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derring-do [derring-do 词源字典]: derring-do: [16] Derring-do arose from a misunderstanding of the Middle English phrase dorring do, which literally meant ‘daring to do’ (dorren was the Middle English form of dare). In some 16th-century editions of medieval authors this was misprinted as derring do. The poet Edmund Spenser came across it and used it several times in his often deliberately archaic verse – but as a noun, meaning ‘boldness’, rather than as the verbal phrase it actually was: ‘a man of mickle name, renowned much in arms and derring do’, Faerie Queene 1596. Spenser’s usage was picked up and popularized by Sir Walter Scott in the early 19th century.
=> dare[derring-do etymology, derring-do origin, 英语词源]
herring: herring: [OE] Just as the hare is probably the ‘grey animal’, so the herring could well be the ‘grey fish’. Old English hǣring goes back to a prehistoric West Germanic *khēringgaz, in which the first syllable could represent the ancestor of English hoar ‘silvery-grey’ – the colour of the herring. French hareng comes from a variant of the West Germanic word.
=> hare, hoar
derring-do (n.): originally (late 14c.) dorrying don, literally "daring to do," from durring "daring," present participle of Middle English durren "to dare" (see dare (v.)) + don, infinitive of do (v.). Misspelled derrynge do 1500s and mistaken for a noun by Spenser, who took it to mean "manhood and chevalrie;" picked up from him and passed on to Romantic poets as a pseudo-archaism by Sir Walter Scott.
derringer (n.): 1850, for Henry Deringer (1786-1868), U.S. gunsmith who invented it in the 1840s; prevailing misspelled form is how his name appeared on the many counterfeits and imitations. "A small pistol with a large bore, very effective at short range" [OED].
herring (n.): Old English hering (Anglian), hæring (West Saxon), from West Germanic *heringgaz (cognates: Old Frisian hereng, Middle Dutch herinc, German Hering), of unknown origin, perhaps related to or influenced in form by Old English har "gray, hoar," from the color, or to Old High German heri "host, multitude" from its large schools.

French hareng, Italian aringa are from Germanic. The Battle of the Herrings (French bataille des harengs) is the popular name for the battle at Rouvrai, Feb. 12, 1492, fought in defense of a convoy of provisions, mostly herrings and other "lenten stuffe."
herringbone: also herring-bone, 1650s in literal sense and also as a type of stitch, from herring + bone (n.). From 1905 as a type of cirrocumulus cloud.
red herring (n.): "smoked herring" early 15c. (they turn red when cured), as opposed to white herring "fresh herring." Supposedly used by fugitives to put bloodhounds off their scent (1680s), hence metaphoric sense (1864) of "something used to divert attention from the basic issue;" earlier simply "a false lead":
Though I have not the honour of being one of those sagacious country gentlemen, who have so long vociferated for the American war, who have so long run on the red-herring scent of American taxation before they found out there was no game on foot; (etc.) [Parliamentary speech dated March 20, 1782, reprinted in "Beauties of the British Senate," London, 1786]
unerring (adj.): 1640s (implied in unerringly), from un- (1) "not" + verbal noun from err. Related: Unerringly.