Online Etymology Dictionary

Jeffersonian: 1799 (n.), 1800 (adj.), in reference to the politics and policies of U.S. politician and statesman Thomas Jefferson, first great leader of the Democratic Party and president 1801-09. The surname, literally "son of Geoffrey," is attested from mid-14c.; in Middle English also Jeffrison, Geffreysone, Geffrason. Jeffersonianism is from 1804 in reference to the political beliefs of Thomas Jefferson; often it means advocacy of the greatest possible individual and local freedom and corresponding restriction of the national government.
beard (v.): c. 1300, "to grow or have a beard," from beard (n.). The sense of "confront boldly and directly" is from Middle English phrases such as rennen in berd "oppose openly" (c. 1200), reproven in the berd "to rebuke directly and personally" (c. 1400), on the same notion as modern slang get in (someone's) face. Related: Bearded; bearding.
open (v.): Old English openian "to open, open up, disclose, reveal," also intransitive, "become manifest, be open to or exposed to," from Proto-Germanic *opanojan (source also of Old Saxon opanon, Old Norse opna "to open," Middle Dutch, Dutch openen, Old High German offanon, German öffnen), from the source of open (adj.), but etymology suggests the adjective is older. Open up "cease to be secretive" is from 1921. Related: Opened; opening.
sail (v.): Old English segilan "travel on water in a ship; equip with a sail," from the same Germanic source as sail (n.); cognate with Old Norse sigla, Middle Dutch seghelen, Dutch zeilen, Middle Low German segelen, German segeln. Meaning "to set out on a sea voyage, leave port" is from c. 1200. Related: Sailed; sailing.
keelson (n.): also kelson, 1620s, altered (by influence of keel (n.)) from Middle English kelsyng (late 13c.), which probably is of Scandinavian origin (compare Swedish kölsvin, Danish and Norwegian kjølsvin), from a compound of words such as Old Norse kjölr (see keel (n.)) + swin "swine," which was used of timber (see swine). Or else from a similarly formed Low German source.
keep (n.): mid-13c., "care or heed in watching," from keep (v.). Meaning "innermost stronghold or central tower of a castle" is from 1580s; OED says this is perhaps a translation of Italian tenazza, the notion being "that which keeps" (someone or something). The sense of "food required to keep a person or animal" is attested from 1801 (to earn (one's) keep is from 1885). For keeps "completely, for good" is American English colloquial, from 1861, probably from the notion of keeping one's winnings in games such as marbles.
knitting (n.): late 14c., "a fastening with a rope or thread;" mid-15c., "a joining or binding together," verbal noun from knit (v.). In Middle English also "unity; a bond, unifying force; interconnection; a relationship," but these are lost. Meaning "act of weaving a continuous thread by loops or knots" is from 1711. Meaning "knitted work, work done by a knitter" is from 1848. Knitting-needle is from 1590s.
lawman (n.): 1530s, "lawyer," from law (n.) + man (n.). Meaning "law-enforcement officer" is from 1865. Old English had lahmann "an official or declarer of the law, one acquainted with the law and qualified to declare it," a word from Old Norse. There is an Anglo-Latin lagamannus "magistrate" from early 12c., hence the proper name of Layamon, author of the "Brut."
need (v.): Old English neodian "be necessary, be required (for some purpose); require, have need of," from the same root as need (n.). Meaning "to be under obligation (to do something)" is from late 14c. Related: Needed; needing. The adjectival phrase need-to-know is attested from 1952. Dismissive phrase who needs it?, popular from c. 1960, is a translated Yiddishism.
burn (n.): c. 1300, "act of burning," from Old English bryne, from the same source as burn (v.). Until mid-16c. the usual spelling was brenne. Meaning "mark made by burning" is from 1520s. Slow burn first attested 1938, in reference to U.S. movie actor Edgar Kennedy (1890-1948), who made it his specialty.
Christianity (n.): c. 1300, cristente, "Christians as a whole; state of being a Christian," from Old French crestienté "Christendom; spiritual authority; baptism" (Modern French chrétienté), from Church Latin christianitatem (nominative christianitas), noun of state from christianus (see Christian). Gradually respelled to conform with Latin. Christendom is the older word for it. Old English also had cristennes.
cilice (n.): Old English cilic, from Latin cilicium "a covering," a type of coarse garment (used especially by soldiers and sailors), originally one of Cilician goat hair, from Greek kilikion "coarse cloth," from Kilikia "Cilicia" in Asia Minor. By tradition in Greek mythology the place was named for Cilix, a son of the Phoenician king Agenor.
clientele (n.): 1560s, "body of professed adherents," from French clientèle (16c.), from Latin clientela "relationship between dependent and patron, body of clients," from clientem (nominative cliens; see client). Meaning "customers, those who regularly patronize a business or professional" is from 1857, perhaps a reborrowing from French (it was used in English in italics as a foreign word from 1836).
