Online Etymology Dictionary

hurly-burly (n.): also hurlyburly, "commotion, tumult," 1530s, apparently an alteration of phrase hurling and burling, reduplication of 14c. hurling "commotion, tumult," verbal noun of hurl (v.). Shakespeare has hurly "tumult, uproar," and Hurling time (early 15c.) was the name applied by chroniclers to the period of tumult and commotion around Wat Tyler's rebellion. Scott (1814) has hurly-house "large house in a state of advanced disrepair." Comparison also has been made to dialectal Swedish hurra "whirl round" (compare hurry (v.)).
nosh (v.): 1957, from Yiddish nashn "nibble," from Middle High German naschen, from Old High German hnascon, nascon "to nibble," from Proto-Germanic *(g)naskon. Related: Noshed; noshing. Earlier as a noun (1917) meaning "a restaurant," short for nosh-house.
lazaretto (n.): "house for reception of lepers and diseased poor persons," 1540s, from Italian lazareto "place set aside for performance of quarantine" (especially that of Venice, which received many ships from plague-infested districts in the East), from the Biblical proper name Lazarus (q.v.). Meaning "building set apart for quarantine" is c. 1600 in English. The word in Italian was perhaps influenced by the name of another hospital in Venice, that associated with the church of Santa Maria di Nazaret. Sometimes Englished as lazaret; also known as lazar house (1520s).
Lancaster: 1086, Loncastre, literally "Roman Fort on the River Lune," a Celtic river name probably meaning "healthy, pure." In English history, the Lancastrians or House of Lancaster in the War of the Roses were the branch of the Plantagenets descended from John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Lancastrian (1650s) is the usual adjective with places of that name; Lancasterian (1807) was used of the teaching methods popularized early 19c. by educator Joseph Lancaster (1778-1838).
nanny (n.): "children's nurse," 1795, from widespread child's word for "female adult other than mother" (compare Greek nanna "aunt"). The word also is a nickname form of the fem. proper name Ann, which probably is the sense in nanny goat (1788, compare billy goat). Nanny-house "brothel" is slang from c. 1700. Nanny state, in reference to overintrusive government policies is attested by 1987, the term associated with British political leader Margaret Thatcher, who criticized the tendency.
necessary (adj.): late 14c. "needed, required, essential, indispensable," from Old French necessaire "necessary, urgent, compelling" (13c.), and directly from Latin necessarius "unavoidable, indispensable, necessary," from necesse "unavoidable, indispensable," originally "no backing away," from ne- "not" + cedere "to withdraw, go away, yield" (see cede). The root sense is of that from which there is no evasion, that which is inevitable. Necessary house "privy" is from c. 1600. Necessary evil is from 1540s (the original reference was to "woman").
Porte (n.): "Ottoman court at Constantinople," c. 1600, from French, in full, la Sublime Porte, literally "the high gate," translation of Arabic al-Bab al-'Ali, "lofty gate," official name of the central office of the Ottoman government (compare Vatican for "the Papacy," White House for "the United States"). Compare also mikado. Supposedly a reference to the ancient custom of holding royal audience in the doorway of a king's palace or tent.
skin (v.): late 14c., "to remove the skin from" (originally of circumcision), from skin (n.). As "to have (a particular kind of) skin" from c. 1400. In 19c. U.S. colloquial use, "to strip, fleece, plunder;" hence skin-game, one in which one player has no chance against the others (as with a stacked deck), the type of con game played in a skin-house. Skin the cat in gymnastics is from 1845. Related: Skinned; skinning.
housekeeping (n.): 1540s, "management of domestic concerns," perhaps a back-formation from housekeeper.
glass (adj.): Old English glæs, from glass (v.). Middle English also had an adjective glazen, from Old English glæsen. The glass snake (1736, actually a limbless lizard) is so called for the fragility of its tail. The glass slipper in "Cinderella" perhaps is an error by Charles Perrault, translating in 1697, mistaking Old French voir "ermine, fur" for verre "glass." In other versions of the tale it is a fur slipper. The proverb about people in glass houses throwing stones is attested by 1779, but earlier forms go back to 17c.:
Who hath glass-windows of his own must take heed how he throws stones at his house. ... He that hath a body made of glass must not throw stones at another. [John Ray, "Handbook of Proverbs," 1670]
Glass-house is from late 14c. as "glass factory," 1838 as "greenhouse."
big (adj.): c. 1300, northern England dialect, "powerful, strong," of obscure origin, possibly from a Scandinavian source (compare Norwegian dialectal bugge "great man"). Old English used micel in many of the same senses. Meaning "of great size" is late 14c.; that of "grown up" is attested from 1550s. Sense of "important" is from 1570s. Meaning "generous" is U.S. colloquial by 1913.

