Online Etymology Dictionary

challenge (v.): c. 1200, "to rebuke," from Old French chalongier "complain, protest; haggle, quibble," from Vulgar Latin calumniare "to accuse falsely," from Latin calumniari "to accuse falsely, misrepresent, slander," from calumnia "trickery" (see calumny).

From late 13c. as "to object to, take exception to;" c. 1300 as "to accuse," especially "to accuse falsely," also "to call to account;" late 14c. as "to call to fight." Also used in Middle English with sense "claim, take to oneself." Related: Challenged; challenging.
bull (n.3): "false talk, fraud," Middle English, apparently from Old French bole "deception, trick, scheming, intrigue," and perhaps connected to modern Icelandic bull "nonsense."
Sais christ to ypocrites ... yee ar ... all ful with wickednes, tresun and bull. ["Cursor Mundi," early 14c.]
There also was a verb bull meaning "to mock, cheat," which dates from 1530s.
Carnaby Street (n.): street in Soho, London (Westminster), in mid-1960s lined with fashionable boutiques and clothing shops, hence used figuratively from 1964 for English 1960s stylishness. It was named for Karnaby House, built 1683, from a surname or transferred from Carnaby in Yorkshire, which is from a Scandinavian personal name + -by (see by).
hunting (n.): modification of Old English huntung "a hunt, chase; what is hunted, game," verbal noun from hunt (v.). Bartlett (1848) notes it as the word commonly used by sportsmen in the Southern states of the U.S. where in the North they use gunning. Happy hunting-grounds "Native American afterlife paradise" is from "Last of the Mohicans" (1826); hunting-ground in a Native American context is from 1777.
storm (v.): of the wind, "to rage, be violent," c. 1400, considered to be from storm (n.). Old English had styrman, cognate with Dutch stormen, Old High German sturman, German stürmen, Danish storme, Military sense "attack (a place) by scaling walls and forcing gates" (1640s) first attested in writings of Oliver Cromwell. Related: Stormed; storming. Italian stormire "make a noise" is from Germanic.
split (n.): 1590s, "narrow cleft, crack, fissure," from split (v.). Meaning "piece of wood formed by splitting" is from 1610s. Meaning "an act of separation, a divorce" is from 1729. From 1861 as the name of the acrobatic feat. Meaning "a drink composed of two liquors" is from 1882; that of "sweet dish of sliced fruit with ice cream" is attested from 1920, American English. Slang meaning "share of the take" is from 1889. Meaning "a draw in a double-header" is from 1920.
steam (v.): Old English stiemen, stymen "emit vapor, emit a scent or odor," from the root of steam (n.). Meaning "go by steam power" is from 1831. Transitive sense from 1660s, "to emit as steam;" meaning "to treat with steam" is from 1798. Slang steam up (transitive) "make (someone) angry" is from 1922. Related: Steamed; steaming.
timothy (n.): 1747, short for timothy grass (1736), American English name for "cat-tail grass" (Phleum pratense), a native British grass introduced to the American colonies and cultivated there from c. 1720. Said since 1765 to be so called for a certain Timothy Hanson, who is said to have promoted it in the Carolinas as an agricultural plant.
feint (v.): c. 1300, feinten, "to deceive, pretend" (obsolete), also "become feeble or exhausted; to lack spirit or courage," from Middle English feint (adj.) "feigned, false, counterfeit" and directly from Old French feint "false, deceitful; weak, lazy," past participle of feindre "to hesitate, falter; lack courage; feign, pretend, simulate" (see feign). Sense of "make a sham attack, make a pretended blow" is attested by 1833, from the noun (1680s as "a feigned attack"). Related: Feinted; feinting.
solace (v.): "comfort, console in grief," late 13c.; also in Middle English "entertain, amuse, please," from Old French solacier "comfort, console" (often with a sexual connotation) and directly from Medieval Latin solatiare "give solace, console" (source also of Spanish solazar, Italian sollazzare), from Latin solacium (see solace (n.)). Related: Solaced; solacing.
craze (n.): late 15c., "break down in health," from craze (v.) in its Middle English sense; this led to a noun sense of "mental breakdown," and by 1813 to the extension to "mania, fad," or, as The Century Dictionary (1902) defines it, "An unreasoning or capricious liking or affectation of liking, more or less sudden and temporary, and usually shared by a number of persons, especially in society, for something particular, uncommon, peculiar, or curious ...."
ptero-: before vowels pter-, word-forming element in science meaning "feather; wing," from Greek pteron "wing," from PIE *pt-ero- (source also of Sanskrit patram "wing, feather," Old Church Slavonic pero "pen," Old Norse fjöðr, Old English feðer), from root *pet- "to rush; to fly" (see petition (n.))
