Old English dæge "female servant, woman who handles food in a household, housekeeper," from Proto-Germanic *daigjon (source also of Old Norse deigja "maid, female servant," Swedish deja "dairymaid"), from PIE root *dheigh- "to form, build." Now obsolete (though OED says, "Still in living use in parts of Scotland"), it forms the first element of dairy and the second of lady.

OED says the ground sense of the ancient word seems to be "kneader, maker of bread;" it would have then advanced via Old Norse deigja and Middle English daie to mean "female servant, woman employed in a house or on a farm." By c. 1200 it had acquired the specific sense of "woman in charge of milking and making butter and cheese, dairy-maid." Dæge as "servant" is the second element in many surnames ending in -day (such as Faraday, and perhaps Doubleday, if it means "servant of the Twin," etc.).

past tense and past participle of have, from Old English gehæfd. Assimilation of -f- to a following consonant is typical (as also in woman, lord, lady, head (n.), leman). Used since late Old English as an auxiliary to make pluperfect tense-phrases. You never had it so good (1946) was said to be the stock answer to any complaints about U.S. Army life.

Middle English hed, from Old English heafod "top of the body," also "upper end of a slope," also "chief person, leader, ruler; capital city," from Proto-Germanic *haubid (source also of Old Saxon hobid, Old Norse hofuð, Old Frisian haved, Middle Dutch hovet, Dutch hoofd, Old High German houbit, German Haupt, Gothic haubiþ "head"), from PIE root *kaput- "head."

Modern spelling is early 15c., representing what was then a long vowel (as in heat) and remained after pronunciation shifted. Of rounded tops of plants from late 14c. The meaning "origin of a river" is mid-14c. The meaning "obverse of a coin" (the side with the portrait) is from 1680s; meaning "foam on a mug of beer" is attested by 1540s; meaning "toilet" is from 1748, based on location of crew toilet in the bow (or head) of a ship.

Synecdochic use for "person" (as in head count) is attested by late 13c.; of cattle, etc., in this sense from 1510s. As a height measure of persons, from c. 1300. Meaning "drug addict" (usually in a compound with the preferred drug as the first element) is from 1911.

To be over (one's) head "beyond one's comprehension" is by 1620s. To give head "perform fellatio" is from 1950s. Phrase heads will roll "people will be punished" (1930) translates Adolf Hitler. Head case "eccentric or insane person" is from 1966. Head game "mental manipulation" attested by 1972. To put heads together "consult" is from late 14c.

also lady-bug, 1690s, from lady + bug (n.). The "lady" is the Virgin Mary (compare German cognate Marienkäfer). In Britain, usually ladybird (q.v.) or lady-bird (1670s), supposedly through aversion to the word bug due to overtones of sodomy, however this seems to be the older form of the word. Also known 17c.-18c. as lady-cow or lady-fly, and in provincial English lady-clock.

also lady-like, 1580s, "like a lady" in any respect, especially "refined, well-bred, courteous;" see lady + like (adj.). Applied to men, "effeminate" (17c.). Middle English had ladily "queenly, exalted" (late 14c.).

late 13c., from Old English hlaf "a portion of bread baked in a mass of definite form," from Proto-Germanic *khlaibuz, the common Germanic word for "bread" (source also of Old Norse hleifr, Swedish lev, Old Frisian hlef, Old High German hleib, German Laib, Gothic hlaifs "bread, loaf").

The Germanic root is of uncertain origin; it is perhaps connected to Old English hlifian "to raise higher, tower," on the notion of the bread rising as it bakes, but (according to OED) it is unclear whether "loaf" or "bread" is the original sense. Loaf also is disguised in lord and lady. Finnish leipä, Estonian leip, Old Church Slavonic chlebu, Lithuanian klepas probably are Germanic loan words.

The meaning "chopped meat shaped like a bread loaf" is attested from 1787. The figurative use of loaves and fishes to suggest "religious profession for the sake of personal gain" is from John vi.26.

mid-13c., laverd, loverd, from Old English hlaford "master of a household, ruler, feudal lord, superior; husband," also "God," translating Latin dominus, Greek kyrios in the New Testament, Hebrew yahweh in the Old (though Old English dryhten was more frequent). Old English hlaford is a contraction of earlier hlafweard, literally "one who guards the loaves," from hlaf "bread, loaf" (see loaf (n.)) + weard "keeper, guardian" (from PIE root *wer- (3) "perceive, watch out for").

