Online Etymology Dictionary

waste (n.): c. 1200, "desolate regions," from Anglo-French and Old North French wast "waste, damage, destruction; wasteland, moor" (Old French gast), from Latin vastum, neuter of vastus "waste" (see waste (v.)).

Replaced or merged with Old English westen, woesten "a desert, wilderness," from the Latin word. Meanings "consumption, depletion," also "useless expenditure" are from c. 1300; sense of "refuse matter" is attested from c. 1400. Waste basket first recorded 1850.
speaker (n.): c. 1300, "one who speaks," agent noun from speak (v.). Similar formation in Old Frisian spreker, Old High German sprahhari, German Sprecher. First applied to "person who presides over an assembly" c. 1400, from similar use in Anglo-French (late 14c.) in reference to the English Parliament; later extended to the U.S. House of Representatives, etc. The electric amplifier so called from 1926, short for loud-speaker.
spread (n.): 1620s, "act of spreading;" 1690s, "extent or expanse of something," from spread (v.). Meaning "copious meal" dates from 1822; sense of "food for spreading" (butter, jam, etc.) is from 1812. Sense of "bed cover" is recorded from 1848, originally American English. Meaning "degree of variation" is attested from 1929. Meaning "ranch for raising cattle" is attested from 1927.
seven-year itch (n.): 1899, American English, some sort of skin condition (sometimes identified with poison ivy infection) that either lasts seven years or returns every seven years. Jocular use for "urge to stray from marital fidelity" is attested from 1952, as the title of the Broadway play (made into a film, 1955) by George Axelrod (1922-2003), in which the lead male character reads an article describing the high number of men have extra-marital affairs after seven years of marriage.
setting (n.): late 14c., "fact or action of setting (something), putting, placing, planting," verbal noun from set (v.).

Meaning "place, location, site" is late 14c. Surgical sense, with reference to broken bones, etc., is from early 15c. In reference to heavenly bodies, from c. 1400. Also in Middle English "act of creation; thing created" (c. 1400). In reference to mounts for jewels, etc. from 1815; meaning "background, history, environment" is attested from 1841.
shears (n.): "large scissors," Old English scearra (plural) "shears, scissors," from Proto-Germanic *sker- "to cut" (source also of Middle Dutch schaer, Old High German scara, German Schere; see shear (v.)). In 17c., also "a device for raising the masts of ships" (1620s). As "scissors," OED labels it Scottish and dialectal. Chalk is no shears (1640s) was noted as a Scottish proverb expressing the gap between planning and doing.
Shiraz (n.): wine made in the district of Shiraz, city in Persia, 1630s. As the name for a red wine made from a type of grape grown in the Rhône valley of France, it is recorded from 1908, from French syrah, the name apparently altered in English on mistaken notion that the grape was brought to Europe from the Middle East by Crusaders. The place name is said to be from Elamite sher "good" + raz "grape."
Sophia: fem. proper name, from Greek sophia "skill, knowledge of, acquaintance with; sound judgement, practical wisdom; cunning, shrewdness; philosophy," also "wisdom personified," abstract noun from sophos "wise" (see sophist). Saint Sophia in ancient church names and place names in the East is not necessarily a reference to a person; the phrase also is the English translation of the Greek for "divine wisdom, holy wisdom," to which churches were dedicated.
just (adv.): "merely, barely," 1660s, from Middle English sense of "exactly, precisely, punctually" (c. 1400), from just (adj.), and paralleling the adverbial use of French juste. Just now "a short time ago" is from 1680s. For sense decay, compare anon, soon. Just-so story first attested 1902 in Kipling, from the expression just so "exactly that, in that very way" (1751).
snookums (n.): trivial term of endearment, 1919, from Snooks, proper name used in Britain for "a hypothetical person" (1860), compare Joe Blow in U.S. As an actual proper name, Snooks dates back to the Domesday Book and may be from Old English *snoc "a projecting point of land" (perhaps here with sense of "a big nose").