pucelle (n.): "maid," mid-15c., especially in reference to Joan of Arc (called in Old French la pucelle from c. 1423), according to French sources from Vulgar Latin *pulicella "maid" (source also of Italian pulcella), diminutive of Latin pulla, fem. of pullus "young animal," especially a chicken (see foal (n.)), but there are difficulties with this derivation. Also, in 16c. English, "a drab, a slut."
prick (v.): Old English prician "to prick, pierce, prick out, sting," from West Germanic *prikojan (source also of Low German pricken, Dutch prikken "to prick"), of uncertain origin. Danish prikke "to mark with dots," Swedish pricka "to point, prick, mark with dots" probably are from Low German. Related: Pricked; pricking. To prick up one's ears is 1580s, originally of animals with pointed ears (prycke-eared, of foxes, is from 1520s).
principal (n.): c. 1300, "ruler, governor;" also "main part;" from principal (adj.) or from or influenced by noun uses in Old French and Latin. From mid-14c. in the sense of "money on which interest is paid;" 1827 as "person in charge of a public school," though meaning "head of a college or hall" was in English from mid-15c.
chondro-: word-forming element meaning "cartilage," from Latinized form of Greek khondros "cartilage" (of the breastbone), also "grain, grain of salt, seed, barley-grain," of uncertain origin. This is sometimes said to be from the PIE root meaning "to grind" which is the source of English grind (v.), but there are serious phonological objections and the word might be non-Indo-European [Beekes, "Etymological Dictionary of Greek"]. The body material so called for its gristly nature.
pounce (n.): "claw of a bird of prey," late 15c., pownse, probably from Old French ponchon "lance, javelin; spine, quill" (Modern French poinçon; see punch (v.)). So called for being the "claws that punch" holes in things. In falconry, the heel claw is a talon, and others are pounces. Meaning "an act of jumping or falling upon" is from 1825. In Middle English also the name of a tool for punching holes or embossing metal (late 14c.).
quadrivium (n.): "arithmetic, music, geometry, astronomy," 1804 (see liberal arts), from Latin quadrivium, which meant "place where four roads meet, crossroads," from quadri- "four" (see quadri-) + via "way, road, channel, course" (see via). The adjective quadrivial is attested from late 15c. in English with the sense "having four roads."
recreant (n.): "one who yields in combat, one who begs for mercy, one who admits defeat," early 15c., hence "coward, faint-hearted wretch;" from recreant (adj.) and from Old French recreant as a noun, "one who acknowledges defeat, a craven, coward, renegade, traitor, wretch." In English, sense of "apostate, deserter, villain" is from 1560s.
retail (n.): early 15c., "sale of commodities in small quantities or parcels or at second hand" (opposed to wholesale), from Old French retail "piece cut off, shred, scrap, paring" (Modern French retaille), from retaillier (see retail (v.)). The notion of the English word is "a selling by the piece." This sense is not in French, however, and comes perhaps from cognate Italian ritaglio, which does have that sense. As an adjective, "of or pertaining to sale at retail," c. 1600.
Somerset: 9c., Sumor sæton, from Old English sumorsæta, short for *sumorton sæte "the people who live at (or depend upon) Somerton," a settlement attested from 8c. (Sumertone), literally "summer settlement." In 12c. it begins to be clearly meant as a place-name (Sumersetescir) not a collective name for a set of people.
speciality (n.): early 15c., "a special quality or thing;" mid-15c. as "quality of being special," from Old French specialte, especialte "nature, special quality, particularity; special point, distinction," and directly from Latin specialitatem (nominative specialitas) "peculiarity, particularity" from specialis "individual, particular" (see special (adj.)). French form spécialité (especially in reference to restaurant dishes) is recorded in English from 1839.
ramp (v.): c. 1300, "to climb; to stand on the hind legs" (of animals), from Old French ramper "to climb, scale, mount" (12c., in Modern French "to creep, crawl"), perhaps from Frankish *rampon "to contract oneself" (compare Old High German rimpfan "to wrinkle," Old English hrimpan "to fold, wrinkle"), via notion of the bodily contraction involved in climbing [Klein], from Proto-Germanic *hrimp- "to contract oneself." Related: Ramped; ramping.
rap (v.2): "talk informally, chat," 1929, popularized c. 1965 in African-American vernacular, possibly first in Caribbean English and from British slang meaning "say, utter" (1879), originally "to utter a sudden oath" (1540s), ultimately from rap (n.). As a noun in this sense from 1898. Meaning "to perform rap music" is recorded by 1979. Related: Rapped; rapping.
slop (n.2): late 14c., "loose outer garment," probably from Middle Dutch slop, of uncertain origin, corresponding to words in Old Norse and perhaps in Old English. Sense extended generally to "clothing, ready-made clothing" (1660s), usually in plural slops. Hence, also, slop-shop "shop where ready-made clothes are sold" (1723).