Big band as a musical style is from 1926. Slang big head "conceit" is first recorded 1850. Big business "large commercial firms collectively" is 1905; big house "penitentiary" is U.S. underworld slang first attested 1915 (in London, "a workhouse," 1851). In financial journalism, big ticket items so called from 1956. Big lie is from Hitler's grosse Lüge.
bring (v.): Old English bringan "to bring, bring forth, produce, present, offer" (past tense brohte, past participle broht), from Proto-Germanic *brengan (source also of Old Frisian brenga, Middle Dutch brenghen, Old High German bringan, Gothic briggan); no exact cognates outside Germanic, but it appears to be from PIE root *bhrengk-, compound based on root *bher- (1) "to carry" (source also of Latin ferre; see infer).

The tendency to conjugate this as a strong verb on the model of sing, drink, etc., is ancient: Old English also had a rare strong past participle form, brungen, corresponding to modern colloquial brung. To bring down the house figuratively (1754) is to elicit applause so thunderous it collapses the roof.
purple (n., adj.): Old English purpul, dissimilation (first recorded in Northumbrian, in Lindisfarne gospel) of purpure "purple dye, a purple garment," purpuren (adj.) "purple," a borrowing by 9c. from Latin purpura "purple color, purple-dyed cloak, purple dye," also "shellfish from which purple was made," and "splendid attire generally," from Greek porphyra "purple dye, purple" (see porphyry), of uncertain origin, perhaps Semitic, originally the name for the shellfish (murex) from which it was obtained. Purpur continued as a parallel form until 15c., and through 19c. in heraldry. As a color name, attested from early 15c. Tyrian purple, produced around Tyre, was prized as dye for royal garments.

Also the color of mourning or penitence (especially in royalty or clergy). Rhetorical for "splendid, gaudy" (of prose) from 1590s. Purple Heart, U.S. decoration for service members wounded in combat, instituted 1932; originally a cloth decoration begun by George Washington in 1782. Hendrix' Purple Haze (1967) is slang for "LSD." Purple finch so called from 1826; "the name is a misnomer, arising from the faulty coloring of a plate by Mark Catesby, 1731" [Century Dictionary] Also house finch, so called for its domesticity.
morgue (n.): "mortuary," 1821, from French Morgue, originally a specific building in Paris where bodies were exposed for identification:
There is, in the most populous part of the French metropolis, an establishment entitled La Morgue, destined for the reception and exposition of bodies drowned in the Seine, and caught in nets, which are placed in different parts of the river for that purpose. The object of this exposition is, that the deceased may be recognised by their friends or relatives, and receive the rights of sepulture accordingly. The Morgue is open at all hours of the day, to passengers of every description, and often displays at a time, five or six horrible carcasses stretched, without covering, on an inclined platform, and subjected to the promiscuous gaze of the mob. ["American Review," January 1811]
Before that it was the place where new prisoners were displayed to keepers to establish their identification. Thus the name is believed to be probably from French morgue "haughtiness," originally "a sad expression, solemn look," from Old French morguer "look solemnly," from Vulgar Latin *murricare "to make a face, pout," from *murrum "muzzle, snout." The 1768 Dictionnaire Royal François-Anglois Et Anglois-François defines French morgue both as "A proud, big, haughty or stately look, stare, surliness, or surly look" and "A little gratel room wherein a new prisoner is set, and must continue some hours, that the Jailer's ordinary servants may the better take notice of his face."

Adopted as a general term in U.S., 1880s, replacing earlier dead house, etc. In newspaper slang, "collection of pre-written obituary material of living persons" (1903), hence "library of clips, photos, etc.," 1918.
chez: 1740, from French chez "at the house of," from Old French chiese "house" (12c.), from Latin casa "house." Used with French personal names, meaning "house of _____."
card (n.1): c. 1400, "playing card," from Middle French carte (14c.), from Latin charta "leaf of paper, tablet," from Greek khartes "layer of papyrus," probably from Egyptian. Form influenced after 14c. by Italian carta (see chart (n.)).

Sense of "playing cards" also is oldest in French. Sense in English extended by 1590s to similar small, flat, stiff bits of paper. Meaning "printed ornamental greetings for special occasions" is from 1869. Application to clever or original persons (1836, originally with an adjective, as in smart card) is from the playing-card sense, via expressions such as sure card "an expedient certain to attain an object" (c. 1560).