captivate (v.): 1520s, "to enthrall with charm," from Late Latin captivatus, past participle of captivare "to take, capture," from captivus (see captive). Literal sense (1550s) is rare or obsolete in English, which uses capture (q.v.). Latin captare "to take, hold" also had a transferred sense of "to entice, entrap, allure." Related: Captivated; captivating; captivatingly.
carminative (adj.): early 15c., from Latin carminat- (past participle stem of carminare "to card," from carmen, genitive carminis, "a card for wool or flax," which is related to carrere "to card;" see card (v.2)) + -ive. As a noun from 1670s.
A medical term from the old theory of humours. The object of carminatives is to expel wind, but the theory was that they dilute and relax the gross humours from whence the wind arises, combing them out like knots in wool. [Hensleigh Wedgwood, "A Dictionary of English Etymology," 1859-65]
carpetbagger (n.): also carpet-bagger, 1868, American English, scornful appellation for Northerners who went South after the fall of the CSA seeking private gain or political advancement. The name is based on the image of men arriving with all their worldly goods in a big carpetbag. Sense later extended to any opportunist from out of the area.
carrefour (n.): late 15c., "place where four ways meet," from Old French carrefor (13c., quarrefour), from Latin quadrifurcus "four-forked," from quatuor "four" (see four) + furca "fork" (see fork (n.)). "Formerly quite naturalized, but now treated only as French" [OED]. Englished variant carfax is from Middle English carfourkes.
Castile: medieval Spanish county and later kingdom, from Vulgar Latin castilla, from Latin castella, plural of castellum "castle, fort, citadel, stronghold" (see castle (n.)); so called in reference to the many fortified places there during the Moorish wars. The name in Spanish is said to date back to c.800. Related: Castilian. As a fine kind of soap, in English from 1610s.
department (n.): mid-15c., "a going away, act of leaving," from Old French departement (12c.) "division, sharing out; divorce, parting," from Late Latin departire (see depart). French department meant "group of people" (as well as "departure"), from which English borrowed the sense of "separate division, separate business assigned to someone in a larger organization" (c. 1735). Meaning "separate division of a government" is from 1769. As an administrative district in France, from 1792.
deposition (n.): late 14c., "dethronement, putting down from dignity or authority," from Old French deposicion (12c.), from Latin depositionem (nominative depositio), noun of action from past participle stem of deponere (see deposit (v.)).

Meaning "statements made in court under oath" is from early 15c. Meaning "action of depositing" is from 1590s. Properly, deposition belongs to deposit, but deposit and depose have become totally confused and English deposition partakes of senses belonging to both.
cop out: by 1942, noun and verb, "sneak off, escape," American English slang, probably from cop a plea (c. 1925) "plead guilty to lesser charges," probably from northern British slang cop "to catch" (a scolding, etc.); as in cop a feel "grope someone" (1930s); see cop (v.). Sense of "evade an issue or problem" is from 1960s.
coracle (n.): "round boat of wicker, coated with skins," 1540s (the thing is described, but not named, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle from 9c.), from Welsh corwgl, from corwg, cognate with Gaelic curachan, Middle Irish curach "boat," which probably is the source of Middle English currock "coracle" (mid-15c.). The name is perhaps from the hides that cover it (see corium).
Corinthian: 1650s as an architectural order, from Corinth, the ancient Greek city-state. In classical times Corinth was notorious for its luxury and licentiousness among the Greek states (and for not scorning trade and profit); hence Corinthian, noun and adjective, in various slang or colloquial sense in English, especially "a swell, a man about town" (early to mid-19c. but especially in the 1820s).
cornel (n.): a type of tree or shrub with an edible fruit, 1550s, from German cornel-baum, from Old High German cornul, from Medieval Latin cornolium, from French cornouille, from Vulgar Latin *cornuculum, from Latin cornum "cornel-cherry," perhaps related to Greek kerasos "cherry." Old English also had borrowed the Latin word, in corntreow. The plant was noted for its hard wood, which was favored by the ancients for making shafts of spears and arrows.
dementia (n.): 1806, from Latin dementia "madness, insanity," literally "a being out of one's mind," from dement-, stem of demens "mad, raving" (see dement) + abstract noun suffix -ia. It existed earlier in an Englished form, demency (1520s), from French démence. Dementia praecox is a Modern Latin form recorded from 1899 in English, 1891 in German, from French démence précoce (1857). See precocious.
demolition (n.): 1540s, from Old French demolition (14c.) "demolition; defeat, rout," from Latin demolitionem (nominative demolitio), noun of action from past participle stem of demoliri "tear down" (see demolish). Mencken noted demolition engineer for "house-wrecker" by 1936. Demolition derby is recorded from 1956, American English, defined by OED as "a contest in which old cars are battered into one another, the last one running being declared the winner."