Spencerian (adj.): 1863, pertaining to the penmanship system devised by American penman Platt R. Spencer, the "Father of American Writing" (1800-1864), who c. 1840 began promoting an elliptical cursive style that became the standard U.S. business hand from 1850s to early 20c. It had an assured but joyous elegance lacking in the later Palmer letters. The word also can be a reference to English philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820-1903).
stake (v.2): "to risk, wager," 1520s, perhaps from notion of "post on which a gambling wager was placed" (see stake (n.2)), though Weekley suggests "there is a tinge of the burning or baiting metaphor" in this usage. Meaning "to maintain surveillance" (usually stake out) is first recorded 1942, American English colloquial, probably form earlier sense of "mark off territory." Related: Staked; staking.
sty (v.): "go up, ascend" (obsolete), Old English stigan (past tense stah, past participle stigun, common Germanic (Old Norse, Old Frisian stiga, Middle Dutch stighen, Old Saxon, Old High German stigan, German steigen, Gothic steigan), from PIE root *steigh- "go, rise, stride, step, walk" (see stair).
fike (v.): Middle English fyken "move about restlessly" (early 13c.), from Old Norse fikjask "to desire eagerly," fika (in fika sig upp "climb up nimbly," of a spider), probably from a general North Sea Germanic word related to the source of German ficken "to move about briskly." Later as "give trouble, vex" (1570s), a sense surviving especially in Scottish. Hence also fikery "vexatious trouble" (1823); fiky "causing trouble about trifles" (1768).
upholsterer (n.): "tradesman who finishes or repairs articles of furniture" (1610s), from upholdester (early 15c.; early 14c. as a surname), formed with diminutive (originally fem.) suffix -ster + obsolete Middle English noun upholder "dealer in small goods" (c. 1300), from upholden "to repair, uphold, keep from falling or sinking" (in this case, by stuffing); see uphold (v.).
forked (adj.): c. 1300, "branched or divided in two parts," past participle adjective from fork (v.). Of roads from 1520s; from 1550s as "pointing more than one way." In 16c.-17c. sometimes with a suggestion of "cuckold," on the notion of "horned." Forked tongue as a figure of duplicitous speech is from 1885, American English. Double tongue in the same sense is from 15c.
funeral (adj.): late 14c., "pertaining to the burial of the dead," mid-15c., from Medieval Latin funeralia "funeral rites," originally neuter plural of Late Latin funeralis "having to do with a funeral," from Latin funus (genitive funeris) "funeral, funeral procession, burial rites; death, corpse," a word of uncertain origin, perhaps ultimately from PIE root *dheu- (3) "to die." Singular and plural used interchangeably in English until c. 1700. In Elizabethan times also a verb, "to mourn" (transitive). The classical Latin adjective was funebris.
works (n.): Old English, "(someone's) deeds, acts, or actions, the things one has done in life," often especially "good deeds, acts of piety, demonstrations of virtue," plural of work (n.). Meaning "operations pertinent to maintaining a large physical place" (private, religious, or municipal) is from late 14c. Meaning "industrial place" (usually with qualifying adjective) is from late 15c. To be in the works in the extended sense of "in the process of being done or made" is by 1973.
yester-: Old English geostran "yesterday," from Proto-Germanic *gester- (source also of Old High German gestaron, German gestern "yesterday," Old Norse gær "tomorrow, yesterday," Gothic gistradagis "tomorrow"), originally "the other day" (reckoned from "today," either backward or forward), from PIE root *dhgh(y)es- "yesterday" (source also of Sanskrit hyah, Avestan zyo, Persian di, Greek khthes, Latin heri, Old Irish indhe, Welsh doe "yesterday;" Latin hesternus "of yesterday").
watering (n.): Old English wæterunge "a carrying water," verbal noun from water (v.). From late 14c. as "a soaking with water;" mid-15c. as "a giving water to (an animal);" c. 1600 as "salivation." Watering-can is from 1690s (earlier water-can, late 14c.); watering-hole is from 1882 (earlier water-hole, 1670s, watering-place, mid-15c.); by 1965 in the figurative sense "place where people meet and socialize over drinks."
way (adv.): c. 1200, short for away (adv.). Many expressions involving this are modern and American English colloquial, such as way-out "far off;" way back "a long time ago" (1887); way off "quite wrong" (1892). Any or all of these might have led to the slang adverbial meaning "very, extremely," attested by 1984 (as in way cool).
weeping (adj.): late Old English, present participle adjective from weep (v.). Used of various trees whose branches arch downward and suggest drooping, such as weeping elm (c. 1600); weeping cherry (1824). Weeping willow (French saule pleureur, German trauerweide) is recorded from 1731. The tree is native to Asia; the first brought to England were imported 1748, from the Euphrates. It replaced the cypress as a funerary emblem.