sore (n.): Old English sar "bodily pain or injury, wound; sickness, disease; state of pain or suffering," from root of sore (adj.). Now restricted to ulcers, boils, blisters. Compare Old Saxon ser "pain, wound," Middle Dutch seer, Dutch zeer, Old High German ser, Old Norse sar, Gothic sair.
sticky (adj.): 1727, "adhesive, inclined to stick," from stick (v.) + -y (2). An Old English word for this was clibbor. First recorded 1864 in the sense of "sentimental;" of situations, 1915 with the meaning "difficult." Of weather, "hot and humid," from 1895. Sticky wicket is 1952, from British slang, in reference to cricket. Related: Stickily; stickiness.
stone (adj.): "made of stone," Old English (which also had stænan "stonen"); see stone (n.). As an intensifying adjective recorded from 1935, first recorded in African-American vernacular, probably from earlier use in phrases like stone blind (late 14c., literally "blind as a stone"), stone deaf, stone-cold (1590s), etc. Stone cold sober dates from 1937.
stool pigeon (n.): "police informer," 1859, American English; earlier "one who betrays the unwary (or is used to betray them)," 1821, originally a decoy bird (1812); said to be from decoys being fastened to stools to lure other pigeons. But perhaps related to stall "decoy bird" (c. 1500), especially "a pigeon used to entice a hawk into the net" (see stall (n.2)). Also see pigeon.
sunshine (n.): mid-13c., from sun (n.) + shine (n.). Old English had sunnanscima "sunshine;" while sunscin meant "a mirror, speculum." Meaning "happy person who brightens the lives of others" is from 1942. Sunshine law in reference to U.S. open-meeting legislation is recorded from 1972, from the notion of shining the light of public access on deliberations formerly held behind closed doors. Related: Sunshiny.
third degree (n.): "intense interrogation by police," 1900, probably a reference to Third Degree of master mason in Freemasonry (1772), the conferring of which included an interrogation ceremony. Third degree as a measure of severity of burns (most severe) is attested from 1866, from French (1832); in American English, as a definition of the seriousness of a particular type of crime (the least serious type) it is recorded from 1865.
mob-cap (n.): a type of woman's indoor cap, 1795 (as simply mob, 1748), from cap (n.) + obsolete mob (n.) "negligent attire" (1660s), earlier "a strumpet" (earlier form mab, 1550s), related to obsolete verb mob "to tousle the hair, to dress untidily" (1660s), and perhaps ultimately from mop, but influenced by Mab as a female name. Dutch has a similar compound, mopmuts, but the relationship between it and the English word is uncertain.
warp (n.): "threads running lengthwise in a fabric," Old English wearp, from Proto-Germanic *warpo- (source also of Middle Low German warp, Old High German warf "warp," Old Norse varp "cast of a net"), from PIE *werp- "to turn, bend" (see warp (v.)). The warp of fabric is that across which the woof is "thrown." Applied in 20c. astrophysics to the "fabric" of space-time, popularized in noun phrase warp speed by 1960s TV series "Star Trek."
weakling (n.): 1520s, coined by Tyndale from weak (adj.) + -ling as a loan-translation of Luther's Weichling "effeminate man" (from German weich "soft") in I Cor. vi.9, where the Greek is malakoi, from malakos "soft, soft to the touch," "Like the Lat. mollis, metaph. and in a bad sense: effeminate, of a catamite, a male who submits his body to unnatural lewdness" ["Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament"].
welkin (n.): "sky" (poetic), Old English wolcen "cloud," also "sky, heavens," from Proto-Germanic *welk- (source also of Old Saxon wolkan, Old Frisian wolken, Middle Dutch wolke, Dutch wolk, Old High German wolka, German Wolke "cloud," from PIE *welg- "wet" (source also of Lithuanian vilgyti "to moisten," Old Church Slavonic vlaga "moisture," Czech vlhky "damp").
widgeon (n.): migratory wild duck, 1510s, perhaps from a northern variant of French vigeon, which some trace to Latin vipionem (nominative vipio), "a kind of small crane," a Balearic word, perhaps imitative, with an evolution of form similar to that which produced pigeon. But the French word is later than the English one, and OED finds all this "very dubious." Applied to different species in Europe and America.
