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bluff [bluff 词源字典]: bluff: English has two words bluff, one or perhaps both of them of Dutch origin. The older, ‘hearty’ [17], originally referred to ships, and meant ‘having a flat vertical bow’. This nautical association suggests a Dutch provenance, though no thoroughly convincing source has been found. The sense ‘flat, vertical, (and broad)’ came to be applied to land features, such as cliffs (hence the noun bluff ‘high steep bank’, which emerged in America in the 18th century).

The word’s metaphorical extension to people was at first derogatory – ‘rough, blunt’ – but the more favourable ‘hearty’ had developed by the early 19th century. Bluff ‘deceive’ [19] was originally a US poker term. It comes from Dutch bluffen ‘boast’, the descendant of Middle Dutch bluffen ‘swell up’.
[bluff etymology, bluff origin, 英语词源]
bother: bother: [18] When the word bother first turns up in English in the first half of the 18th century, it is largely in the writings of Irishmen, such as Thomas Sheridan and Jonathan Swift. This has naturally led to speculation that the word may be of Irish origin, but no thoroughly convincing candidate has been found. The superficially similar Irish Gaelic bodhar ‘deaf, afflicted’ is more alike in spelling than pronunciation. Another suggestion is that it may represent an Irish way of saying pother [16], an archaic word for ‘commotion’ which is itself of unknown origin.
canvas: canvas: [14] Canvas is related ultimately to hemp, for originally canvas was a cloth made from hemp. Latin cannabis (from the same source as English hemp) produced the Vulgar Latin derivative *cannapāceum, which passed into English via Old Northern French canevas. The verb canvass [16] appears to come from the noun: it originally meant ‘toss in a canvas sheet’, and this was perhaps the basis, via an intermediate ‘criticize roughly’, of the metaphorical sense ‘discuss thoroughly’. It is not clear where the political meaning ‘solicit votes’ came from.
=> cannabis, hemp
catechism: catechism: [16] Etymologically, catechism is ‘teaching by the spoken word’. It is a derivative of catechize [15], which comes ultimately from the Greek verb katēkhein, a compound formed from the prefix katá- ‘thoroughly’ and the verb ēkhein ‘sound, resound’ (related to English echo). Thus originally to ‘catechize’ someone was literally to ‘din’ instruction into them, hence ‘instruct orally’. The word came into English via a later ecclesiastical Greek derivative katēkhízein and Latin catēchīzāre.
=> echo
demerit: demerit: [14] A demerit may be virtually the opposite of a merit, but the word was not formed, as might be supposed, by adding the prefix de-, denoting oppositeness or reversal, to merit. Its distant ancestor was Latin demeritum, from the verb demereri ‘deserve’, where the de- prefix meant not ‘opposite of’ but ‘completely’ (as it does too in, for example, denude and despoil).

Add this de- to mereri ‘deserve’ and you get ‘deserve thoroughly’. However, at some point in the Middle Ages the prefix began to be reinterpreted as ‘opposite’, and medieval Latin demeritum came to mean ‘fault’ – the sense that reached English via French démérite.
distemper: distemper: English has two distinct words distemper, although ultimately they come from the same source, Latin temperāre ‘mingle’ (source of English temper, temperate, and temperature). This formed the basis of two separate medieval Latin verbs, both compounded from the prefix dis- but using it in quite different ways. Dis- in the sense ‘reversal of a current state’ joined with temperāre in the specialized meaning ‘mingle in proper proportion’ to produce distemperāre ‘upset the proper balance of bodily humours’, hence ‘vex, make ill’.

This passed directly into English as distemper [14], and survives today mainly as the term for an infectious disease of dogs. Disjoined with temperāre in its intensive function produced medieval Latin distemperāre ‘mix thoroughly, soak’, which entered English via Old French destemprer in the 14th century. The meaning ‘soak, steep, infuse’ survived until the 17th century: ‘Give the Horse thereof every morning … the quantity of a Hasel-nut distempered in a quart of Wine’, Edward Topsell, History of Four-footed Beasts 1607.

