Online Etymology Dictionary

inauspicious (adj.): 1590s, from in- (1) "not, opposite of" + auspicious. Related: Inauspiciously; inauspiciousness. The Latin word was inauspicatus "without auspices; with bad auspices," which had a brief career in English as inauspicate (17c.).
jail-bird (n.): also jailbird, 1610s, based on an image of a caged bird; from jail (n.), which in its Middle English, French, and Latin ancestry also meant "cage" + bird (n.1).
eighteenth (adj.): mid-13c., egtetenþe, modified, by influence of eighteen, from Old English eahtateoða; from eight + teoða "tenth" (see -ty (1)). Cognate with German achtzehnte, Danish attende, Swedish adertonde.
easterly: 1540s (adj.), 1630s (adv.), from easter (late 14c.), variant of eastern + -ly (1) and (2). As a noun meaning "easterly wind," by 1901. Old English easterlic meant "pertaining to Easter."
senatorial (adj.): 1740, from French sénatorial or from Latin senatorius "pertaining to a senator" or formed in English from senator + -al (1). Earlier adjectives were senatory (1520s), senatorian (1610). Related: Senatorially.
pseudopod (n.): 1862, from Modern Latin pseudopodium (itself in English from 1854), from pseudo-) + Latinized form of Greek podion, diminutive of pous "foot," from PIE root *ped- (1) "a foot" (see foot (n.)). Related: Pseudopodal.
quicken (v.): c. 1300, "come to life; give life to," from quick (adj.) + -en (1). Meaning "become faster" is from 1805. Related: Quickened; quickening. An earlier verb was simply quick (c. 1200), from Old English gecwician.
stell (v.): "to fix in position" (obsolete or dialectal), Old English stellan "to place, put, set," from Proto-Germanic *stalljan (source also of German stellen; see stall (n.1)).
peeper (n.): 1650s, "one who peeps," agent noun from peep (v.1). Slang meaning "eye" is c. 1700. From 1590s as "young chicken" and 1857 as "tree frog" (American English), both from peep (v.2).
pile (v.): "to heap up," mid-14c.; see pile (n.1). Related: Piled; piling. Figurative verbal expression pile on "attack vigorously, attack en masse," is from 1894, American English.
pinion (v.): "disable by binding the arms," 1550s, older in English than literal sense "cut or bind the pinions (of a bird's wing) to prevent flying" (1570s); from pinion (n.1). Related: Pinioned.
nineteenth (adj.): late 14c., nyntenthe; from nineteen + -th (1); a replacement or modification of nigonteoþa, from Old English nigon-teoða. Nineteenth hole "bar-room in a golf clubhouse" is attested from 1901.
ours: c. 1300, a double possessive (with genitive suffix -s (1)), originating in northern England, and has taken over the absolute function of our (q.v.). In Middle English ourn, ouren also were used.
prized (adj.): "highly esteemed," 1530s, adjective from prize (n.1.), or from past participle of Middle English prisen "to prize, value" (late 14c.), from stem of Old French preisier "to praise" (see praise (v.)).
-teenth: word-forming element making ordinal numbers from 13 to 19, from -teen + -th (1), displacing Old English -teoða, -teoðe (West Saxon), related to teogoða (Anglian) "tenth."
unlearned (adj.): c. 1400, "ignorant," from un- (1) "not" + learned (adj.). From 1530s as "not acquired by learning," from past participle of learn (v.). Old English had unlæred.
unkindly (adj.): early 13c., "not natural, unnatural," from un- (1) "not" + kindly (adj.). From c. 1300 as "without natural affection, unfraternally." Old English had ungecyndelic.
whiten (v.): c. 1300, "to make white," from white (adj.) + -en (1). Intransitive sense "become white" is from 1630s. Earlier verb was simply white (late Old English). Related: Whitened; whitening; whitener.
will (v.2): Old English willian "to determine by act of choice," from will (n.). From mid-15c. as "dispose of by will or testament." Often difficult to distinguish from will (v.1).