wergeld (n.): "set sum of money as the value of a free man, based on social rank, and paid as compensation for his murder or injury in discharge of punishment or vengeance," Old English wergeld (Anglian, Kentish), wergield (West Saxon), from wer "man" (see virile) + geld "payment, tribute" (see geld (n.)).
jaunt (v.): "tire (a horse) by riding back and forth on it, ride hard," 1560s, of unknown origin, "the word being confused with other words of similar or related meanings" [Century Dictionary]. Not found in Middle English, perhaps from some obscure French word. Also "be jolted or shaken up" (1570s), main modern sense "wander here and there for pleasure" is from 1640s. Related: Jaunted; jaunting.
horst (n.): 1893 in geology, from German Horst "mass, heap" (given its geological sense by Suess, 1883), from Old High German hurst "thicket," from Proto-Germanic *hursti-, from PIE *krsti- (source also of Middle Dutch horst "underwood," Old English hyrst "grove, wooded eminence"), from root *kert- "to turn, entwine" (see hurdle (n.)).
horologer (n.): late 14c., "clock-maker," via Latin from Greek horologe "clock, timepiece, instrument for measuring the hours of a day," from horologos "telling the hour," from hora "hour" (see hour) on model of astrologer, etc. Hence also obsolete English horologe "timepiece, sundial, hourglass, clock, cock" (late 14c.) and the old expression the devil in the horologe for "mischief in an orderly system" (17c.).
householder (n.): late 14c., "head of a household or family; one who manages a household;" by mid-15c. as "one who holds or occupies a house as his dwelling," from household. There are similar formations in other Germanic languages (German Haushälter) also often with corresponding verbal forms (German haushalten) but not in English.
humble pie (n.): to eat humble pie (1830) is from umble pie (1640s), pie made from umbles "edible inner parts of an animal" (especially deer), considered a low-class food. The similar sense of similar-sounding words (the "h" of humble (adj.) was not then pronounced) converged to make the pun. Umbles is Middle English numbles "offal," with loss of n- through assimilation into preceding article.
humming (adj.): 1570s, "that hums," present participle adjective from hum (v.). Meaning "brisk, vigorous, energetic" is from 1680s. Related: Hummingly. Humming-bird (1630s) so called from sound made by the rapid vibration of its wings.
There is a curious bird to see to, called a humming bird, no bigger then a great Beetle. [Thomas Morton, "New English Canaan," 1637]
Hunker (n.): "conservative, fogey," 1849, American English, especially and originally "one of the conservative Democrats of New York of the 1840s" (opposed to the Barnburners). Supposedly from New York dialect hunk "post, station, home," hence "those who stay safe on base" (see hunky-dory), but it also has been said to be from a local word for a curmudgeon, and hunks is recorded from c. 1600 as a name for a surly, crusty old person or miser.
knuckle (v.): 1740, from knuckle (n.), originally in the game of marbles (putting a knuckle on the ground is the hand position preliminary to shooting). To knuckle down "apply oneself earnestly" is 1864 in American English, an extended sense from marbles; to knuckle under "submit, give in" is first recorded 1740, supposedly from the former more general sense of "knuckle" and here meaning "knee," hence "to kneel."
heptarchy (n.): 1570s, from Modern Latin heptarchia; see hepta- "seven" + -archy "rule." A group of seven kingdoms; especially in English history in reference to Anglo-Saxon times (Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, Northumberland, East Anglia, Mercia). "The correctness and propriety of the designation have been often called in question, but its practical convenience has preserved it in use" [OED].
leap (n.): c. 1200, "the act or an act of leaping," from Old English hliep, hlyp (West Saxon), *hlep (Mercian, Northumbrian) "a leap, a bound, a spring; sudden movement; thing to leap from;" from Proto-Germanic *hlaupan (cognates: Old Frisian hlep, Dutch loop, Old High German hlouf, German lauf); from the root of leap (v.). Leaps has been paired with bounds since at least 1720.
league (n.2): itinerary unit in medieval England, distance of about three statute miles, late 14c., ultimately from Late Latin leuga (source also of French lieue, Spanish legua, Italian lega), which is said by Roman writers to be from Gaulish. A vague measure (perhaps originally an hour's hike), in England it was a conventional, not a legal measure, and in English it is found more often in poetic than in practical writing.
lectern (n.): early 14c., lettorne, lettron, "reading-desk in a church," from Old French letron, from Medieval Latin lectrinum, from Late Latin lectrum "lectern," from root of Latin legere "to read," literally "to gather, choose" (see lecture (n.)). Half-re-Latinized in English in 15c. For form, OED compares mulctrum "milking-pail" from mulgere "to milk."