英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

tower (v.)[tower 词源字典]: c. 1400, "rise high" (implied in towered); see tower (n.). Also, of hawks, "to fly high so as to swoop down on prey" (1590s). Related: Towering.[tower etymology, tower origin, 英语词源]
tower (n.1): Old English torr "tower, watchtower," from Latin turris "a tower, citadel, high structure" (also source of Old French tor, 11c.; Spanish, Italian torre "tower"), possibly from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean language. Meaning "lofty pile or mass" is recorded from mid-14c. Also borrowed separately 13c. as tour, from Old French tur; the modern spelling (1520s) represents a merger of the two forms.
tower (n.2): "one who tows," 1610s, agent noun from tow (v.).
towhead (n.): also tow-head, in reference to tousled blond hair, 1830, from tow (n.1) + head (n.). Related: Towheaded.
towhee (n.): marsh-robin, 1730, so called for the note of its cry.
town (n.): Old English tun "enclosure, garden, field, yard; farm, manor; homestead, dwelling house, mansion;" later "group of houses, village, farm," from Proto-Germanic *tunaz, *tunan "fortified place" (cognates: Old Saxon, Old Norse, Old Frisian tun "fence, hedge," Middle Dutch tuun "fence," Dutch tuin "garden," Old High German zun, German Zaun "fence, hedge"), an early borrowing from Celtic *dunon "hill, hill-fort" (cognates: Old Irish dun, Welsh din "fortress, fortified place, camp," dinas "city," Gaulish-Latin -dunum in place names), from PIE *dhu-no- "enclosed, fortified place, hill-fort," from root *dheue- "to close, finish, come full circle" (see down (n.2)).

Meaning "inhabited place larger than a village" (mid-12c.) arose after the Norman conquest from the use of this word to correspond to French ville. The modern word is partially a generic term, applicable to cities of great size as well as places intermediate between a city and a village; such use is unusual, the only parallel is perhaps Latin oppidium, which occasionally was applied even to Rome or Athens (each of which was more properly an urbs).

First record of town hall is from late 15c. Town ball, version of baseball, is recorded from 1852. Town car (1907) originally was a motor car with an enclosed passenger compartment and open driver's seat. On the town "living the high life" is from 1712. Go to town "do (something) energetically" is first recorded 1933. Man about town "one constantly seen at public and private functions" is attested from 1734.
townhouse (n.): 1825, "a residence in a town," from town + house (n.) from a time when well-off families had country houses as well. As a type of suburban attached housing, c. 1968, American English.
townie (n.): also townee "townsman, one raised in a town," 1827, often opposed to the university students or circus workers who were just passing through, from town + -ie.
township (n.): Old English tunscipe "inhabitants or population of a town;" see town + -ship. Applied in Middle English to "manor, parish, or other division of a hundred." Specific sense of "local division or district in a parish, each with a village or small town and its own church" is from 1530s; as a local municipal division of a county in U.S. and Canada, first recorded 1685. In South Africa, "area set aside for non-whites" from 1934.
townspeople (n.): 1640s, from genitive of town + people.
toxemia (n.): "blood-poisoning," also toxaemia, 1848, from toxo- (before vowels tox-, comb. form of Greek toxon (see toxic)) + Greek haima "blood" (see -emia).
toxic (adj.): 1660s, from French toxique and directly from Late Latin toxicus "poisoned," from Latin toxicum "poison," from Greek toxikon (pharmakon) "(poison) for use on arrows," from toxikon, neuter of toxikos "pertaining to arrows or archery," and thus to a bow, from toxon "bow," probably from a Scythian word that also was borrowed into Latin as taxus "yew." Watkins suggests a possible source in Iranian taxša- "bow," from PIE *tekw- "to run, flee." As a noun from 1890.
toxicity (n.): "state of being toxic," 1880, from toxic + -ity.
toxicology (n.): 1815, from French toxicologie (1812), from comb. form of Greek toxikon "arrow poison" (see toxic) + -logia (see -logy). Related: Toxicological; toxicologist.
toxin (n.): "organic poison," especially one produced by bacteria in an animal body, 1886, from toxic + -in (2).
toxoplasmosis (n.): 1977, from toxoplasma (1926), coined 1909 in French from toxo-, comb. form of Greek toxon (see toxic) + plasma (see plasma) + -osis.
toy (n.): c. 1300, "amorous playing, sport," later "piece of fun or entertainment" (c. 1500), "thing of little value, trifle" (1520s), and "thing for a child to play with" (1580s). Of uncertain origin, and there may be more than one word here. Compare Middle Dutch toy, Dutch tuig "tools, apparatus; stuff, trash," in speeltuig "play-toy, plaything;" German Zeug "stuff, matter, tools," Spielzeug "plaything, toy;" Danish tøi, Swedish tyg "stuff, gear." Applied as an adjective to things of diminutive size, especially dogs, from 1806. Toy-boy is from 1981.
toy (v.): "deal carelessly (with), trifle," 1520s, from toy (n.) in its older sense.
If he be merie and toy with any,
His wife will frowne, and words geve manye.
["Song of the Bachelor's Life," 16c.]
Related: Toyed; toying.
toy-box (n.): also toybox, 1819, from toy (n.) + box (n.).
Toyota: Japanese automaker, begun 1930s as a division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, named for the family name of the founder. There seems to be no one accepted explanation for the change from -d- to -t-.