wiseacre (n.): 1590s, partial translation of Middle Dutch wijssegger "soothsayer" (with no derogatory connotation), probably altered by association with Middle Dutch segger "sayer" from Old High German wizzago "prophet," from wizzan "to know," from Proto-Germanic *wit- "to know" (see wit (v.)). The deprecatory sense of "one who pretends to know everything" may have come through confusion with obsolete English segger "sayer," which also had a sense of "braggart" (mid-15c.).
wildfire (n.): late Old English wilde fyr "destructive fire" (perhaps caused by lightning); also "erysipelas, spreading skin disease;" see wild (adj.) + fire (n.). From c. 1300 as "Greek fire," also fire rained down from the sky as divine retribution. Figurative sense from late 14c. By 1795 as "sheet lightning."
tumbler (n.): mid-14c., "acrobat," agent noun from tumble (v.). Compare Old English tumbere "tumbler, dancer." A fem. form was tumblester (early 15c.), tumbester (late 14c.) "female acrobatic dancer." Meaning "drinking glass" is recorded from 1660s, originally a glass with a rounded or pointed bottom which would cause it to "tumble;" thus it could not be set down until it was empty. As a part of a lock mechanism, from 1670s.
tweedledum (n.): paired with tweedledee to signify two things or persons nearly alike, differing in name, 1725, coined by English poet John Byrom (1692-1767) in his satire "On the Feud Between Handel and Bononcini," a couple of competing musicians, from tweedle "to sing, to whistle" (1680s), of imitative origin. The -dum and -dee perhaps suggest low and high sounds respectively.
Vulcan (n.): god of fire and metal-work in Roman mythology, 1510s, from Latin Vulcanus, Volcanus, according to Klein a word of Etruscan origin. Often with allusions to his lameness and the unfaithfulness of his wife, Venus. As the name of a hypothetical planet between Mercury and the Sun, it is attested from 1860 in English (see intramercurial). The Roman feast of Vulcanalia was on Aug. 23.
virtuous (adj.): c. 1300, "characterized by vigor or strength; having qualities befitting a knight; valiant, hardy, courageous;" from Old French vertuos "righteous; potent; of good quality; mighty, valiant, brave" (12c.), from Late Latin virtuosus "good, virtuous," from Latin virtus (see virtue). From mid-14c. in English as "having beneficial or efficacious properties;" late 14c. (of persons) as "having excellent moral qualities; conforming to religious law." Related: Virtuously; virtuousness.
worthy (adj.): mid-13c., "having merit," from worth (n.) + -y (2). Old English had weorþful in this sense. Attested from late 14c. as a noun meaning "person of merit" (especially in Nine Worthies, famous men of history and legend: Joshua, David, Judas Maccabæus, Hector, Alexander, Julius Cæsar, Arthur, Charlemagne, Godfrey of Bouillon -- three Jews, three gentiles, three Christians). Related: Worthily; worthiness.
well-heeled (adj.): "well-off, having much money, in good circumstances;" also "well-equipped," 1872, American English slang (originally in the "money" sense), from well (adv.) + colloquial sense of heeled. "[A]pplied to a player at cards who has a good hand, to a person who possesses plenty of money, or to a man who is well armed" [Century Dictionary]. From 1817 in a literal sense, in reference to shoes.
up (v.): 1550s, "to drive and catch (swans)," from up (adv.). Intransitive meaning "get up, rise to one's feet" (as in up and leave) is recorded from 1640s. Sense of "to move upward" is recorded from 1737. Meaning "increase" (as in up the price of oil) is attested from 1915. Compare Old English verb uppian "to rise up, swell." Related: Upped; upping. Upping block, used for mounting or dismounting horses, carriages, etc., is attested from 1796 (earlier was horsing-block, 1660s).
underhand (adv.): mid-14c., "by secret means, stealthily, in a surreptitious manner," from under + hand (n.). Perhaps the notion is of the hand turned over (thus concealing what it holds). Compare Middle Dutch onderhanden "by degrees, slowly," Dutch onderhandsch "secret, private." The adjective is attested from 1540s. Old English under hand meant "in subjection, in (one's) control or power."
undermine (v.): c. 1300, undermyne, "render unstable by digging at the foundation," from under + mine (v.). The figurative sense "injure by invisible, secret, or dishonorable means" is attested from early 15c. Similar formation in Dutch ondermijnen, Danish underminere, German unterminiren. The Old English verb was underdelfan. Related: Undermined; undermining.
