Online Etymology Dictionary

good-looking (adj.): 1742, from good (adj.) + looking, present participle adjective from look (v.). Good looks (n.) "attractive appearance" is attested from 1712.
good-natured (adj.): 1570s, from good nature "pleasing or kind disposition" (mid-15c.), from good (adj.) + nature (n.). Related: Good-naturedly.
good-neighbor (adj.): also (chiefly British English) good-neighbour, adjectival phrase, in reference to U.S. foreign policy, especially in Latin America, 1928, originally in Herbert Hoover. The good neighbours is Scottish euphemism for "the fairies" (1580s).
good-night: phrase in parting for the evening or retiring to sleep, c. 1200, from good (adj.) + night. As an exclamation of surprise from 1893.
good-time (adj.): 1928, from the noun phrase, from good (adj.) + time (n.). Expression to have a good time "enjoy oneself" attested from 1822; earlier have a good time of it (1771). To make good time "go fast" is from 1838. In Middle English, good time was "prosperous time," also "high time" (that something be done).
goodly (adj.): Old English godlic "excellent; comely fair;" see good (n.) + -ly (1). From c. 1200 as "considerable in size or number." Similar formation in Old Frisian godlik, Old High German guotlih, Old Norse godhligr. Related: Goodliness.
goodman (n.): "man of the house, master, husband," late Old English, from good (adj.) + man (n.). In 17c.-18c. also a familiar form of address and nearly equivalent to mister.
goodness (n.): Old English godnes "goodness, virtue, kindliness;" see good (adj.) + -ness. In exclamations from 1610s as a term of emphasis, first recorded in for goodnesse sake, i.e. "as you trust in the divine goodness" (i.e., God).
goods (n.): "property," late 13c., from plural of good (n.), which had the same sense in Old English. Meaning "saleable commodities" is mid-15c.; colloquial sense of "stolen articles" is from 1900; hence figurative use, "evidence of guilt."
goodwife (n.): "a matron, mistress of a household," early 14c., from good (adj.) + wife (n.). As a term of civility applied to a married woman in humble life, it is a correlative of goodman. "Used like auntie, and mother, and gammer, in addressing or describing an inferior" [Farmer].
goody (n.1): also goodie, "something tasty," 1745, from good (adj.) + -y (2). Adjectival use for "sentimentally proper" is by 1830 (especially in reduplicated form goody-goody, 1865). As an exclamation of pleasure, by 1796.
goody (n.2): 1550s, a shortened form of goodwife, a term of civility applied to a married woman in humble life; hence Goody Two-shoes, name of the heroine in 1760s children's story ("The History of little Goody Two Shoes; otherwise called Mrs. Margery Two Shoes") who exulted upon acquiring a second shoe.
gooey (adj.): 1893, American English slang, from goo + -y (2). The first element perhaps somehow imitative, or shortened from burgoo (1787) "thick porridge."
goof (n.): 1916, "stupid person," American English, perhaps a variant of English dialect goff "foolish clown" (1869), from 16c. goffe, probably from Middle French goffe "awkward, stupid," which is of uncertain origin. Or English goffe may be from Middle English goffen "speak in a frivolous manner," which is possibly from Old English gegaf "buffoonery," and gaffetung "scolding." Sense of "a blunder" is c. 1954, probably influenced by gaffe. Also compare goofer, goopher which appears in representations of African-American dialect from 1887 in the sense of "a curse, spell," probably from an African word.
goof (v.): 1922, "waste time;" 1941; "make a mistake," from goof (n.). Goof off is from 1941, originally World War II armed forces, "to make a mistake at drill;" by 1945 as "to loaf, waste time," also as a noun for one who does this. Related: Goofed; goofing.
goofball (n.): "narcotic drug," 1938, slang, from goof + ball (n.1). As an intensive of goof (n.), it dates from 1959.
goofiness (n.): 1929, from goofy + -ness.
goofy (adj.): 1921, from goof + -y (2). The Disney character of that name began life c. 1929 as "Dippy Dawg."
google (v.): "to search (something) on the Google search engine," 2000 (do a google on was used by 1999). The domain google.com was registered in 1997. According to the company, the name is a play on googol and reflects the "mission" of founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin "to organize a seemingly infinite amount of information on the web." A verb google was an early 20c. cricket term in reference to a type of breaking ball, from googly.