jive (n.): "empty, misleading talk;" also a style of fast, lively jazz and dance music," 1928, American English, from jive (v.1). Used from 1938 for "New York City African-American slang."
indent (n.): "cut or notch in a margin," 1590s, from indent (v.1). A supposed earlier noun sense of "a written agreement" (late 15c.) is described in Middle English Dictionary as "scribal abbrev. of endenture."
leech (v.): "to cure, heal," c. 1200, from Old English also had a verb læcnian, from the source of leech (n.2). Meaning "to apply leeches medicinally" is from 1802 (implied in leeching), from leech (n.1). Related: Leeched.
sidewinder (n.): small horned rattlesnake of southwestern U.S., 1875, American English, from side (adj.) + agent noun of wind (v.1), so called in reference to its "peculiar lateral progressive motion." Also sidewiper (1888).
long-winded (adj.): also longwinded, 1580s, "given to lengthy speeches," from long (adj.) + adjective from wind (n.1) in the secondary Middle English sense "breath in speaking" (early 14c.).
Latinate (adj.): "derived from or characteristic of Latin," 1858, from Latin (n.) + -ate (1). An earlier adjective was Latinesque (1864). Wyclif (1388) has Latinly and Old English had lædenisc, lædenlic.
limestone (n.): late 14c., from lime (n.1) + stone (n.). So called because it yields lime when burnt. Another name for it, mostly in American English, is limerock.
dairy (n.): late 13c., "building for making butter and cheese; dairy farm," formed with Anglo-French -erie affixed to Middle English daie (in daie maid "dairymaid"), from Old English dæge "kneader of bread, housekeeper, female servant" (see dey (n.1)). The purely native word was dey-house.
palmistry (n.): "divination from the palm of the hand," early 15c., from palme (see palm (n.1)) + obscure second element, perhaps -estre (as in Middle English webbestre "weaver") or -rie (as in Middle English archerie "archery"). Palmist (n.) is an 1886 back-formation.
afar (adv.): contraction of Middle English of feor (late 12c.), on ferr (c. 1300), from Old English feor "far" (see far); the a- (1) in compounds representing both of and on (which in this use meant the same thing). Spelled afer in 14c.
mattock (n.): Old English mættoc, probably from Vulgar Latin *matteuca "club," related to Latin mateola, a kind of mallet (see mace (n.1)), but this is not certain, and synonymous Russian motyka, Lithuanian matikkas suggest other possibilities. OED says similar words in Welsh and Gaelic are from English.
anneal (v.): Old English onælan "to set on fire, kindle," from on- "on" + ælan "to burn, bake," from Proto-Germanic *ailan, "probably" [Watkins] from PIE *ai- (2) "to burn" (see ash (n.1)); related to Old English æled "fire, firebrand," Old Norse eldr, Danish ild "fire." Related: Annealed; annealing.
hop (n.2): "opium," 1887, from Cantonese nga-pin (pronounced HAH-peen) "opium," a Chinese folk etymology of the English word opium, literally "crow peelings." Re-folk-etymologized back into English by association with hop (n.1).
lovely (adj.): Old English luflic "affectionate, loveable;" see love (n.) + -ly (1). The modern sense of "lovable on account of beauty, attractive" is from c. 1300, "applied indiscriminately to all pleasing material objects, from a piece of plum-cake to a Gothic cathedral" [George P. Marsh, "The Origin and History of the English Language," 1862].
lower (v.2): "to look dark and threatening," also lour, Middle English louren, luren "to frown" (early 13c.), "to lurk" (mid-15c.), from Old English *luran or from its cognates, Middle Low German luren, Middle Dutch loeren "lie in wait." Form perhaps assimilated to lower (1). Related: Lowered; lowering.
gubernatorial (adj.): 1734, formed in American English from Latin gubernator "a governor" (see govern) + -al (1). OED marks it "Cheifly U.S.," and Century Dictionary says "Chiefly in newspaper use." As English words, gubernator was in use from 1520s, gubernation from mid-15c., but both are rare.