Chinook: name for a group of related native people in the Columbia River region of Washington and Oregon, from Salishan /činuk/, name of a village site. Name also extended to a type of salmon (1851) and warm spring wind. Chinook jargon was a mishmash of native (Chinook and Nootka), French, and English words; it once was lingua franca in the Pacific Northwest, and it is the earliest attested use of the word (1840).
Kiribati: island nation in the Pacific, formerly Gilbert Islands and named for Capt. Thomas Gilbert, who arrived there 1788 after helping transport the first shipload of convicts to Australia. At independence in 1979 it took the current name, which represents the local pronunciation of Gilbert. Christmas Island, named for the date it was discovered by Europeans, is in the chain and now goes by Kiritimati, likewise a local pronunciation of the English name.
adopt (v.): c. 1500, a back-formation from adoption or else from Middle French adopter or directly from Latin adoptare "take by choice, choose for oneself, select, choose" (especially a child). Originally in English also of friends, fathers, citizens, etc. Sense of "to legally take as one's own child" and that of "to embrace, espouse" a practice, method, etc. are from c. 1600. Related: Adopted; adopting.
anyway (adv.): 1560s, any way "in any manner;" variant any ways (with adverbial genitive) attested from c. 1560, prepositional phrase by any way is from late 14c.; see any + way (n.). One-word form predominated from 1830s. As an adverbial conjunction, from 1859. Middle English in this sense had ani-gates "in any way, somehow" (c. 1400).
oe: found in Greek borrowings into Latin, representing Greek -oi-. Words with -oe- that came early into English from Old French or Medieval Latin usually already had been levelled to -e- (economic, penal, cemetery), but later borrowings directly from Latin or Greek tended to retain it at first (oestrus, diarrhoea, amoeba) as did proper names (Oedipus, Phoebe, Phoenix) and purely technical terms. British English tends to be more conservative with it than American, which has done away with it in all but a few instances.

It also occurred in some native Latin words (foedus "treaty, league," foetere "to stink," hence occasionally in English foetid, foederal, which was the form in the original publications of the "Federalist" papers). In these it represents an ancient -oi- in Old Latin (for example Old Latin oino, Classical Latin unus), which apparently passed through an -oe- form before being leveled out but was preserved into Classical Latin in certain words, especially those belonging to the realms of law (such as foedus) and religion, which, along with the vocabulary of sailors, are the most conservative branches of any language in any time, through a need for precision, immediate comprehension, demonstration of learning, or superstition. But in foetus it was an unetymological spelling in Latin that was picked up in English and formed the predominant spelling of fetus into the early 20c.
applaud (v.): late 15c. (implied in applauding), "to express agreement or approval; to praise," from Latin applaudere "to clap the hands in approbation, to approve by clapping hands; to strike upon, beat," from ad "to" (see ad-) + plaudere "to clap" (see plaudit). Sense of "express approval of" is from 1590s; that of "to clap the hands" is from 1590s. Figurative sense arrived in English before literal. Related: Applauded; applauding.
aqua (n.): "water," late 14c.; see aqua-. Used in late Middle English in combinations to mean "decoction, solution" (as in aqua regia, a mix of concentrated acids, literally "royal water," so called for its power to dissolve gold and other "noble" metals). As the name of a light greenish-blue color, 1936.
