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bosom [bosom 词源字典]: bosom: [OE] The immediate source of Old English bōsm was West Germanic *bösm-, which also produced German busen and Dutch boezem. It has been conjectured that it may come ultimately from Indo-European *bhāghús, which perhaps meant ‘arm’ (source of English bought and possibly bow, as in ‘ship’s bow’); the early occurrence of phrases like ‘in someone’s bosom’ meaning ‘clasped to someone’s chest, in someone’s arms’ may support this.
=> bough, bow[bosom etymology, bosom origin, 英语词源]
boss: boss: English has two words boss, of which the more familiar is far more recent; both are fairly obscure in origin. We know that boss ‘chief’ [19] comes from Dutch baas ‘master’ (it was introduced to American English by Dutch settlers), but where Dutch got the word from we do not know for certain. Boss ‘protuberance’ [13] was borrowed from Old French boce, which comes from an assumed general Romance *botja, but there the trail goes cold. Boss-eyed [19] and boss shot ‘bungled attempt’ [19] are both usually assumed to come from, or at least be connected with a 19thcentury English dialect verb boss ‘bungle’, of unknown origin.
proboscis: proboscis: [17] The elephant’s trunk was originally called proboscis because it is used for getting food – by pulling down leafy branches, for instance. The word comes via Latin from Greek proboskís, a compound formed from pró ‘in front’ and bóskein ‘feed’.
bose (n.): "to seek for hollows underground by ramming the ground and observing the vibrations," 1929, ultimately from Scottish word boss "hollow, empty" (1510s), earlier a noun meaning "small cask, wine flask" (late 14c.).
bosh (n.): "empty talk, nonsense," 1834, from Turkish, literally "empty." Introduced in "Ayesha," popular romance novel by J.J. Morier (1780-1849).
Bosnia: named for the River Bosna, which is perhaps from an Indo-European root *bhog- "current." As a name or adjective for someone there, Bosnian (1788) is older in English than Bosniac (1836, from Russian Bosnyak).
bosom (n.): Old English bosm "breast; womb; surface; ship's hold," from West Germanic *bosm- (cognates: Old Frisian bosm, Old Saxon bosom, Middle Dutch boesem, Dutch boezem, Old High German buosam, German Busen "bosom, breast"), perhaps from PIE root *bhou- "to grow, swell," or *bhaghus "arm" (in which case the primary notion would be "enclosure formed by the breast and the arms"). Narrowed meaning "a woman's breasts" is from 1959; but bosomy "big-breasted" is from 1928. Bosom-friend is attested 1580s; bosom buddy from 1920s.
boson (n.): class of subatomic particles, named for Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose (1894-1974) + subatomic particle suffix -on.
boss (n.1): "overseer," 1640s, American English, from Dutch baas "a master," Middle Dutch baes, of obscure origin. If original sense was "uncle," perhaps it is related to Old High German basa "aunt," but some sources discount this theory. The Dutch form baas is attested in English from 1620s as the standard title of a Dutch ship's captain. The word's popularity in U.S. may reflect egalitarian avoidance of master (n.) as well as the need to distinguish slave from free labor. The slang adjective meaning "excellent" is recorded in 1880s, revived, apparently independently, in teen and jazz slang in 1950s.
boss (n.2): "protuberance, button," c. 1300, from Old French boce "a hump, swelling, tumor" (12c., Modern French bosse), from either Frankish *botija or Vulgar Latin *bottia, both which is of uncertain origin.
boss (v.): 1856, from boss (n.1). Related: Bossed; bossing.
bossa nova: 1962, Brazilian style of music, from Portuguese, literally "new tendency."
bossy (adj.): 1540s, "swelling, projecting and rounded, decorated with bosses" from boss (n.2). Meaning "domineering, fond of ordering people about" is recorded 1882, from boss (n.1) + -y (2). As a common cow name it represents Latin bos "cow" (see cow (n.)).