The modern monosyllabic form emerged 14c. Compare lady (etymologically "bread-kneader"), and Old English hlafæta "household servant," literally "loaf-eater." For elision of the -v-, compare hawk, head, lark, the prehistoric contraction in Harold, poetic e'en, e'er, o'er; Northern English and Scottish deil "devil," etc.

The meaning "an owner of land, houses, etc.," is from c. 1300; the sense in landlord. As the "usual polite or respectful form of address to a nobleman under the rank of a duke, and to a bishop" [OED, 1989] from 1540s. As an interjection from late 14c. Lords "peers of England," especially as represented in parliaments, is from mid-15c.

Lord's Prayer is from 1540s. Year of our Lord is from late 14c. (translating Latin anno domini) in reference to the incarnation of God in Christ. Lord knows (who, what, why, etc.), expressing a state of ignorance, is from 1711. Lord of the Flies (1907) translates Beelzebub (q.v.); William Golding's book was published in 1954. To drink like a lord is from 1620s.

"adult female human," Middle English womman, from late Old English wimman, wiman (plural wimmen), literally "woman-man," an alteration of earlier wifman (plural wifmen) "woman; female servant" (8c.). This is a compound of wif, the older word for "woman" (see wife) + man in the sense of "human being" (see man (n.)).

It is notable that it was thought necessary to join wif, a neuter noun, representing a female person, to man, a masc. noun representing either a male or female person, to form a word denoting a female person exclusively. [Century Dictionary]

 Compare Dutch vrouwmens "wife," literally "woman-man." The formation is peculiar to English and Dutch. In English it replaced wif and quean as "female human being," as in Jesus's answer to his mother, in Anglo-Saxon gospels la, wif, hwæt is me and þe? (John ii:4 "Woman, what have I to do with thee?").

The pronunciation altered in Middle English by the rounding influence of -w- (compare wood (n.), Old English wudu, earlier widu). The plural women retains the original vowel-sound. The spelling shift from wi- to wu- is attested by c. 1200, the scribal shift to wo- is by late 13c. (see come (v)). Century Dictionary (1891) suggested a spelling *womman "would be better," along with *woolf for wolf.

The meaning "wife," now largely restricted to U.S. dialectal use, is attested from mid-15c. In American English, lady is "In loose and especially polite usage, a woman" [Craigie, "Dictionary of American English"]. This peculiarity was commented upon by English travelers; in the U.S. the custom was considered especially Southern, but the English regarded it simply as American.

This noble word [woman], spirit-stirring as it passes over English ears, is in America banished, and 'ladies' and 'females' substituted; the one to English taste mawkish and vulgar; the other indistinctive and gross. The effect is odd. [Harriet Martineau, 1837]

Woman-hater "misogynist, one with an aversion to women generally," is from c. 1600. Women's work, that considered appropriate to women, is from 1660s.

Woman suffrage, women's suffrage is by 1867, when it was an issue in U.S. state elections. Women's movement is by 1902 (woman movement is by 1883). Women's liberation is attested by 1956 in communist writings; women's rights is from 1840, with an isolated example in 1630s. Womanism is by 1863.

The woman question "controversy over women's rights" is by 1838.

Among the much vexed questions of the day, what is technically called the woman question has a strong prominence. Not only has it been talked upon and written upon, but acted upon in real life. The words, that seemed a wonder and abomination in the mouth of Mary Wolstoncraft, have now become familiar sounds. ["The Woman Question" in Western Messenger, November 1838]

plural of lady (q.v.). Ladies' night (1880) originally was any event to which women were invited at an all-male club.

Every succeeding occasion is usually said to be "the best ever," but for true pleasure, comfort and genuine enjoyment it is doubtful if any occasion has been more truly "the best ever" than the ladies' night of the Paint, Oil and Varnish Club of Chicago, which was given in the Crystal ballroom of the Blackstone Hotel, Chicago, Thursday evening January 26. ["Paint, Oil and Drug Review," Feb. 1, 1911]

"render ladylike, make a lady of, give the title of lady to," c. 1600; see lady (n.) + -fy. Related: Ladified; ladifying.