googly: as a noun, a cricket term, 1903, of unknown origin. As an adjective, of eyes, 1901; see goo-goo.
googol (n.): number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeroes, 1940, in "Mathematics and the Imagination," a layman's book on mathematics written by U.S. mathematicians Edward Kasner (1878-1955) and James R. Newman, the word supposedly coined a year or two before by Kasner's 9- (or 8-) year-old nephew (unnamed in the book's account of the event), when asked for a name for an enormous number. Perhaps influenced by comic strip character Barney Google. Googolplex (10 to the power of a googol) coined at the same time, in the same way, with plex.
gook (n.): 1899, U.S. military slang for "Filipino" during the insurrection there, probably from a native word, or imitative of the babbling sound of a strange language to American ears (compare barbarian). The term goo-goo eyes "soft, seductive eyes" was in vogue c. 1900 and may have contributed to this somehow. Extended over time to "Nicaraguan" (U.S. intervention there early 20c.), "any Pacific Islander" (World War II), "Korean" (1950s), "Vietnamese" and "any Asian" (1960s).
goombah (n.): by 1984, from dialectal pronunciation of Italian compare "companion, godfather" (compare compadre).
goon (n.): 1921, in U.S. humorist Frederick J. Allen's piece "The Goon and His Style" (Harper's Monthly Magazine, December 1921), which defines it as "a person with a heavy touch," one who lacks "a playful mind;" perhaps a made-up word, or from gony "simpleton" (1580s), which was applied by sailors to the albatross and similar big, clumsy birds. The goons were characters in the "Thimble Theater" comic strip (starring Popeye) by U.S. cartoonist E.C. Segar (1894-1938); they appeared in Segar's strips from mid-1930s and, though they reportedly gave children nightmares, enjoyed a burst of popularity when they appeared in animated cartoons in 1938. The most famous was Alice the Goon, slow-witted and muscular (but gentle-natured) character who began as the Sea Hag's assistant. Segar might have got the word directly from sailors' jargon.

Later 20c. senses of the word all probably stem from this: Sense of "hired thug" is first recorded 1938 (in reference to union "beef squads" used to cow strikers in the Pacific Northwest). She also was the inspiration for British comedian Spike Milligan's "The Goon Show." Also used among American and British POWs in World War II in reference to their German guards. What are now "juvenile delinquents" were in the 1940s sometimes called goonlets.
goose (n.): "a large waterfowl proverbially noted, I know not why, for foolishness" [Johnson], Old English gos "a goose," from Proto-Germanic *gans- "goose" (source also of Old Frisian gos, Old Norse gas, Old High German gans, German Gans "goose"), from PIE *ghans- (source also of Sanskrit hamsah (masc.), hansi (fem.), "goose, swan;" Greek khen; Latin anser; Polish gęś "goose;" Lithuanian zasis "goose;" Old Irish geiss "swan"), probably imitative of its honking.
Geese are technically distinguished from swans and from ducks by the combination of feathered lores, reticulate tarsi, stout bill high at the base, and simple hind toe. [Century Dictionary]
Spanish ganso "goose" is from a Germanic source. Loss of "n" sound before "s" is normal in English (compare tooth). Plural form geese is an example of i-mutation. Meaning "simpleton, silly or foolish person" is from early 15c. To cook one's goose first attested 1845, of unknown origin; attempts to connect it to Swedish history and Greek fables are unconvincing. Goose-egg "zero" first attested 1866 in baseball slang, from being large and round. The goose that lays golden eggs (15c.) is from Aesop.
goose (v.): "jab in the rear," c. 1880, from goose (n.), possibly from resemblance of the upturned thumb to a goose's beak, or from the notion of creating nervous excitement. Related: Goosed; goosing. In 19c. theatrical slang, to be goosed meant "to be hissed" (by 1818). A broad range of sexual slang senses historically cluster around goose and gooseberry; goose and duck was rhyming slang for "fuck;" Farmer identifies Winchester goose as "a woman; whence, by implication, the sexual favor," and goose as a verb "to go wenching, to womanize, also to possess a woman." He also has goose-grease for a woman's sexual juices, while gooser and goose's neck meant "the penis." Gooseberries (they are hairy) was "testicles," and gooseberry pudding "a woman."
goose-step (n.): 1806, originally a military drill to teach balance; "to stand on each leg alternately and swing the other back and forth." This, presumably, reminded someone of a goose's way of walking. In reference to "marching without bending the knees" (as in Nazi military reviews) it apparently is first recorded 1916. As a verb by 1854.