The word’s modern application, to a water-based decorator’s paint, comes from the fact that the pigment is mixed with or infused in water (the same notion lies behind tempera [19], borrowed from Italian).
=> temper, temperate, temperature
drench: drench: [OE] Originally, drench meant simply ‘cause to drink’. It comes ultimately from the prehistoric Germanic verb *drangkjan, which was a causative variant of *drengkan (source of English drink) – that is to say, it denoted ‘causing someone to do the action of the verb drink’. That particular sense now survives only as a technical usage in veterinary medicine, but already by the Middle English period it had moved on metaphorically to ‘drown’ (now obsolete, and succeeded by the related drown) and ‘soak thoroughly’.
=> drink, drown
forgive: forgive: [OE] Forgive is what is known technically as a ‘calque’ or loan translation – that is, it was created by taking the component parts of a foreign word, translating them literally, and then putting them back together to form a new word. In this case the foreign word was Latin perdōnāre ‘forgive’ (source of English pardon), which was a compound verb formed from per- ‘thoroughly’ and dōnāre ‘give’ (its underlying sense was ‘give wholeheartedly’). These two elements were translated in prehistoric Germanic times and assembled to give *fergeban, from which have come German vergeben, Dutch vergeven, and English forgive.
=> give
pizza: pizza: [20] Italian pizza is quite a broad term, signifying ‘cake’, ‘tart’ or ‘pie’ and encompassing dishes as diverse as a closed fruit pie and a flat bread-dough base with a topping. It is the latter, of course, that brought the word into English. At first, both the word and the foodstuff were unfamiliar enough for the tautologous name ‘pizza pie’ to be deemed necessary, but the fast-food revolution from the 1960s onwards has thoroughly naturalized pizza (US fast-food outlets have their own abbreviation, za).

The origin of the Italian word is uncertain. It has been linked with Vulgar Latin *picea, a derivative of Latin pyx ‘pitch’ (in which case it would be paralleled by Welsh bara pyglyd, literally ‘pitchy bread’, possibly a reference to its colour, from which English gets pikelet [18], the name of a type of tea-cake), but it could also be related to modern Greek pitta (source of English pitta [20]), which may be a descendant of classical Greek peptos ‘cooked’.
quite: quite: [14] Quite is essentially the same word as the adjective quit ‘free, absolved, discharged, cleared’ (which in Middle English commonly took the alternative form quite). It came to be used as an adverb meaning ‘thoroughly, clearly’. The weaker modern sense ‘fairly’ did not develop until as recently as the mid-19th century.
=> quit
scour: scour: [13] The notion of ‘cleaning’ implicit in scour evolved from an earlier ‘take care of’. For the word goes back ultimately to Latin cūrāre (source of English cure), which originally meant ‘take care of’, and only in medieval times came to mean ‘clean’. Combination with the prefix ex- ‘out’ produced excūrāre ‘clean out’, which reached English via Old French escurer and Middle Dutch scūren. Scour ‘search thoroughly’ [14] (as in ‘scour the countryside’) is a different word, and may come from Old Norse skýra ‘rush in’.
=> cure
season: season: [13] A season is etymologically a time of ‘sowing seeds’. The word comes via Old French seson from Latin satiō ‘act of sowing’, a derivative of satus, the past participle of serere ‘sow, plant’ (which went back to the same Indo- European base that produced English seed, semen, and sow). In post-classical times ‘act of sowing’ evolved into ‘time for sowing’, and by the time it reached Old French it had developed further to any ‘suitable time’.

The application to ‘any of the four main divisions of the year’ emerged in English in the 14th century. The use of season as a verb, meaning ‘add flavourings to’, had its beginnings in post-classical Latin, and arose as the result of a progression from ‘sow’ through ‘ripen’ to ‘cook thoroughly or well’.
=> seed, semen, sow
be-: word-forming element with a wide range of meaning: "thoroughly, completely; to make, cause seem; to provide with; at, on, to, for," from Old English be- "on all sides" (also used to make transitive verbs and as a privative or intensive prefix), from weak form of Old English bi "by," probably cognate with second syllable of Greek amphi, Latin ambi and originally meaning "about" (see ambi-).

