Explanatory Notes

Etymology 		Attributive Nouns Index   Dates

The matter in boldface square brackets preceding the definition is the etymology. Meanings given in roman type within these brackets are not definitions of the entry, but are meanings of the Middle English, Old English, or non-English words within the brackets.

The etymology traces a vocabulary entry as far back as possible in English (as to Old English), tells from what language and in what form it came into English, and (except in the case of such words outside the general vocabulary of English as  dacha and  zloty ) traces the pre-English source as far back as possible. These etyma are printed in italics.



OLD, MIDDLE, AND MODERN ENGLISH
The etymology usually gives the Middle English and the Old English forms of words in the following style:
1 reed ...  n [ME  rede, fr. OE  hre¼od ...]
1 hate ...  n [ME, fr. OE  hete ...]
An etymology in which a word is traced back to Middle English but not to Old English indicates that the word is found in Middle English but not in those texts that have survived from the Old English period:
1 clog ...  n [ME  clogge short thick piece of wood]
1 rub ...  vb ... [ME  rubben; akin to Icel  rubba to scrape]
An etymology in which a word is traced back directly to Old English with no intervening mention of Middle English indicates that the word has not survived continuously from Old English times to the present. Rather, it died out after the Old English period and has been revived in modern times:
Geat ...  n [OE  Ge¼at ]
thegn ...  n [OE ...]
An etymology is not usually given for a word created in English by the combination of existing constituents or by functional shift. This indicates that the identity of the constitutents is expected to be self-evident to the user.
an·ti·quark ...  n ...  : the antiparticle of the quark
time·sav·ing ...  adj ...  : intended or serving to expedite something
tooth·paste ...  n ...  : a paste for cleaning the teeth
nose cone  n ...  : a protective cone constituting the forward end of a rocket or missile
2 wheel  vi ...  1 : to turn on or as if on an axis ...
In the case of a family of words obviously related to a common English word but differing from it by containing various easily recognizable suffixes, an etymology is usually given only at the base word, even though some of the derivatives may have been formed in a language other than English:
1 equal ...  adj [ME, fr. L  aequalis, fr.  aequus level, equal] ... 1 a (1)  : of the same measure, quantity, amount, or number as another
equal·i·ty ...  n ...  1 :  the quality or state of being equal
equal·ize ...  vt ...  1 : to make equal
While  equalize was formed in Modern English,  equality was actually borrowed into Middle English (via Middle French) from Latin aequalitas.

When an entry word is derived from an earlier Modern English word that is not entered in this dictionary, the meaning of such a word is given in parentheses:
3 press  vb [alter. of obs.  prest (to enlist by giving pay in advance)]



LANGUAGES OTHER THAN ENGLISH
The etymology gives the language from which words borrowed into English have come. It also gives the form or a transliteration of the word in that language if the form differs from that in English:
1 fes·ti·val ...  adj  [ME, fr. MF, fr. L  festivus festive]
sham·rock ...  n [IrGael  seamro¼g  ]
1 school ...  n [ME  scole, fr. OE  sco¼l, fr. L  schola ...]
1 yak ...  n ... [Tibetan  gyak  ]
In a few cases the expression ``deriv. of'' replaces the more usual ``fr.'' This expression indicates that one or more intermediate steps have been omitted in tracing the derivation of the form preceding the expression from the form following it:
gal·ley ...  n ... [... OF  galie, deriv. of MGk  galea  ]
Small superscript figures following words or syllables in an etymology refer to the tone of the word or syllable which they follow. They are, accordingly, used only with forms cited from tone languages:
ty·coon ...  n [Jp  taikun, fr. Chin (Pek)  ta  4  great +  chu»n  1  ruler]
1 voo·doo ...  n ... [LaF  voudou, of African origin; akin to Ewe  vo 1   du 3  tutelary deity, demon]



WORDS OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN
When the source of a word appearing as a main entry is unknown, the expression ``origin unknown'' is usually used. Only in rare and exceptional circumstances (as with some ethnic names) does the absence of an etymology mean that it has not been possible to furnish any informative etymology. More often, it means that no etymology is believed to be necessary. This is the case, for instance, with most of the entries identified as variants and with many derivatives.