gooseberry (n.): type of thorny shrub with hairy fruit, cultivated in northern Europe, 1530s, with berry, but the first part is of uncertain origin; no part of the plant seems to suggest a goose. Watkins points to Old French grosele "gooseberry," which is from Germanic. Or perhaps from German Krausebeere or Kräuselbeere, related to Middle Dutch croesel "gooseberry," and to German kraus "crispy, curly" [Klein, etc.]. By either path it could be related to the Germanic group of words in kr-/cr- and meaning "to bend, curl; bent, crooked; rounded mass." Under this theory, gooseberry would be folk etymology. But OED editors find no reason to prefer this to a literal reading, because "the grounds on which plants and fruits have received names associating them with animals are so commonly inexplicable, that the want of appropriateness in the meaning affords no sufficient ground for assuming that the word is an etymological corruption."

As slang for a fool, 1719, perhaps an extended form of goose (n.) in this sense, or a play on gooseberry fool in the cookery sense. Gooseberry also meant "a chaperon" (1837) and "a marvelous tale." Old Gooseberry for "the Devil" is recorded from 1796. In euphemistic explanations of reproduction to children, babies sometimes were said to be found under a gooseberry bush.
goosebumps (n.): also goose-bumps, "peculiar tingling of the skin produced by cold, fear, etc.; the sensation described as 'cold water down the back'" [Farmer], 1859, from goose (n.) + bump (n.). So called because the rough condition of the skin during the sensation resembles the skin of a plucked goose. Earlier in the same sense was goose-flesh (1803) and goose-skin (1761; as goose's skin 1744), and earlier still hen-flesh (early 15c.), translating Latin caro gallinacia.
GOP: also G.O.P., "U.S. Republican Party," 1884, an abbreviation of Grand Old Party. The Republicans were so called from 1876; the Democratic Party also was referred to occasionally as grand old party, with lower-case letters, in 1870s-80s when the Republicans (formed in 1854) still were considered new and radical. The designation grand old ______ is from about 1850; in Great Britain, Lord Palmerston was known as the Grand Old Man by 1880, and it was abbreviated to G.O.M. by 1882.
gopher (n.): burrowing squirrel, 1812, American English, perhaps an Englishing of Louisiana French gaufre "honeycomb, waffle," said to have been used by French settlers in reference to small mammals on analogy of the structure of their burrows, from Old French gaufre, walfre (12c.), which is from Frankish or some other Germanic source. The rodent was the nickname of people from Arkansas (1845) and later Minnesota (1872). The gopherwood tree of the Bible (used by Noah to make the ark, Gen. vi:14) is unrelated; it is from Hebrew gofer, name of a kind of wood now unidentified, perhaps meaning the cypress.
Gordian knot (n.): 1560s, tied by Gordius (Greek Gordios), first king of Phrygia in Asia Minor and father of Midas, who predicted the one to loosen it would rule Asia. Instead, Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot with his sword; hence the extended sense (1570s in English) "solve a difficult problem in a quick, dramatic way."
gore (n.1): "thick, clotted blood," Old English gor "dirt, dung, filth, shit," a Germanic word (cognates: Middle Dutch goor "filth, mud;" Old Norse gor "cud;" Old High German gor "animal dung"), of uncertain origin. Sense of "clotted blood" (especially shed in battle) developed by 1560s (gore-blood is from 1550s).
gore (v.): "to pierce, stab," c. 1400, from Middle English gore (n.) "spear," from Old English gar "spear" (see gar, also gore (n.2) "triangular piece of ground"). Related: Gored; goring.
gore (n.2): "triangular piece of ground," Old English gara "corner, point of land, cape, promontory," from Proto-Germanic *gaizon- (source also of Old Frisian gare "a gore of cloth; a garment," Dutch geer, German gehre "a wedge, a gore"), from PIE *ghaiso- "a stick, spear" (see gar). The connecting sense is "triangularity." Hence also the senses "front of a skirt" (mid-13c.), and "triangular piece of cloth" (early 14c.). In New England, the word applied to a strip of land left out of any property by an error when tracts are surveyed (1640s).