This sense naturally drifted into intensive (as in bespatter "spatter about," therefore "spatter very much"). Be- can also be privative (as in behead), causative, or have just about any sense required. The prefix was productive 16c.-17c. in forming useful words, many of which have not survived, such as bethwack "to thrash soundly" (1550s), betongue "to assail in speech, to scold" (1630s).
berate (v.): 1540s, from be- "thoroughly" + Middle English rate "to scold" (late 14c.), from Old French reter "accuse, blame," from Latin reputare (see reputation). "Obsolete except in U.S." [OED 1st ed.], but it seems to have revived in Britain 20c. Related: Berated; berating.
betroth (v.): c. 1300, betrouthen, from bi-, here probably with a sense of "thoroughly," + Middle English treowðe "truth," from Old English treowðe "truth, a pledge" (see troth). Related: Betrothed; betrothing.
bewilder (v.): 1680s, from be- "thoroughly" + archaic wilder "lead astray, lure into the wilds," probably a back-formation of wilderness. An earlier word with the same sense was bewhape (early 14c.). Related: Bewildered; bewildering; bewilderingly.
catechesis (n.): from Greek katekhesis "instruction by word of mouth," from katekhein "to instruct orally," originally "to resound" (with sense evolution via "to sound (something) in someone's ear; to teach by word of mouth." From kata- "down" (in this case, "thoroughly") + ekhein "to sound, ring," from ekhe "sound," from PIE *(s)wagh- "to resound" (see echo (n.)). Related: Catachectic; catachectical.
chapter (n.): c. 1200, "main division of a book," from Old French chapitre (12c.) "chapter (of a book), article (of a treaty), chapter (of a cathedral)," alteration of chapitle, from Late Latin capitulum, diminutive of caput (genitive capitis) "head" (see capitulum). Sense of "local branch" (1815) is from cathedral sense (late 15c.), which seems to trace to convocations of canons at cathedral churches, during which the rules of the order by chapter, or a chapter (capitulum) of Scripture, were read aloud to the assembled. Chapter and verse "in full and thoroughly" (1620s) is a reference to Scripture.
comestible (n.): 1837, "article of food," from French comestible (14c.), from Late Latin comestibilis, from Latin comestus, past participle of comedere "eat up, consume," from com- "thoroughly" (see com-) + edere "to eat" (see edible). It was attested earlier as an adjective (late 15c.) meaning "fit to eat" but seems to have fallen from use 17c., and the word was reintroduced from French.
commotion (n.): late 14c., from Middle French commocion "violent motion, agitation" (12c., Modern French commotion), from Latin commotionem (nominative commotio) "violent motion, agitation," noun of action from past participle stem of commovere "to move, disturb," from com- "together," or "thoroughly" (see com-) + movere "to move" (see move (v.)).
conscience (n.): early 13c., from Old French conscience "conscience, innermost thoughts, desires, intentions; feelings" (12c.), from Latin conscientia "knowledge within oneself, sense of right, a moral sense," from conscientem (nominative consciens), present participle of conscire "be (mutually) aware," from com- "with," or "thoroughly" (see com-) + scire "to know" (see science).

Probably a loan-translation of Greek syneidesis, literally "with-knowledge." Sometimes nativized in Old English/Middle English as inwit. Russian also uses a loan-translation, so-vest, "conscience," literally "with-knowledge."
convex (adj.): 1570s, from Middle French convexe, from Latin convexus "vaulted, arched," past participle of convehere "to bring together," from com- "together," or "thoroughly" (see com-) + vehere "to bring" (see vehicle). Possibly from the idea of vaults carried together to meet at the point of a roof. Related: Convexity. Convex lens is from 1822.
corroborate (v.): 1530s, "to give (legal) confirmation to," from Latin corroboratus, past participle of corroborare "to strengthen, invigorate," from com- "together" or "thoroughly" (see com-) + roborare "to make strong," from robur, robus "strength," (see robust).

