Questions tagged [origin-unknown]

Words and phrases whose origin is unknown or in serious dispute, according to reputable reference works.

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What is the origin and meaning of the female given name "Zorado"?

As far as I can tell this name crops up mid 1800s, and (informal analysis) looks like it peaks circa 1890-1915. In the present day I'd say it is extremely rare, but I can find living Zorado women and ...
Zorado's user avatar
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3 votes
4 answers
420 views

Where did the phrase "bring to the table" originate?

I couldn't find where the phrase "bring to the table" originated. Please share your thoughts and any information you have.
Juniper Scott's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
168 views

What could be the origin of 'cherry-merry' in Indian English to mean 'baksheesh'?

I was looking through a book about Indian English (Sahibs, Nabobs, and Boxwallahs: A Dictionary of the Words of Anglo-India) and I noticed the following definition (edited lightly): Cherry-merry: ...
Heartspring's user avatar
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1 vote
3 answers
309 views

What's the origin of the idiom "fish for a compliment"

I have been searching for the origin of the phrase "fish for a compliment", but I couldn't find anything on the internet. Goose egg! The Free Dictionary defines the idiom fish for ...
Juniper Scott's user avatar
23 votes
2 answers
3k views

Why do South Indians call restaurants 'hotels'?

In South India, it's common to use the word 'hotel' when referring to what North Indians (and most of the rest of the world) know as a 'restaurant.' It's not just a phenomenon seen among small, micro-...
Heartspring's user avatar
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14 votes
3 answers
495 views

Why does a draw mean a game/match/contest that ends with no winner?

A draw is a match/game/contest that ends with no outright winner, or both teams or players having the same score. The more usual term in North America is a tie, whereas a draw is usual elsewhere. A ...
ermanen's user avatar
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14 votes
3 answers
5k views

The eerie origin of "eerie"

Eerie is a rather common word but its origin is somewhat strange. In fact, OED doesn't provide the origin of the word eerie, but provides the etymology where it is given as a variant of an obsolete ...
ermanen's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
446 views

Origin of the phrase "pit of despair"

I can't find much online about the etymology/origin of the phrase besides mention of a psychologist naming a torture chamber for experiments he did on monkeys: The pit of despair was a name used by ...
alexdobrenko's user avatar
17 votes
2 answers
6k views

Who "died peacefully" first and when?

The question came to my mind when I read the recent news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, first appeared in the official Twitter account of The Royal Family as: The Queen died peacefully at ...
ermanen's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
211 views

What is the origin of "hug"?

Hugging is a universal form of endearment and the verb hug is a very common word in English, yet the origin of the word is unknown. OED boldy says that "Appears late in 16th cent.: origin unknown....
ermanen's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
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Usage of the word "candle" to refer to a specific item in a list

In Maltese English, whenever items in a list are preceded by letters or Roman numerals instead of numbers, we would say that the list is made up of candles. Let us suppose we have the following two ...
Al-cameleer's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
2k views

Origin of Aussie Slang "Stack" and "Stacked it"

Bit of a weird one but I'm wondering where the slang "stack it" in terms of falling over comes from. Stack: (Australia, slang) A fall or crash, a prang. 2016 June 19, Tom Williams, “Watch ...
Nee's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
98 views

What is the origin of short form headlines in media/the news?

Every now and then one comes across a shortened form of headlines in media, mostly the news. For example: Study: Inflation Forcing More Americans To Choose Between Buying Groceries, Aston Martin DBS [...
Jpe61's user avatar
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16 votes
3 answers
2k views

Where does the word stoothing come from? Is it used in any other contexts apart from "stoothing wall"?

My father uses the expression "stoothing wall" to refer to a stud or internal wall. What is the origin of the word "stoothing" ? Is it ever used in any contexts other than "...
Paul's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
1k views

Where, when, and how did the term 'dogie' for 'orphan calf' originate?

Merriam-Webster's Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary (2003) has this brief entry for the word dogie: dogie n {origin unknown} (1888) chiefly West : a motherless calf in a range herd In seeking an ...
Sven Yargs's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
329 views

What's the etymology of "pother"?