Boston: U.S. city, 1630, named for town in Lincolnshire, a region from which many settlers came to New England. The name is said to be literally "Botolph's Stone," probably from the name of some Anglo-Saxon landowner (Old English Botwulf). Boston Massacre was March 5, 1770; three civilians killed, two mortally wounded. Card game Boston (1800) is based on the siege of Boston during the American Revolution. The Boston Tea Party (1824) took place on Dec. 16, 1773 (see tea party).
bosun (n.): a mid-19c. respelling to reflect the modern pronunciation of boatswain.
deboshed (adj.): 1590s, anglicized spelling of French pronunciation of debauched "dissolute" (see debauch). Obsolete in England after mid-17c., retained in Scotland, and given a revival of sorts by Scott (1826), so that it turns up in 19c. literary works.
deoxyribose (n.): 1931, from deoxy- (because the 2' hydroxyl (-OH) in the sugar is in this case reduced to a hydrogen (H) by loss of an oxygen) + ribose.
embosom (v.): 1580s, from em- (1) + bosom (n.).
emboss (v.): "to ornament with raised work," late 14c., from Old French *embocer (compare embocieure "boss, stud, buckle"), from assimilated form of en- "in, into" (see en- (1)) + boce "knoblike mass" (see boss (n.2)). Related: Embossed; embossing.
globose (adj.): "spherical, like or resembling a sphere," early 15c., "large and formless," from Latin globosus "round as a ball," from globus (see globe). Related: Globosity.
kibosh (n.): 1836, kye-bosk, in British English slang phrase put the kibosh on, of unknown origin, despite intense speculation. The earliest citation is in Dickens. Looks Yiddish, but its original appearance in a piece set in the heavily Irish "Seven Dials" neighborhood in the West End of London seems to argue against this. One candidate is Irish caip bháis, caipín báis "cap of death," sometimes said to be the black cap a judge would don when pronouncing a death sentence, but in other sources identified as a gruesome method of execution "employed by Brit. forces against 1798 insurgents" [Bernard Share, "Slanguage, A Dictionary of Irish Slang"]. Or the word might somehow be connected with Turkish bosh (see bosh).
nimbostratus (n.): 1932 (earlier use from late 19c. refers to different cloud types), from Modern Latin nimbus (see nimbus) + connecting element -o- + stratus (see stratus).
proboscis (n.): c. 1600, "elephant's trunk," from Latin proboscis (Pliny), from Greek proboskis "elephant's trunk," literally "means for taking food," from pro "forward" (see pro-) + boskein "to nourish, feed," from boskesthai "graze, be fed," from stem *bot- (source of botane "grass, fodder;" see botanic).
ribose (n.): 1892, from German Ribose (1891), from Ribonsäure, a tetrahydroxy acid, with first element shortened and arbitrarily rearranged from English arabinose (c. 1880), a sugar which is so called because it is formed from gum arabic.
ribosome (n.): 1958, coined by U.S. microbiologist Richard B. Roberts (1910-1980) from ribo(nucleic acid) + -some "body."
rooibos (n.): 1911, from Afrikaans rooibos, literally "red bush," from rooi "red," from Dutch roi (see red (adj.1)) + bos "bush" (see bush (n.1)).
stroboscope (n.): "instrument for studying motion by periodic light," 1896, from -scope + comb. form of Greek strobos "a twisting, act of whirling," from PIE *streb(h)- "to wind, turn" (see strophe). Earlier as the name of a similar device used as a "scientific toy" [OED]. Related: Stroboscopic (1846).
thrombosis (n.): 1706, Modern Latin, from Greek thrombosis "a clumping or curdling" (from thrombousthai "become curdled or clotted," from thrombos "clot, curd, lump;" see thrombus) + -osis.
unbosom (v.): "disclose in confidence" (secret opinions or feelings), 1580s, from un- (1) + bosom.
verbose (adj.): "wordy," 1670s, from Latin verbosus "full of words, wordy," from verbum "word" (see verb). Related: Verbosely (c. 1400); verboseness.
verbosity (n.): 1540s, from French verbosité (16c.) or directly from Late Latin verbositas, from Latin verbosus (see verbose).
bulbospongiosus: "(More fully bulbospongiosus muscle) a muscle of the perineum which acts to aid the emptying of the urethra in males, and as a weak vaginal sphincter in females", 1930s.
Proboscidea: "An order of large mammals that comprises the elephants and their extinct relatives. They are distinguished by the possession of a trunk and tusks", Modern Latin (plural), from proboscis.
boscage: "A mass of trees or shrubs", Late Middle English: from Old French; ultimately of Germanic origin and related to bush¹. Compare with bocage.