Banting (n.): system for weight loss through diet control, named for William Banting (1797-1878), English undertaker who invented it, tested it himself, and promoted it in his 1863 booklet "Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public." Although the word is a surname, it was used like a verbal noun in -ing. ("She is banting").
cowboy (n.): 1725, "boy who tends to cows," from cow (n.) + boy. Sense in Western U.S. is from 1849; in figurative use by 1942 for "brash and reckless young man" (as an adjective meaning "reckless," from 1920s). Cowhand is first attested 1852 in American English (see hand (n.)). Cowpoke (said to be 1881, not in popular use until 1940s) was said to be originally restricted to the cowboys who prodded cattle onto railroad cars with long poles.
creator (n.): c. 1300, "Supreme Being," from Anglo-French creatour, Old French creator (12c., academic and liturgical, alongside popular creere, Modern French créateur), from Latin creator "creator, author, founder," from creatus (see create). Translated in Old English as scieppend (from verb scieppan; see shape (v.)). Not generally capitalized until KJV. General meaning "one who creates" is from 1570s.
enucleation (n.): 1640s, noun of action from verb enucleate (1540s), from Latin enucleatus "pure, clean," past participle of enucleare "to lay open, explain in detail," literally "to remove the kernel from" (see ex- + nucleus). Mostly figurative in Latin (the notion is of getting at the "core" of some matter), and usually figurative in English until mid-19c. advances in science and medicine gave it a new literal sense.
elegiac (adj.): 1580s, in reference to lines of verse of a particular construction, from Middle French élégiaque, from Latin elegiacus, from Greek elegeiakos, from eleigeia (see elegy). In ancient Greece the verse form was used especially with mournful music. Meaning "pertaining to an elegy or elegies" is from 1640s in English; loosened sense "expressing sorrow, lamenting" is from c. 1800. Related: Elegiacal (1540s, of meter); elegiacally.
marker (n.): Old English mearcere "writer, notary" (glossing Latin notarius "clerk"), literally "one who marks," agent noun from mark (v). Not found again until late 15c., hence modern use is perhaps a separate formation. Meaning "monument stone" is from 1888. Meaning "felt-tipped marker pen" is from 1951, so called because their purpose was to "highlight" text.
done: past participle of do (v.); from Old English past participle gedon (a vestige of the prefix is in ado). U.S. Southern use of done in phrases like "he done gone to the store" is attested from 1827, according to OED: "a perfective auxiliary or with adverbial force in the sense 'already; completely.' " Meaning "finished" is early 15c. Slang done for "doomed" is from 1842.
don juan (n.): "philanderer," from the legendary dissolute Spanish nobleman whose rakish exploits formed the stuff of popular tales in Spain from early 17c., dramatized by Gabriel Tellez in "Convivado de Piedra." Adapted into French and Italian before 1700; Used attributively in English for "ladies' man, womanizer" from the time of Byron's popular poem about him (1819).
-ics: in the names of sciences or disciplines (acoustics, aerobics, economics, etc.), a 16c. revival of the classical custom of using the neuter plural of adjectives with Greek -ikos "pertaining to" (see -ic) to mean "matters relevant to" and also as the titles of treatises about them. Subject matters that acquired their English names before c. 1500, however, tend to be singular in form (arithmetic, logic, magic, music, rhetoric). The grammatical number of words in -ics (mathematics is/mathematics are) is a confused question.
merle (n.): "blackbird," late 15c., from Old French merle "blackbird" (12c.), from Latin merulus "blackbird," from PIE *ams- "black, blackbird" (source also of Old English osle "blackbird;" see ouzel). The word owes its survival in modern times to its use by Scottish poets. The Latin word shows effects of rhotacism. It also is the source of Provençal and Spanish merla, Portuguese merlo, and Italian merla. Borrowed from French are Middle Dutch and German merle, Dutch meerle.
