quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- plodding (adj.)



[plodding 词源字典] - "diligent and dull," 1580s, present participle adjective from plod (v.).[plodding etymology, plodding origin, 英语词源]
- plonk (v.)




- 1874, imitative. From 1903 as a noun. Related: Plonked; plonking.
- plop (v.)




- 1821, imitative of the sound of a smooth object dropping into water. Related: Plopped; plopping. Thackary (mid-19c.) used plap (v.). As a noun from 1833.
- plosive (n.)




- type of consonantal sound, 1899, from explosive. As an adjective from 1909.
- plot (v.)




- 1580s, "to lay plans for" (usually with evil intent); 1590s in the literal sense of "to make a map or diagram," from plot (n.). Related: Plotted; plotter; plotting.
- plot (n.)




- Old English plot "small piece of ground," of unknown origin. Sense of "ground plan," and thus "map, chart" is 1550s; that of "a secret, plan, scheme" is 1580s, probably by accidental similarity to complot, from Old French complot "combined plan," of unknown origin, perhaps a back-formation from compeloter "to roll into a ball," from pelote "ball." Meaning "set of events in a story" is from 1640s. Plot-line (n.) attested from 1957.
- plough




- alternative spelling of plow. Related: Ploughed; ploughing.
- plover (n.)




- c. 1300, from Anglo-French plover, Old French pluvier, earlier plovier (c. 1200), from Vulgar Latin *plovarius, literally "belonging to rain," from Latin pluvia "rain (water)" from pluere "to rain," from PIE root *pleu- "to flow" (see pluvial). Perhaps so called because the birds' migration arrival coincides with the start of the rainy season, or from its supposed restlessness when rain approaches.
- plow (n.)




- late Old English plog, ploh "plow; plowland" (a measure of land equal to what a yoke of oxen could plow in a day), possibly from a Scandinavian source (such as Old Norse plogr "plow," Swedish and Danish plog), from Proto-Germanic *plogo- (cognates: Old Saxon plog, Old Frisian ploch "plow," Middle Low German ploch, Middle Dutch ploech, Dutch ploeg, Old High German pfluog, German Pflug), a late word in Germanic, of uncertain origin. Old Church Slavonic plugu, Lithuanian plugas "plow" are Germanic loan-words, as probably is Latin plovus, plovum "plow," a word said by Pliny to be of Rhaetian origin.
Replaced Old English sulh, cognate with Latin sulcus "furrow" (see sulcus). As a name for the star pattern also known as the Big Dipper or Charles's Wain, it is attested by early 15c., perhaps early 14c. The three "handle" stars (in the Dipper configuration) generally are seen as the team of oxen pulling the plow, though sometimes they are the handle. - plow (v.)




- late 14c., from plow (n.). Transferred sense from 1580s. Related: Plowed; plowing.
- plow-boy (n.)




- also plowboy, 1560s, from plow + boy.
- plowman (n.)




- also plow-man, c. 1300, from plow + man (n.).
- plowshare (n.)




- late 14c., from plow + share (n.2). To beat swords into plowshares is from Isaiah ii:4.
- ploy (n.)




- 1722, "anything with which one amuses oneself," Scottish and northern England dialect, possibly a shortened form of employ or deploy. Popularized in the sense "move or gambit made to gain advantage" by British humorist Stephen Potter (1900-1969).
- pluck (n.)




- c. 1400, "act of plucking," from pluck (v.). Meaning "courage, boldness" (1785), originally in pugilism slang, is a figurative use from earlier meaning "heart, viscera" (1610s) as that which is "plucked" from slaughtered livestock. Perhaps influenced by figurative use of the verb in pluck up (one's courage, etc.), attested from c. 1300.
- pluck (v.)




- late Old English ploccian, pluccian "pull off, cull," from West Germanic *plokken (cognates: Middle Low German plucken, Middle Dutch plocken, Dutch plukken, Flemish plokken, German pflücken), perhaps from Vulgar Latin *piluccare (source of Old French peluchier, late 12c.; Italian piluccare), a frequentative, ultimately from Latin pilare "pull out hair," from pilus "hair" (see pile (n.3)). But despite the similarities, OED finds difficulties with this and cites gaps in historical evidence. Related: Plucked; plucking.
To pluck a rose, an expression said to be used by women for going to the necessary house, which in the country usually stands in the garden. [F. Grose, "Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," 1785]
This euphemistic use is attested from 1610s. To pluck up "summon up" is from c. 1300. - plucky (adj.)




- 1831, from pluck (n.) + -y (2). Related: Pluckily; pluckiness.
- plug (v.)




- "close tightly (a hole), fill," 1620s, from plug (n.) or from Dutch pluggen. Meaning "work energetically at" is c. 1865. Sense of "popularize by repetition" is from 1906. Slang sense "put a bullet into" is recorded from 1870. Related: Plugged; plugging.
- plug (n.)




- 1620s, originally a seamen's term, probably from Dutch plug, Middle Dutch plugge "bung, stopper," related to Norwegian plugg, Danish pløg, North Frisian plaak, Middle Low German pluck, German Pflock; ultimate origin uncertain. Irish and Gaelic words are from English. Sense of "wad or stick of tobacco" is attested from 1728, based on resemblance. Electrical sense is from 1883, based on being inserted; meaning "sparking device in an internal combustion engine" is from 1886. Meaning "advertisement" first recorded 1902, American English, perhaps from verb sense "work energetically at" (c. 1865).
- plug-in (adj.)




- 1922, from plug (v.) + in (adv.).