "little child," Danish tommel-tot "little child," in which the first element means "thumb"). Tot-lot "play ground for young children" is recorded from 1944.