What is the origin of pother (meaning commotion/uproar)? Almost all dictionaries I've on hand have nothing substantial (they mostly cite "of unknown origin") to say on this score. Etymonline ...
user405662's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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The history and origins of “a peck” and “to peck”

Until recently, I had assumed that peck denoted a small quantity or size. (noun) to give someone a peck is to kiss them lightly on their cheek. (noun) Lexico says that peck was slang for food (...
Mari-Lou A's user avatar
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13 votes
7 answers
942 views

What is origin of the term “dry” to mean lack of a sweet taste?

I am aware that “London Dry” is a style of unsweetened gin and that this has influenced how we talk about other drinks. I am interested in why the word dry was initially used in this context to ...
Charlie Egan's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
308 views

What is the origin of "huge"?

What is the origin of the word huge (adj. and adv.) meaning "very great, large, or big; immense, enormous, vast"? Both OED and Etymonline say that it might be from an Old French word which ...
ermanen's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
626 views

What is the origin of the phrase "play a part/role"?

From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English: play a part/role to have an effect or influence on something Does this phrase come from the theater or somewhere else? From thefreedictionary.com: ...
Eagle's user avatar
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1 answer
271 views

Where did the phrase "jump to conclusions" come from? [closed]

I've been looking for the origin of the phrase "jump to conclusions." I found nothing more than this: The term began to appear in the early 1700s in prints. The Idioms And how different ...
Juniper Scott's user avatar
17 votes
3 answers
3k views

Etymological origin and earliest recorded occurrence of 'saunter' in English

Someone just sent me a quotation from the explorer/naturalist John Muir, in which he makes the following etymological claim: Do you know the origin of that word saunter? It's a beautiful word. Away ...
Sven Yargs's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
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What's the origin of the phrase "show true colours?"

I wonder if someone knows the actual origin and oldest printed record of the idiom "show true colours?" Other than this popular theory (seems not real to me): This phrase dates back to the ...
Juniper Scott's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
844 views

What is the origin of idiom wrap someone in cotton wool?

I am curious to know the exact origin of the idiom "wrap someone in cotton wool." I couldn't find much, except Origin: The expression originated in the mid-1800s. [The Idioms] and Google ...
Juniper Scott's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
235 views

Earliest printed record of the phrase "in the blink of an eye"?

I cannot trace the origin of the phrase "in the blink of an eye," neither the earliest printed record of the expression. Surprisingly, even the Google Ngram Viewer returns a "NO" ...
Juniper Scott's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
4k views

When did the word "alien" begin referring to extraterrestrial beings?

The etymology of the word "alien" goes as follows: c.1300 (...)from Latin alienus "of or belonging to another, not one's own, foreign, strange," first as an adjective and later ...
Tom O' Bedlam's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
616 views

Is the origin of "butch" really from Polari?

I've been researching the origin of the term "butch" and noticed that sources tend to be split on whether they mention it originating from Polari. OED, Green's Dictionary of Slang (adj., ...
user3684314's user avatar
19 votes
4 answers
3k views

Where did "humongous" first appear?

William Hartson called the word “surely one of the ugliest words ever to slither its way into our dictionaries”, but regardless of what he would like to say about the word, I actually have always ...
Tom O' Bedlam's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
367 views

Who coined "the eye of heaven"?

For the longest time I had always thought that Our great Bard had, with his poetic wonder, come up with "the eye of heaven" for his immortal, sonnet 18: Rough windes do ſhake the darling ...
Tom O' Bedlam's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
4k views

What is the origin of x-mark used as a signature of illiterate

I'm not sure that it is the proper site to ask this question, maybe it's an off-topic. However, I've heard it is also a kind of lingual expression used in English/American culture. I've heard that X-...
ChoMedit's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
798 views

Where does the word 'reactionary' come from?

I am interested in the origin of this word, strictly in the political usage of the word (Reactionary = conservative, right-wing). The definition is simple enough: Reactionary: Characterized by ...
TheLastGIS's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
20 views

Express Preferences

Instead of or/and over? I'll take aspirin instead of ibuprofen. I'll choose your brand over my usual. Is that correct?
user388491's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
3k views

Is the origin of the word "loot" a coinage as a result of the East India Company's behavior?

As a South Asian, I've long heard that the English word "loot" comes directly from the Hindi word lūṭ, meaning to steal or plunder, and was coined as a result of the East India Company's siphoning of ...
Prometheus's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
46 views

What is the independent and standalone meaning and origin of phrase "veiled grab"?

