quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- vulcanization[vulcanization 词源字典]
- vulcanization: see volcano
[vulcanization etymology, vulcanization origin, 英语词源] - vulgar
- vulgar: [14] Latin vulgus, a word of uncertain origin, denoted the ‘common people’. From it was derived the adjective vulgāris, from which English gets vulgar. The Vulgate [17], a version of the Bible translated into Latin in the 4th century, was so called because it made the text available to the ‘common people’. Divulge comes from the same source, and means etymologically ‘make known to the common people’.
=> divulge - vulture
- vulture: [14] The origins of Latin vultur ‘vulture’ are uncertain, although it may be related to Latin vellere ‘pluck, tear’. English acquired it not directly, but by way of its derived adjective vulturius, which produced the Old French noun voltour. This passed into English via Anglo- Norman vultur.
- V
- In Middle English, -u- and -v- were used interchangeably, though with a preference for v- as the initial letter (vnder, vain, etc.) and -u- elsewhere (full, euer, etc.). The distinction into consonant and vowel identities was established in English by 1630, under influence of continental printers, but into 19c. some dictionaries and other catalogues continued to list -u- and -v- words as a single series.
No native Anglo-Saxon words begin in v- except those (vane, vat, vixen) altered by the southwestern England habit of replacing initial f- with v- (and initial s- with z-). Confusion of -v- and -w- also was a characteristic of 16c. Cockney accents.
As a Roman numeral, "five." In German rocket weapons systems of World War II, it stood for Vergeltungswaffe "reprisal weapon." V-eight as a type of motor engine is recorded from 1929 (V-engine is attested from 1909), so called for the arrangement. The V for "victory" hand sign was conceived January 1941 by Belgian politician and resistance leader Victor de Laveleye, to signify French victoire and Flemish vrijheid ("freedom"). It was broadcast into Europe by Radio België/Radio Belgique and popularized by the BBC by June 1941, from which time it became a universal allied gesture. - V.D. (n.)
- 1920, short for venereal disease (see venereal).
- v.i.
- abbreviation of Latin vide infra, literally "see below."
- vac
- 1709 as a colloquial shortening of vacation (n.); 1942 as a colloquial shortening of vacuum (v.); 1974 as a colloquial shortening of vacuum cleaner.
- vacancy (n.)
- 1570s, "a vacating;" c. 1600, "state of being vacant," from Late Latin vacantia, from Latin vacans "empty, unoccupied," present participle of vacare "be empty" (see vain). From 1690s as "a vacant office or post;" meaning "available room at a hotel" is recorded from 1953. Related: Vacance (1530s); vacancies.
- vacant (adj.)
- c. 1300, "not filled, held, or occupied," from Old French vacant "idle, unoccupied" (of an office, etc.), from Latin vacantem (nominative vacans), "empty, unoccupied," present participle of vacare "to be empty" (see vain). Meaning "characterized by absence of mental occupation" is from 1570s. Related: Vacantly.
- vacate (v.)
- 1640s, "to make void, to annul," from Latin vacatus, past participle of vacare "be empty, be void" (see vain). Meaning "to leave, give up, quit" (a place) is attested from 1791. Related: Vacated; vacating.
- vacation (n.)
- late 14c., "freedom from obligations, leisure, release" (from some activity or occupation), from Old French vacacion "vacancy, vacant position" (14c.) and directly from Latin vacationem (nominative vacatio) "leisure, freedom, exemption, a being free from duty, immunity earned by service," noun of state from past participle stem of vacare "be empty, free, or at leisure" (see vain).
Meanings "state of being unoccupied," "process of vacating" in English are early 15c. Meaning "formal suspension of activity, time in which there is an intermission of usual employment" (in reference to schools, courts, etc.) is recorded from mid-15c. As the U.S. equivalent of what in Britain is called a holiday, it is attested from 1878. - vacation (v.)
- 1866, from vacation (n.). Related: Vacationed; vacationing.
- vaccinate (v.)
- 1803, "to inoculate with a vaccine," originally with cowpox for the purpose of procuring immunity from smallpox, back-formation from vaccination. Related: Vaccinated; vaccinating.
- vaccination (n.)
- 1800, used by British physician Edward Jenner (1749-1823) for the technique he devised of preventing smallpox by injecting people with the cowpox virus (variolae vaccinae), from vaccine (adj.) "pertaining to cows, from cows" (1798), from Latin vaccinus "from cows," from vacca "cow" (Latin bos "cow" being originally "ox," "a loan word from a rural dialect" according to Buck, who cites Umbrian bue). "The use of the term for diseases other than smallpox is due to Pasteur" [OED].
- vaccine (n.)
- "matter used in vaccination," 1846, from French vaccin, noun use of adjective, from Latin vaccina, fem. of vaccinus "pertaining to a cow" (see vaccination). Related: Vaccinal; vaccinic.
- vacillate (v.)
- 1590s, "to sway unsteadily," from Latin vacillatus, past participle of vacillare "sway to and fro; hesitate" (see vacillation). Meaning "to waver between two opinions or courses" is recorded from 1620s. Related: Vacillated; vacillates; vacillating.
- vacillation (n.)
- c. 1400, "hesitation, uncertainty," from Latin vacillationem (nominative vacillatio) "a reeling, wavering," noun of action from past participle stem of vacillare "sway to and fro, waver, hesitate, be untrustworthy," of uncertain origin. Originally in reference to opinion or conduct; literal sense is recorded from 1630s.
- vacuity (n.)
- late 14c., "hollow space," from Latin vacuitas "empty space, emptiness, absence, vacancy, freedom," from vacuus "empty" (see vacuum (n.)). Originally in anatomy. Meaning "vacancy of mind or thought" is attested from 1590s.
- vacuole (n.)
- "small cavity or vesicle," 1853, from French vacuole, from Medieval Latin vacuola, formed as a diminutive of Latin vacuus "empty" (see vacuum (n.)).
- vacuous (adj.)
- 1640s, "empty" (implied in vacuousness), from Latin vacuus "empty, void, free" (see vacuum (n.)). Figurative sense of "empty of ideas, without intelligent expression" is from 1848. Related: Vacuously.