Edinburgh: older than King Edwin of Northumbria (who often is credited as the source of the name); originally Din Eidyn, Celtic, perhaps literally "fort on a slope." Later the first element was trimmed off and Old English burh "fort" added in its place." Dunedin in New Zealand represents an attempt at the original form.
bones (n.): plural of bone (n.). As a colloquial way to say "dice," it is attested from late 14c. As a nickname for a surgeon, it dates to 1887, short for sawbones. To make bones about something (mid-15c.) refers to bones found in soup, etc., as an obstacle to being swallowed. To feel something in one's bones "have a presentiment" is 1867, American English.
miso-: word-forming element meaning "hater, hatred," before vowels, mis-, comb. form of Greek misos "hatred," misein "to hate." Productive as a word-forming element in ancient Greek, for instance misoagathia "hatred of good or goodness;" misoponein "to hate work." Forming many compounds in English, most of them obscure or recherche, but some perhaps useful, for example misocapnic (adj.) "hating (tobacco) smoke," misocyny "hatred of dogs."
emprise (n.): c. 1300, "chivalrous endeavor," from Old French emprise (12c.) "enterprise, venture, adventure, undertaking," from Vulgar Latin *imprensa (source of Provençal empreza, Spanish empresa, Italian impresa), from *imprendere "to undertake," from in- (see in- (2)) + prehendere "to take" (see prehensile). Archaic in English; in French now with a literal sense "a hold, a grip."
moldwarp (n.): also mouldwarp, early 14c., moldewarp, from Proto-Germanic *moldo-worpo(n)-, literally "earth-thrower," from to Old English molde "earth, soil" (see mole (n.2) + weorpan "to throw" (see warp (v.)). Common Germanic, compare Old Saxon moldwerp, Dutch mulworp, Norwegian moldvarp, Danish muldvarp, Old High German multwurf, German Maulwurf (influenced by Maul "mouth").
molestation (n.): c. 1400, "action of annoying or vexing," from Old French molestacion "vexation, harassing," and directly from Medieval Latin molestationem (nominative molestatio), noun of action from past participle stem of molestare (see molest). It meant "the harassing of a person in his possession or occupation of lands" in Scottish law; in English common law it came to mean "injury inflicted upon another."
chasuble (n.): ecclesiastical vestment, c. 1300, cheisible, from Old French chesible (12c., Modern French chasuble), from Medieval Latin casubla, from Late Latin *casubula, unexplained alteration of Latin casula "a little hut," diminutive of casa "cottage, house" (see casino), used by c. 400 in transferred sense of "outer garment." From the notion that hooded garments resembled or suggested little houses. The English form conformed to French from c. 1600.
chaser (n.): c. 1300, "horse trained for chasing," agent noun from chase (v.), probably in some cases from Old French chaceor "huntsman, hunter." Meaning "water or mild beverage taken after a strong drink" is 1897, U.S. colloquial. French had chasse (from chasser "to chase") "a drink of liquor taken (or said to be taken) to kill the aftertaste of coffee or tobacco," used in English from c. 1800.
Chesterfield: Derbyshire town, Old English Cesterfelda, literally "open land near a Roman fort," from ceaster "fort" (see Chester) + feld "open land" (see field (n.)). The cigarette brand was named for Chesterfield County, Virginia, U.S. As a kind of overcoat and a kind of sofa (both 19c.), the name comes from earls of Chesterfield. Philip Stanhope, the fourth Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773) was the writer on manners and etiquette.
compensation (n.): late 14c., "action of compensating," from Latin compensationem (nominative compensatio) "a weighing one thing against another, a balancing," noun of action from past participle stem of compensare (see compensate). Meaning "what is given in recompense" is from c. 1600; meaning "amends for loss or damages" is from 1804; meaning "salary, wages" is attested from 1787, American English. The psychological sense is from 1914.
confession (n.): late 14c., "action of confessing," originally in religion, from Old French confession (10c.), from Latin confessionem (nominative confessio) "confession, acknowledgement," noun of action from past participle stem of confiteri (see confess). In law, from 1570s. Meaning "that which is confessed" is mid-15c. An Old English word for it was andettung, also scriftspræc.
conservation (n.): late 14c., conservacioun, "preservation of one's health and soundness," from Latin conservationem (nominative conservatio) "a keeping, preserving, conserving," noun of action from past participle stem of conservare (see conserve). Meaning "preservation of existing conditions" in any sense is from mid-15c. Since late 15c., in reference to English municipal authorities who had charge of rivers, sewers, forests, fisheries, etc. Specifically of the environment from 1922.
conspiracy (n.): mid-14c., from Anglo-French conspiracie, Old French conspiracie "conspiracy, plot," from Latin conspirationem (nominative conspiratio) "agreement, union, unanimity," noun of action from conspirare (see conspire); earlier in same sense was conspiration (early 14c.), from French conspiration (13c.), from Latin conspirationem. An Old English word for it was facengecwis. As a term in law, from 1863. Conspiracy theory is from 1909.
celebration (n.): 1520s, "honoring of a day or season by appropriate festivities," formed in English from celebrate, or else from Latin celebrationem (nominative celebratio) "numerous attendance" (especially upon a festival celebration), noun of action from past participle stem of celebrare. Meaning "performance of a religious ceremony" (especially the Eucharist) is from 1570s; that of "extolling in speeches, etc." is from 1670s.