英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

bootstrap (n.)[bootstrap 词源字典]: also boot-strap, tab or loop at the back of the top of a men's boot, which the wearer hooked a finger through to pull the boots on, 1870, from boot (n.) + strap (n.).

Circa 1900, to pull (oneself) up by (one's) bootstraps was used figuratively of an impossible task (Among the "practical questions" at the end of chapter one of Steele's "Popular Physics" schoolbook (1888) is, "30. Why can not a man lift himself by pulling up on his boot-straps?"). By 1916 its meaning expanded to include "better oneself by rigorous, unaided effort." The meaning "fixed sequence of instructions to load the operating system of a computer" (1953) is from the notion of the first-loaded program pulling itself, and the rest, up by the bootstrap.[bootstrap etymology, bootstrap origin, 英语词源]
Concorde (n.): supersonic passenger airliner, operating from 1976 to 2003, from French concorde, literally "harmony, agreement" (see concord), reflecting the Anglo-French collaborative agreement that produced it.
cooperate (v.): also co-operate, c. 1600, from Late Latin cooperatus, past participle of cooperari "to work together with" (see cooperation). Related: Cooperated; cooperating.
gung ho (adj.): also gung-ho, gungho, 1942, slang motto of Carlson's Raiders (2nd Marine Raider Battalion, under Lt. Col. Evans Carlson, 1896-1947), U.S. guerrilla unit operating in the Pacific in World War II, from Chinese kung ho "work together, cooperate." Widely adopted in American English 1959.
Borrowing an idea from China, Carlson frequently has what he calls 'kung-hou' meetings .... Problems are threshed out and orders explained. ["New York Times Magazine," Nov. 8, 1942]
Linux: computer operating system, named for Linux kernel, written 1991 by Linus Torvalds of Finland (who coined the word but did not choose it as the name).
modus operandi (n.): "way of doing or accomplishing," 1650s, Latin, literally "mode of operating" (see modus). Abbreviation m.o. is attested from 1955.
operate (v.): c. 1600, "to be in effect," back-formation from operation, or else from Latin operatus, past participle of operari "to work, labor, toil, take pains" (in Late Latin "to have effect, be active, cause"). Surgical sense is first attested 1799. Meaning "to work machinery" is from 1864 in American English. Related: Operated; operating. Operating system in the computer sense is from 1961.
start (v.): Old English *steortian, *stiertan, Kentish variants of styrtan "to leap up" (related to starian "to stare"), from Proto-Germanic *stert- (cognates: Old Frisian stirta "to fall, tumble," Middle Dutch sterten, Dutch storten "to rush, fall," Old High German sturzen, German stürzen "to hurl, throw, plunge"), of uncertain origin. According to Watkins, the notion is "move briskly, move swiftly," and it is from PIE root *ster- (1) "stiff."

From "move or spring suddenly," sense evolved by late 14c. to "awaken suddenly, flinch or recoil in alarm," and by 1660s to "cause to begin acting or operating." Meaning "begin to move, leave, depart" (without implication of suddenness) is from 1821. The connection probably is from sporting senses ("to force an animal from its lair," late 14c.). Transitive sense of "set in motion or action" is from 1670s; specifically as "to set (machinery) in action" from 1841.

Related: Started; starting. To start something "cause trouble" is 1915, American English colloquial. To start over "begin again" is from 1912. Starting-line in running is from 1855; starting-block in running first recorded 1937.
synergetic (adj.): "working together, cooperating," 1680s, from Greek synergetikos "cooperative," from synergein "to work together, cooperate" (see synergy). Synergic (1849) is from synergy + -ic.
tele-: before vowels tel-, word-forming element meaning "far, far off, operating over distance" (also, since c. 1940, "television"), from Greek tele-, combining form of tele "far off, afar, at or to a distance," related to teleos (genitive telos) "end, goal, completion, perfection," literally "completion of a cycle," from PIE *kwel-es- (cognates: Sanskrit caramah "the last," Breton pell "far off," Welsh pellaf "uttermost"), perhaps from root *kwel- (1) (see cycle (n.)).
transeunt (adj.): variant of transient (adj.), usually in a sense of "operating beyond or outside itself" (opposite of immanent).
undercover (adj.): 1854, "sheltered," from under + cover (n.). Sense of "operating secretly" attested from 1920.
wind (v.1): "move by turning and twisting," Old English windan "to turn, twist, plait, curl, brandish, swing" (class III strong verb; past tense wand, past participle wunden), from Proto-Germanic *windan "to wind" (cognates: Old Saxon windan, Old Norse vinda, Old Frisian winda, Dutch winden, Old High German wintan, German winden, Gothic windan "to wind"), from PIE *wendh- "to turn, wind, weave" (cognates: Latin viere "twist, plait, weave," vincire "bind;" Lithuanian vyti "twist, wind").

Related to wend, which is its causative form, and to wander. The past tense and past participle merged in Middle English. Meaning "to twine, entwine oneself around" is from 1590s; transitive sense of "turn or twist round and round (on something) is from c. 1300. Meaning "set a watch, clockwork, etc. in operating mode by tightening its spring" is from c. 1600. Wind down "come to a conclusion" is recorded from 1952; wind up "come to a conclusion" is from 1825; earlier in transitive sense "put (affairs) in order in advance of a final settlement" (1780). Winding sheet "shroud of a corpse" is attested from early 15c.
animatronics: "The technique of making and operating lifelike robots, typically for use in film or other entertainment", 1970s: blend of animated and electronics.
mouse potato: "A person who spends large amounts of leisure or working time operating a computer", 1990s: on the pattern of couch potato.
Unix: "An operating system analogous to DOS and Windows, supporting multiple concurrent users", 1970s: from uni- 'one' + a respelling of -ics, on the pattern of an earlier less compact system called Multics.