Meaning "to strengthen by evidence, to confirm" is from 1706. Sometimes in early use the word also has its literal Latin sense, especially of medicines. Related: Corroborated; corroborating; corroborative.
daub (v.): late 14c. (Dauber as a surname is recorded from mid-13c.), from Old French dauber "to whitewash, plaster" (13c.), perhaps from Latin dealbare, from de- "thoroughly" + albare "to whiten," from albus "white" (see alb). Painting sense is from 1620s. Related: Daubed; daubing. As a noun, from mid-15c.
deacon (n.): Old English deacon, diacon, from Late Latin diaconus, from Greek diakonos "servant of the church, religious official," literally "servant," from dia- "thoroughly" + PIE *kon-o-, from root *ken- (1) "to set oneself in motion."
defraud (v.): mid-14c., from Old French defrauder, from Latin defraudare "to defraud, cheat," from de- "thoroughly" (see de-) + fraudare "to cheat, swindle" (see fraud). Related: Defrauded; defrauding.
depredation (n.): late 15c., from Middle French déprédation, from Late Latin depraedationem (nominative depraedatio) "a plundering," from past participle stem of Latin depraedari "to pillage," from de- "thoroughly" (see de-) + praedari "to plunder," literally "to make prey of," from praeda "prey" (see prey (n.)).
desiccation (n.): early 15c., from Middle French desiccation or directly from Late Latin desiccationem (nominative desiccatio), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin desiccare "to make very dry," from de- "thoroughly" (see de-) + siccare "to dry" (see siccative).
di- (3): word-forming element meaning "through; thoroughly," form of dia- before vowels.
dia-: before vowels, di-, word-forming element meaning "through, thoroughly, entirely," from Greek dia-, from dia "through, throughout," probably from the root of duo "two" (see two) with a base sense of "twice."
diagnosis (n.): 1680s, medical Latin application of Greek diagnosis "a discerning, distinguishing," from stem of diagignoskein "discern, distinguish," literally "to know thoroughly," from dia- "apart" (see dia-) + gignoskein "to learn" (see gnostic).
diaper (n.): mid-14c., "fabric with a repeated pattern of figures," from Old French diaspre "ornamental cloth; flowered, patterned silk cloth," perhaps via Medieval Latin diasprum from Medieval Greek diaspros "thoroughly white," or perhaps "white interspersed with other colors," from dia- (see dia-) + aspros "white."

Aspros originally meant "rough," and was applied to the raised parts of coins (among other things), and thus was used in Byzantine Greek to mean "silver coin," from which the bright, shiny qualities made it an adjective for whiteness. Modern sense of "underpants for babies" is continuous since 1837, but such usage has been traced back to 1590s.
diastole (n.): 1570s, from medical Latin diastole, from Greek diastole "drawing asunder, dilation," from diastellein, from dia- "through, thoroughly, entirely" (see dia-) + stellein "to set in order, arrange, array, equip, make ready," from PIE *stel-yo-, suffixed form of root *stel- "to put, stand," with derivatives referring to a standing object or place (see stall (n.1)).
diocese (n.): early 14c., from Old French diocese (13c., Modern French diocèse), from Late Latin diocesis "a governor's jurisdiction," later, "a bishop's jurisdiction," from Greek dioikesis "government, administration; province," originally "economy, housekeeping," from dioikein "control, govern, administer, manage a house," from dia- "thoroughly" (see dia-) + oikos "house" (see villa).
disciple (n.): Old English discipul (fem. discipula), Biblical borrowing from Latin discipulus "pupil, student, follower," said to be from discere "to learn" [OED, Watkins], from a reduplicated form of PIE root *dek- "to take, accept" (see decent). But according to Barnhart and Klein, from a lost compound *discipere "to grasp intellectually, analyze thoroughly," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + capere "to take, take hold of" (see capable). Compare Latin capulus "handle" from capere. Sometimes glossed in Old English by þegn (see thane).
downright (adv.): c. 1200, "straight down," from down (adv.) + right (adj.1). Meaning "thoroughly" attested from c. 1300. Old English had dunrihte "downwards," and inverted form right-down is attested 17c.
drench (v.): c. 1200, "to submerge, drown," from Old English drencan "give drink to, ply with drink, make drunk; soak, saturate; submerge, drown," causative of drincan "to drink" (see drink), from Proto-Germanic *drankijan (cognates: Old Norse drekkja, Swedish dränka, Dutch drenken, German tränken, Gothic dragkjan "to give to drink"). Sense of "to wet thoroughly by throwing liquid over" is from c. 1550. Related: Drenched; drenching.
ecru (adj.): 1869, "having the color of raw silk or unbleached linen," from French écru "raw, unbleached," from Old French escru "raw, crude, rough" (13c.), from es- "thoroughly" (see ex-) + Latin crudus "raw" (see crude).
exacerbation (n.): c. 1400, from Late Latin exacerbationem (nominative exacerbatio), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin exacerbare "exasperate, irritate, provoke," from ex- "thoroughly" (see ex-) + acerbus "harsh, bitter," from acer "sharp, keen" (see acrid).
exaggerate (v.): 1530s, "to pile up, accumulate," from Latin exaggeratus, past participle of exaggerare "heighten, amplify, magnify," literally "to heap, pile, load, fill," from ex- "thoroughly" (see ex-) + aggerare "heap up, accumulate," figuratively "amplify, magnify," from agger (genitive aggeris) "heap," from aggerere "bring together, carry toward," from assimilated form of ad- "to, toward" (see ad-) + gerere "carry" (see gest). Sense of "overstate" first recorded in English 1560s. Related: Exaggerated; exaggerating.
exasperate (v.): 1530s, "irritate, provoke to anger," from Latin exasperatus, past participle of exasperare "make rough, roughen, irritate, provoke," from ex- "thoroughly" (see ex-) + asper "rough" (see asperity). Related: Exasperated; exasperating.
excruciate (v.): 1560s, from Latin excruciatus, past participle of excruciare "to torture, torment, rack, plague;" figuratively "to afflict, harass, vex, torment," from ex- "out, thoroughly" (see ex-) + cruciare "cause pain or anguish to," literally "crucify," from crux (genitive crucis) "a cross" (see cross (n.)).
exhilarate (v.): 1530s, from Latin exhilaratus "cheerful, merry," past participle of exhilarare "gladden, cheer," from ex- "thoroughly" (see ex-) + hilarare "make cheerful," from hilarus "cheerful" (see hilarity). Related: Exhilarated; exhilarating.
exhortation (n.): late 14c., from Old French exhortacion and directly from Latin exhortationem (nominative exhortatio) "an exhortation, encouragement," noun of action from past participle stem of exhortari "to exhort, encourage," from ex- "thoroughly" (see ex-) + hortari "encourage, urge" (see hortatory). From early 15c. as "speech for the purpose of exhortation."
expect (v.): 1550s, "wait, defer action," from Latin expectare/exspectare "await, look out for; desire, hope, long for, anticipate; look for with anticipation," from ex- "thoroughly" (see ex-) + spectare "to look," frequentative of specere "to look at" (see scope (n.1)).