ETYMOLOGIES OF TECHNICAL WORDS
Much of the technical vocabulary of the sciences and other specialized studies consists of words or word elements that are current in two or more languages, with only such slight modifications as are necessary to adapt them to the structure of the individual language in each case. Many words and word elements of this kind have become sufficiently a part of the general vocabulary of English as to require entry in an abridged dictionary. Because of the vast extent of the relevant published material in many languages and in many scientific and other specialized fields, it is impracticable to ascertain the language of origin of every such term. Yet it would not be accurate to formulate a statement about the origin of any such term in a way that could be interpreted as implying that it was coined in English. Accordingly, whenever a term that is entered in this dictionary belongs recognizably to this class of internationally current terms and whenever no positive evidence is at hand to show that it was coined in English, the etymology recognizes its international status and the possibility that it originated elsewhere than in English by use of the label ISV (for International Scientific Vocabulary):
mega·watt ...  n [ISV]
phy·lo·ge·net·ic ...  adj [ISV, fr. NL  phylogenesis ...]
1 -ol ...  n suffix [ISV, fr.  alcohol ]



COMPRESSION OF INFORMATION
An etymology beginning with the name of a language (including ME or OE) and not giving the foreign (or Middle English or Old English) form indicates that this form is the same as that of the entry word:
ka·pok ...  n [Malay]
1 po·grom ...  n [Yiddish, fr. Russ ...]
1 fell ...  n [ME, fr. OE ...]
An etymology beginning with the name of a language (including ME or OE) and not giving the foreign (or Middle English or Old English) meaning indicates that this meaning is the same as that expressed in the first definition in the entry:
vig·or·ous ...  adj [ME, fr. MF, fr. OF, fr.  vigor ] ...  1 : possessing vigor
When a word from a foreign language (or Middle English or Old English) is a key element in the etymologies of several related entries that are found close together, the meaning of the word is usually given at only one of the entries:
ve·lo·ce ...  adv or adj [It, fr. L  veloc-, velox ]
ve·loc·i·pede ...  n [F  veelocipe¡de, fr. L  veloc-, velox +  ped-, pes foot - more at FOOT]
ve·loc·i·ty ...  n ... [MF  velocitee, fr. L  velocitat-, velocitas, fr.  veloc-, velox quick; akin to L  vehere to carry - more at WAY]

When an etymology includes the expression ``by alter.'' and the altered form is not cited, the form is the term given in small capital letters as the definition:
copse ...  n [by alter.]...  : COPPICE 1
When the origin of a word is traced to the name of a person or place not further identified, additional information may be found in the Biographical Names or Geographical Names section in the back matter:
2 volt ...  n [Alessandro  Volta ]
li·ma bean ...  n [Lima, Peru]



COGNATES
When a word has been traced back to the earliest language in which it is attested, and if this is an Indo-European language, selected cognates in other Indo-European languages (especially Old High German, Latin, and Greek) are usually given:
1 one ...  adj [ME  on, a¼n, fr. OE  a¼n ; akin to OHG  ein one, L  unus (OL  oinos ), Skt  eka  ]
equine ...  adj [L  equinus, fr.  equus horse; akin to OE  eoh horse, Gk  hippos ]
Sometimes, however, to avoid space-consuming repetition, the expression ``more at'' directs the user to another entry where the cognates are given:
night·in·gale ...  n [ME, fr. OE  nihtegale, fr.  niht +  galan to sing - more at YELL]

Besides the use of ``akin to'' to denote an ordinary cognate relationship, some etymologies make special use of ``akin to'' as part of a longer formula ``of  -  origin; akin to  - .'' This formula indicates that a word was borrowed from some language belonging to a group of languages whose name is inserted in the blank before the word  origin, that it is impossible to say that the word in question is a borrowing of a particular attested word in a particular language of the source group, and that the form cited in the blank after the expression  akin to is a cognate of the word in question as attested within the source group:
1 ca·noe ...  n [F, fr. NL  canoa, fr. Sp, fr. Arawakan, of Cariban origin; akin to Galibi  canaoua ]
2 cant  n [ME, prob. fr. MD or ONF; MD, edge, corner, fr. ONF, fr. L  canthus, cantus iron tire, perh. of Celt origin; akin to W cant rim; akin to Gk  kanthos corner of the eye]
This last example shows the two contrasting uses of ``akin to.'' The word cited immediately after ``of Celt origin; akin to'' is a Celtic cognate of the presumed Celtic source word from which the Latin word was borrowed. The word cited after the second ``akin to'' is a further cognate from another Indo-European language.