quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- Cadillac (n.)[Cadillac 词源字典]
- Cadillac Automobile Company, established in 1902 by Detroit engine-maker Henry Martyn Leland and named for Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac (1658-1730), French minor aristocrat and colonial governor who founded Detroit in 1701.[Cadillac etymology, Cadillac origin, 英语词源]
- fanny (n.)
- "buttocks," 1920, American English, from earlier British meaning "vulva" (1879), perhaps from the name of John Cleland's heroine in the scandalous novel "Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure" (1748). The fem. proper name is a diminutive of Frances. The genital sense is still the primary one outside U.S., but is not current in American English, a difference which can have consequences when U.S. TV programs and movies air in Britain.
- freak-out (n.)
- also freakout "bad psychedelic drug trip," or something comparable to one, 1966, from verbal phrase freak out, attested from 1965 in the drug sense (from 1902 in a sense "change, distort, come out of alignment"); see freak (n.). There is a coincidental appearance of the phrase in "Fanny Hill:"
She had had her freak out, and had pretty plentifully drowned her curiosity in a glut of pleasure .... [Cleland, "Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure," 1749]
where the sense is "she had concluded her prank." - Hell's Kitchen
- disreputable, impoverished New York City neighborhood, the name attested from 1879. The phrase was used from at least 1866 as an intensive form of Hell.
Hell's kitchen (American), a horrible slum. Hell's Kitchen, Murderer's Row, and the Burnt Rag are names of localities which form collectively the worst place in New York. [Albert Barrère and Charles G. Leland, "A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant," 1889]
- no-frills (adj.)
- 1957, from no + frills. The expression no thrills meaning "without extra flourishes or ornamentation" is in use from 1870s; the original notion probably is of plain clothing.
Man with no frills (American) a plain person, a man without culture or refinement. An amiable term to express a vulgar fellow. [Albert Barrere and Charles G. Leland, "A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant," Ballantyne Press, 1890]
- re-edifier
- "A person who rebuilds or reconstructs a building, city, etc", Mid 16th cent.; earliest use found in John Leland (c1503–1552), poet and antiquary. Either from re- + edifier, or from re-edify + -er.