Figurative sense of "anticipate, look forward to" developed in Latin and is attested in English from c. 1600. Also from c. 1600 as "regard as about to happen." Meaning "count upon (to do something), trust or rely on" is from 1630s. Used since 1817 as a euphemism for "be pregnant." In the sense "suppose, reckon, suspect," it is attested from 1640s but was regarded as a New England provincialism. Related: Expected; expecting.
exquisite (adj.): early 15c., "carefully selected," from Latin exquisitus "choice," literally "carefully sought out," from past participle stem of exquirere "search out thoroughly," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + quaerere "to seek" (see query (v.)).

Originally in English of any thing (good or bad, torture and diseases as well as art) brought to a highly wrought condition, sometimes shading into disapproval. The main modern meaning, "of consummate and delightful excellence" is first attested 1579, in Lyly's "Euphues." Related: Exquisitely; exquisiteness. The noun meaning "a dandy, fop" is from 1819. Bailey's Dictionary (1727) has exquisitous "not natural, but procured by art."
exuberant (adj.): mid-15c., from Middle French exubérant and directly from Latin exuberantem (nominative exuberans) "overabundance," present participle of exuberare "be abundant, grow luxuriously," from ex- "thoroughly" (see ex-) + uberare "be fruitful," related to uber "udder," from PIE root *eue-dh-r- (see udder). Related: Exuberantly; exuberate; exuberating.
floor (v.): early 15c., "to furnish with a floor," from floor (n.). Sense of "puzzle, confound" is from 1830, a figurative use, from earlier sense of "knock down to the floor" (1640s). In mid-19c. English university slang, it meant "do thoroughly and successfully" (1852). Related: Floored; flooring.
ground (v.): mid-13c., "to put on the ground, to strike down to the ground;" late 14c., "lay the foundation of," also, figuratively, "to base" (an argument, sermon, etc.), from ground (n.). Meaning "instruct thoroughly in the basics" is from late 14c. Of ships, "to run into the ground," from mid-15c. (intransitive), transitive sense from 1650s. Of arms, from 1711. Electrical sense from 1881. Meaning "deny privileges" is 1940s, originally a punishment meted out to pilots (in which sense it is attested from 1930). In the sense "establish firmly" Old English had grundweallian, grundstaðelian; also gryndan "descend," gegryndan "to found."
grounded (adj.): late 14c., "learned, instructed thoroughly in the basics;" 1540s as "firmly fixed or established," past participle adjective from ground (v.). Electrical sense is from 1889. Meaning "having been denied privileges" is from 1940s. Dickens had room-ridden "confined to one's room."