Reading thro' linked articles in Wikipedia, I have found a phrase, the definitive meaning or synonym of which, I haven't found, searching thro' online dictionaries. Though I am mentioning the example ...
Vicky Dev's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
4k views

Origin of the saying "God must love the poor because he made so many of them"

The saying "God must love the poor [or the common people or the plain people] because he made so many of them" falls somewhere between a proverb and a famous quotation, but its origins are rather ...
Sven Yargs's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
3k views

Who originally said "A film is made/written three times"?

A movie is made three times: it’s made when it’s written, it’s made in production, and it’s made again in post. This is a very well known saying within the film industry, essentially explaining how ...
Bryan's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
2k views

How did "itch" come to be used to mean "scratch" as in "I had to itch my leg"?

None of the regular sources list itch as a transitive verb meaning to scratch. Yet I hear it used that way in American English all the time. One of the British mods of this site says the usage occurs ...
Robusto's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
250 views

Etymology of "bilbo"

Here's what "bilbo" means - Bilbo noun (1) : a long bar of iron with sliding shackles used to confine the feet of prisoners especially on shipboard. noun (2) : ...
Justin's user avatar
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2 votes
4 answers
1k views

Etymology of "doodah"

Here's what "doodah" means - Doodah : used to refer to something that the speaker cannot name precisely. "From the poshest potpourri to the humblest dangly doodah." Basic ...
Justin's user avatar
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5 votes
3 answers
4k views

What is the origin of the word "geroff"?

I am not a native speaker so never had a chance to meet the term in the wild, and only seen it in Harry Potter series mostly used by Ron Weasley. My somewhat corrupted mind assumed it being a ...
Col. Shrapnel's user avatar
12 votes
2 answers
3k views

Etymology of "banjax"

Here's what "banjax" means - Banjax verb INFORMAL ruin, incapacitate, or break. He banjaxed his knee in the sixth game of the season. Basic research showed that it comes from the 1930s - ...
Justin's user avatar
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11 votes
8 answers
6k views

Why do Australians and NZers call snacks/lunch 'crib'?

From another question I found out that Australians and New Zealanders call lunch and snacks crib. On the Macquarie dictionary site, there are several (user-contributed) theories about why, but nothing ...
David M's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
17k views

What is the origin of the phrase, “That’s for me to know and you to find out”?

I was just watching the preview for Blue Velvet (1986) and heard Kyle McLachlan use the phrase: “That’s for me to know, and you to find out”. I assume the phrase is probably older than that movie, ...
Samantha John's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
250 views

Is bludgeon connected with blood or block?

Bludgeon is a short, heavy club which is thicker or loaded at one end. Both OED and Etymonline say "origin unknown". There are possible Cornish, Celtic, Dutch, cant, Middle French, Irish and Gaelic ...
ermanen's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
2k views

How to spell what sounds like "ish" or "eesh"? [duplicate]

I've heard this word a lot of times, but still don't know how to write it down. It's used when you want to show some kind of disgust, or something like that. It sounds like "ish" or "eesh". I've ...
June's user avatar
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12 votes
4 answers
1k views

When did Monkeys start making wrenches?

Why is the pipe wrench often called a monkey wrench? From the Ferris State University Jim Crow Museum website… Q: Did Jack Johnson invent the wrench? A: Jack Johnson, the first Black ...
Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_'s user avatar
17 votes
3 answers
4k views

Is “snitty” a popular American English term? What is its origin?

I came to know the word, “snitty” for the first time from the remark of Mr. William Barr during his testimony on his way of handling of Mueller Report in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Washington ...
Yoichi Oishi's user avatar
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0 votes
3 answers
182 views

Un-sunken or equivalent

What is the word for something that didn't sink. Example: Can we say "the un-sunken boat" for the boat didn't sink? Couldn't find anything in internet by search engines. Thanks.
Justin D's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
985 views

In search of the origins of term censor, I hit a dead end stuck with the greek term, to censor, λογοκρίνω

I have been looking in OED for a history that makes sense, yet, I just find crumbs, and I can not piece the history of this term. I am hitting a dead end researching the greek term to censor, named ...
Julien Tremblay McLellan's user avatar
10 votes
4 answers
2k views

The etymology of "snooze"

I was looking up the etymology of the word snooze, and the Etymology Online suggested it was unknown. 1789, cant word, of unknown origin, perhaps echoic of a snore. Related: Snoozed; snoozing. ...
John H.'s user avatar
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