gorge (n.): mid-14c., "throat," from Old French gorge "throat; a narrow passage" (12c.), from Late Latin gurges "gullet, throat, jaws," also "gulf, whirlpool," which probably is related to Latin gurgulio "gullet, windpipe," from a reduplicated form of PIE *gwere- (4) "to swallow" (see voracity). Transferred sense of "deep, narrow valley" was in Old French. From 1520s as "what has been swallowed," hence in figurative phrases indicating nauseating disgust.
gorge (v.): c. 1300, "eat greedily, swallow by gulps," from Old French gorgier "to swallow" (13c.), from gorge "throat" (see gorge (n.)). Transitive sense from late 15c. Related: Gorged; gorging.
gorgeous (adj.): c. 1500, "splendid, showy, sumptuously adorned" (of clothing), from Middle French gorgias "elegant, fashionable," of unknown origin; perhaps a special use of gorgias "necklace" (and thus "fond of or resembling jewelry"), from Old French gorge "throat," also "something adorning the throat" (see gorge (n.)). A connection to the Greek proper name Gorgias (supposedly in reference to a notorious sophist) also has been proposed. Related: Gorgeousness.
gorgeously (adv.): 1530s, from gorgeous + -ly (2).
gorget (n.): "armor for the throat," late 15c., from Old French gorgete "throat, necklace," diminutive of gorge "throat" (see gorge (n.)).
gorgon (n.): late 14c., in Greek legend, any of the three hideous sisters, with writhing serpents for hair, whose look turned beholders to stone, from Greek Gorgones (plural; singular Gorgo) "the grim ones," from gorgos "terrible, fierce, grim," of unknown origin. Transferred sense of "terrifyingly ugly person" is from 1520s. Their names were Medusa, Euryale, and Stheino, but when only one is mentioned, Medusa usually is meant. Slain by Perseus, her head was fixed on the aegis of Athena.
gorgonzola: type of blue cheese, 1878, short for Gorgonzola cheese (1866), named for Gorgonzola, village near Milan where it was made.
In the neighbourhood is Gorgonzola, celebrated in the annals of the middle ages for the victory of Frederigo Barbarossa over the Milanese, in 1158; for the capture of the chevalric and poetic king Ensius, in 1243; for the advantage gained by the Torriani over the Visconti, in 1278, and which the latter revenged in 1281; but above all, famous for its strachino a cheese of European celebrity. ["Italy and its Comforts," London, 1842]
gorilla (n.): 1847, applied to a species of large apes (Troglodytes gorilla) by U.S. missionary Thomas Savage, from Greek gorillai, plural of name given to wild, hairy beings (now supposed to have been chimpanzees) in a Greek translation of Carthaginian navigator Hanno's account of his voyage along the northwest coast of Africa, c. 500 B.C.E. Allegedly an African word.
In its inmost recess was an island similar to that formerly described, which contained in like manner a lake with another island, inhabited by a rude description of people. The females were much more numerous than the males, and had rough skins: our interpreters called them Gorillae. We pursued but could take none of the males; they all escaped to the top of precipices, which they mounted with ease, and threw down stones; we took three of the females, but they made such violent struggles, biting and tearing their captors, that we killed them, and stripped off the skins, which we carried to Carthage: being out of provisions we could go no further. [Hanno, "Periplus"]
Of persons perceived as being gorilla-like, from 1884.
gorm (n.): "fool," 1912, perhaps from gormless.
gormless (adj.): c. 1746, also in early use gaumless, gawmless, "wanting sense, stupid," a British dialectal word, from gome "notice, understanding" (c. 1200), from Old Norse gaumr "care, heed" (of unknown origin); + -less.
gorse (n.): Old English gors "gorse, furze," from Proto-Germanic *gorst- (source also of Old Saxon, Old High German gersta, Middle Dutch gherste, Dutch gerst, German gerste "barley"), from PIE *ghers- "to bristle" (source also of Latin hordeum "barley;" see horror).
gory (adj.): "covered with clotted blood," late 15c., from gore (n.1) + -y (2).
gosh (interj.): minced oath, 1757, altered pronunciation of God. Probably via by gosse (mid-16c.).
goshawk (n.): large type of hawk flown at geese, Old English goshafoc, literally "goose-hawk," from gos "goose" (see goose (n.)) + hafoc "hawk" (see hawk (n.)). Compare Old Norse gashaukr.
Goshen: Biblical name of the fertile land settled by the Israelites in Egypt; light shone there during the plague of darkness [Gen. xxxxv:10]. The name is of unknown origin.