Origin and history of Abd

Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi, traveling in Egypt circa A.D. 1300, reported buying three mummified heads filled with asphalt for...

mid-14c., "inclined, disposed;" late 14c., "suited, fitted, adapted, possessing the necessary qualities for the purpose," from Old French ate "fitting, suitable, appropriate" (13c., Modern French apte), or directly from Latin aptus "fit, suited, proper, appropriate," adjectival u

1900, coined by U.S. author L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) in "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." He never explained how he got the word. The word most like it is perhaps mutchkin, an old Scottish measure of capacity for liquids, which was used by Scott. (It comes from Middle Dutch mutseken

late 14c., legacie, "body of persons sent on a mission," from Medieval Latin legatia, from Latin legatus "ambassador, envoy, deputy," noun use of past participle of legare "send with a commission, appoint as deputy, appoint by a last will" (see legate). Sense of "property left by

c. 1200, "unmarried or chaste woman noted for religious piety and having a position of reverence in the Church," from Anglo-French and Old French virgine "virgin; Virgin Mary," from Latin virginem (nominative virgo) "maiden, unwedded girl or woman," also an adjective, "fresh, unu

c. 1300, "man consecrated to service in the Christian Church, an ecclesiastic;" also "an agent acting for a superior, one who acts upon the authority of another," from Old French menistre "servant, valet, member of a household staff, administrator, musician, minstrel" (12c.) and

"constant in effort to accomplish what is undertaken," mid-14c., from Old French diligent (14c.) and directly from Latin diligentem (nominative diligens) "attentive, assiduous, careful," present-participle adjective from diligere "single out, value highly, esteem, prize, love; as

early 15c., "a calling up or driving out of evil spirits," from Late Latin exorcismus, from Greek exorkismos "administration of an oath," in Ecclesiastical Greek, "exorcism," from exorkizein "exorcise, bind by oath," from ex "out of" (see ex-) + horkizein "cause to swear," from h

"fame, renown, glory," 1799, probably originally in university slang, from Greek kydos "glory, fame," especially in battle, "a poetical word, found chiefly in the Iliad and Odyssey" [Century Dictionary], literally "that which is heard of," perhaps from PIE root *keu- "to see, obs

unshaped large piece of tree, early 14c., of unknown origin. Old Norse had lag "felled tree" (from stem of liggja "to lie," hence "a tree that lies prostrate"), but many etymologists deny on phonological grounds that this can be the root of English log. Instead, they suggest an i