quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- layover (n.)



[layover 词源字典] - also lay-over, "a stop overnight," 1873, from lay (v.) + over. Earlier as "a cloth laid over a table-cloth" (1777).[layover etymology, layover origin, 英语词源]
- layperson (n.)




- 1972, gender-neutral version of layman.
- layup (n.)




- also lay-up, "temporary period out of work," 1927, from lay (v.) + up (adv.). Basketball shot so called from 1948.
- laywoman (n.)




- 1520s, from lay (adj.) + woman; probably modeled on layman.
- lazar (n.)




- "filthy beggar, leper," c. 1300, from Medieval Latin lazarus "leper," from the Biblical name (see Lazarus).
- lazaretto (n.)




- "house for reception of lepers and diseased poor persons," 1540s, from Italian lazareto "place set aside for performance of quarantine" (especially that of Venice, which received many ships from plague-infested districts in the East), from the Biblical proper name Lazarus. Meaning "building set apart for quarantine" is c. 1600 in English. The word in Italian was perhaps influenced by the name of another hospital in Venice, that associated with the church of Santa Maria di Nazaret.
- Lazarus




- Biblical character (Luke xvi:20), the poor man covered in sores; his name was extended in medieval usage to "any poor and visibly diseased person" (compare lazar, mid-14c., "one deformed and nauseous with filthy and pestilential diseases" [Johnson]). The name is from a Greek rendition of Hebrew El'azar, literally "God has helped."
- laze (v.)




- 1590s, back-formation from lazy. Related: Lazed; lazing.
- lazily (adv.)




- 1580s, from lazy + -ly (2).
- laziness (n.)




- 1570s, from lazy + -ness.
- lazy (adj.)




- 1540s, laysy, of unknown origin. Replaced native slack, slothful, and idle as the main word expressing the notion of "averse to work." In 19c. thought to be from lay (v.) as tipsy from tip. Skeat is responsible for the prevailing modern view that it probably comes from Low German, from a source such as Middle Low German laisch "weak, feeble, tired," modern Low German läösig, early modern Dutch leuzig, all of which may go back to the PIE root *(s)leg- "slack." According to Weekley, the -z- sound disqualifies a connection with French lassé "tired" or German lassig "lazy, weary, tired." A supposed dialectal meaning "naught, bad," if it is the original sense, may tie the word to Old Norse lasenn "dilapidated," lasmøyrr "decrepit, fragile," root of Icelandic las-furða "ailing," las-leiki "ailment." Lazy Susan is from 1917. Grose ("Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1788) has Lazy Man's Load: "Lazy people frequently take up more than they can safely carry, to save the trouble of coming a second time."
- lazybones (n.)




- 1590s, from lazy + plural of bone (n.).
- LCD




- 1973, initialism (acronym) from liquid crystal display, which is attested from 1968.
- lea (n.)




- Old English leah "open field, meadow, piece of untilled ground," earlier læch, recorded in place names, from Proto-Germanic *laukhaz (cognates: Old High German loh "cluster of bushes," and probably also Flemish -loo, which forms the second element in Waterloo), from PIE *louquo- (cognates: Sanskrit lokah "open space," Latin lucus "grove," Lithuanian laukas "open field"), perhaps from or related to *leuk- "to shine, be bright" (see light (n.)).
- leach (v.)




- Old English leccan "to moisten, water, wet, irrigate," (see leak (v.)). The word disappears, then re-emerges late 18c. in a technological sense in reference to percolating liquids. Related: Leached; leaching.
- leachate (n.)




- 1920, from leach + -ate (1).
- lead (v.1)




- "to guide," Old English lædan "cause to go with one, lead, guide, conduct, carry; sprout forth; bring forth, pass (one's life)," causative of liðan "to travel," from Proto-Germanic *laidjan (cognates: Old Saxon lithan, Old Norse liða "to go," Old High German ga-lidan "to travel," Gothic ga-leiþan "to go"), from PIE *leit- "to go forth."
Meaning "to be in first place" is from late 14c. Sense in card playing is from 1670s. Related: Led; leading. Lead-off "commencement, beginning" attested from 1879; lead-in "introduction, opening" is from 1928. - lead (n.1)




- heavy metal, Old English lead, from West Germanic *loudhom (cognates: Old Frisian lad, Middle Dutch loot, Dutch lood "lead," German Lot "weight, plummet"). The name and the skill in using the metal seem to have been borrowed from the Celts (compare Old Irish luaide), probably from PIE root *plou(d)- "to flow."
Figurative of heaviness since at least early 14c. Black lead was an old name for "graphite," hence lead pencil (1680s) and the colloquial figurative phrase to have lead in one's pencil "be possessed of (especially male sexual) vigor," attested by 1902. Lead balloon "a failure," American English slang, attested by 1957 (as a type of something heavy that can be kept up only with effort, from 1904). Lead-footed "slow" is from 1896; opposite sense of "fast" emerged 1940s in trucker's jargon, from notion of a foot heavy on the gas pedal. - lead (n.2)




- c. 1300, "action of leading," from lead (v.1). Meaning "the front or leading place" is from 1560s. Johnson stigmatized it as "a low, despicable word." Sense in card-playing is from 1742; in theater, from 1831; in journalism, from 1912; in jazz bands, from 1934.
- lead (v.2)




- early 15c., "to make of lead," from lead (n.1). Meaning "to cover with lead" is from mid-15c. Related: Leaded (early 13c.); leading.