midsummer (n.): Old English midsumor, from mid + sumor "summer" (see summer (n.1)). Midsummer Day, as an English quarter-day, was June 24. Astronomically June 21, but traditionally reckoned in Europe on the night of June 23-24.
bucktooth (n.): 1540s, from buck (n.1), perhaps on the notion of "kicking up," + tooth. In French, buck teeth are called dents à l'anglaise, literally "English teeth." Old English had twisel toð "with two protruding front teeth." Related: Buck-toothed.
prickle (n.): Old English pricel "thing to prick with, goad, point," from the same source as Old English prician (see prick (v.)) with instrumental suffix -el (1). Compare Middle Low German prickel, Dutch prikkel.
could (v.): Old English cuðe, past tense of cunnan "to be able" (see can (v.1)); ending changed 14c. to standard English -d(e). The excrescent -l- was added 15c.-16c. on model of would, should, where it is historical.
spittle (n.): "saliva, spit," late 15c., probably an alteration (by influence of spit (n.1)) of Old English spætl, spatl, from Proto-Germanic *spait- (source also of Old English spætan "to spit"), from PIE root *sp(y)eu- "to spew, spit" (see spew (v.)).
blown (adj.): early 15c., "inflated," from Old English blawen, past participle of blow (v.1). Figurative sense of "inflated by pride" is from late 15c. Meaning "out of breath" is from 1670s. As a past participle adjective from blow (v.2), it was Old English geblowenne.
fifteenth (adj.): late 14c., from fifteen + -th (1). By 15c. displacing forms derived from Old English fifteoða. Compare Old Frisian fiftuda, Dutch vijftiende, German fünfzehnte, Old Norse fimmtandi, Gothic fimftataihunda, with ordinal -d where English has -th. As a noun by late 14c.
schoolmarm (n.): also school-marm, "female school teacher," 1834, American English colloquial, in countrified humor writing of "Major Jack Downing" of Maine (Seba Smith); variant of school-ma'am (1828), American English, from school (n.1) + ma'am. See R. Used figuratively from 1887 in reference to patronizing and priggish instruction.
hidden (adj.): past participle adjective from hide (v.1); a Middle English formation (Old English had gehydd "hidden") on the model of ride/ridden, etc. As "secret, occult" from 1540s. Hidden persuaders (1957) was Vance Packard's term for ad men.
foolish (adj.): early 14c., from fool (n.1) + -ish. Older adjectives in Middle English were fool (c. 1200); folly (c. 1300). Old English words for this were dysig, stunt, dol. Related: Foolishly; foolishness.
elderly (adj.): "bordering on old age, somewhat old," 1610s, from elder + -ly (1). Now, generally, "old." Old English ealdorlic meant "chief, princely, excellent, authentic." Old English also had related eldernliche "of old time," literally "forefatherly."
sharpen (v.): 1520s, "bring to an edge or point," from sharp (adj.) + -en (1). Related: Sharpened; sharpening. Old English verb scearpian meant "to score, scarify;" also compare scearpung "scarifying." To sharpen (one's) pencil "prepare to get to work" is from 1957, American English.
congressional (adj.): 1690s, from Latin congressionem (from congressus, see congress) + -al (1). Originally sometimes reviled as barbarous, Pickering (1816) quotes an unnamed English correspondent: "The term Congress belonging to America, the Americans may employ its derivatives, without waiting for the assent of the English."
cockle (n.2): flowering weed that grows in wheat fields, Old English coccel "darnel," used in Middle English to translate the Bible word now usually given as tares (see tare (n.1)). It is in no other Germanic language and may be from a diminutive of Latin coccus "grain, berry."
rakehell (n.): 1540s, possibly an alteration (by association with rake (n.1) and Hell) of Middle English rakel (adj.) "hasty, rash, headstrong," probably from raken "to go, proceed," from Old English racian "to go forward, move, hasten," of unknown origin. Compare rakeshame (n.) "one who lives shamefully" (1590s).