Ashley: fem. proper name, all but unknown before c. 1965; one of the most popular names for girls born in U.S. from c. 1980; evidently inspired by the surname Ashley, Ashleigh (attested from 12c.), which means "clearing among the ash trees," from Old English æsc + leah (see ash (n.2) + lea).
astro-: element active in English word formation from mid-18c. and meaning "star or celestial body; outer space," from Greek astro-, stem and comb. form of astron "star," related to aster "star" (see star (n.)). In ancient Greek, aster typically was "a star" and astron mostly in plural, "the stars." In singular it mostly meant "Sirius" (the brightest star).
ambuscade (n.): 1580s, essentially a variant form of ambush (n.), representing a reborrowing of that French word after it had been Italianized. Ambuscade is from French embuscade (16c.), Gallicized from Italian imboscata, literally "a hiding in the bush," compounded from the same elements as Old French embuscher. Sometimes in English as ambuscado, with faux Spanish ending of the sort popular in 17c.
pedantic (adj.): formed in English c. 1600, from pedant + -ic. The French equivalent is pédantesque. Perhaps first attested in John Donne's "Sunne Rising," where he bids the morning sun let his love and him linger in bed, telling it, "Sawcy pedantique wretch, goe chide Late schooleboyes." Related: Pedantical (1580s); pedantically.
ab-: word-forming element meaning "away, from, from off, down;" from Latin ab-, ab "off, away from," cognate with Greek apo "away from, from," Sanskrit apa "away from," Gothic af, Old English of, from PIE root *apo- (see apo-). Reduced to a- before -m-, -p-, or -v-; sometimes abs- before -c- or -t-.
abduction (n.): 1620s, "a leading away," from Latin abductionem (nominative abductio), noun of action from past participle stem of abducere "to lead away, take away" (often by force), from ab- "away" (see ab-) + ducere "to lead" (see duke (n.)). The illegal activity so called from 1768; before that the word also was a term in surgery and logic. In the Mercian hymns, Latin abductione is glossed by Old English wiðlaednisse.
Algeria: North African country, named for Algiers, city chosen by the French as its capital when they colonized it in 1830 + Latinate "country" suffix -ia. The city name is Arabic al-Jazair, literally "the islands," in reference to four islands formerly off the coast but joined to the mainland since 1525. A resident of the place formerly was an Algerine (1650s), and the word was practically synonymous with "pirate" in English and U.S. usage early 19c.
suds (n.): 1540s, "dregs, leavings, muck," especially in East Anglia, "ooze left by flood" (according to OED this may be the original sense), perhaps borrowed from Middle Dutch sudse "marsh, bog," or related words in Frisian and Low German, cognate with Old English soden "boiled," from Proto-Germanic *suth-, from PIE *seut- "to seethe, boil" (see seethe). Meaning "soapy water" dates from 1580s; slang meaning "beer" first attested 1904. Related: Sudsy.
sulfur (n.): also sulphur, c. 1300, from Anglo-French sulfere, Old French soufre "sulfur, fire and brimstone, hellfire" (13c.), later also sulphur, from Late Latin sulfur, from Latin sulphur, probably from a root meaning "to burn." Ousted native brimstone and cognate Old English swefl, German schwefel, Swedish swafel, Dutch zwavel. The spelling with -ph- is standard in Britain, but its suggestion of a Greek origin is misleading.
sulky (adj.): "quietly sullen," 1744, of uncertain origin. Connection has been suggested to obsolete, rare sulke "hard to sell" (1630s) and to Old English asolcen "idle, lazy, slow," past participle adjective from aseolcan "become sluggish, be weak or idle" (related to besylcan "be languid"), from Proto-Germanic *seklan (source also of Middle High German selken "to drop, fall"). But words of similar meaning often are held to be imitative (compare miff, mope, boudoir). Related: Sulkily; sulkiness.
sultan (n.): 1550s, from Middle French sultan "ruler of Turkey" (16c.), ultimately from Arabic sultan "ruler, prince, monarch, king, queen," originally "power, dominion." According to Klein's sources, this is from Aramaic shultana "power," from shelet "have power." Earlier English word was soldan, soudan (c. 1300), used indiscriminately of Muslim rulers and sovereigns, from Old French souldan, soudan, from Medieval Latin sultanus. Related: Sultanic.