Card table is from 1713. Card-sharper is 1859. House of cards in the figurative sense is from 1640s, first attested in Milton. To have a card up (one's) sleeve is 1898; to play the _______ card is from 1886, originally the Orange card, meaning "appeal to Northern Irish Protestant sentiment (for political advantage)."
station (n.): late 13c., "place which one normally occupies," from Old French stacion, estacion "site, location; station of the Cross; stop, standstill," from Latin stationem (nominative statio) "a standing, standing firm; a post, job, position; military post; a watch, guard, sentinel; anchorage, port" (related to stare "to stand"), from PIE *ste-ti-, suffixed form of root *stā- "to stand" (see stet).

Meaning "each of a number of holy places visited in succession by pilgrims" is from late 14c., as in Station of the Cross (1550s). Meaning "fixed uniform distance in surveying" is from 1570s. Sense of "status, rank" is from c. 1600. Meaning "military post" in English is from c. 1600. The meaning "place where people are stationed for some special purpose" (as in polling station) is first recorded 1823. Radio station is from 1912; station break, pause in broadcasting to give the local station a chance to identify itself, is from 1942.

The meaning "regular stopping place" is first recorded 1797, in reference to coach routes; applied to railroads 1830. Station-master is from 1836. Station wagon in the automobile sense is first recorded 1929, from earlier use for a horse-drawn conveyance that took passengers to and from railroad stations (1894). Station house "police station" is attested from 1836.
public (adj.): late 14c., "open to general observation," from Old French public (c. 1300) and directly from Latin publicus "of the people; of the state; done for the state," also "common, general, public; ordinary, vulgar," and as a noun, "a commonwealth; public property," altered (probably by influence of Latin pubes "adult population, adult") from Old Latin poplicus "pertaining to the people," from populus "people" (see people (n.)).

Early 15c. as "pertaining to the people." From late 15c. as "pertaining to public affairs;" meaning "open to all in the community" is from 1540s in English. An Old English adjective in this sense was folclic. Public relations first recorded 1913 (after an isolated use by Thomas Jefferson in 1807). Public office "position held by a public official" is from 1821; public service is from 1570s; public interest from 1670s. Public-spirited is from 1670s. Public enemy is attested from 1756. Public sector attested from 1949. Public funds (1713) are the funded debts of a government.

Public school is from 1570s, originally, in Britain, a grammar school endowed for the benefit of the public, but most have evolved into boarding-schools for the well-to-do. The main modern meaning in U.S., "school (usually free) provided at public expense and run by local authorities," is attested from 1640s. For public house, see pub.
field (n.): Old English feld "plain, pasture, open land, cultivated land" (as opposed to woodland), also "a parcel of land marked off and used for pasture or tillage," probably related to Old English folde "earth, land," from Proto-Germanic *felthuz "flat land" (Cognates: Old Saxon and Old Frisian feld "field," Old Saxon folda "earth," Middle Dutch velt, Dutch veld Old High German felt, German Feld "field," but not found originally outside West Germanic; Swedish fält, Danish felt are borrowed from German; Finnish pelto "field" is believed to have been adapted from Proto-Germanic). This is from PIE *pel(e)-tu-, from root *pele- (2) "flat, to spread" (see plane (n.1)). The English spelling with -ie- probably is the work of Anglo-French scribes (compare brief, piece).

As "battle-ground," c. 1300. Meaning "sphere or range of any related things" is from mid-14c. Physics sense is from 1845. Collective use for "all engaged in a sport" (or, in horse-racing, all but the favorite) is 1742; play the field "avoid commitment" (1936) is from notion of gamblers betting on other horses than the favorite. Cricket and baseball sense of "ground on which the game is played" is from 1875. Sense of "tract of ground where something is obtained or extracted" is from 1859. As an adjective in Old English combinations, often with a sense of "rural, rustic" (feldcirice "country-church," feldlic "rural"). Of slaves, "assigned to work in the fields" (1817, in field-hand), opposed to house. A field-trial originally was of hunting dogs.
open (adj.): Old English open "not closed down, raised up" (of gates, eyelids, etc.), also "exposed, evident, well-known, public," often in a bad sense, "notorious, shameless;" from Proto-Germanic *upana, literally "put or set up" (source also of Old Norse opinn, Swedish öppen, Danish aaben, Old Saxon opan, Old Frisian epen, Old High German offan, German offen "open"), from PIE *upo "up from under, over" (source also of Latin sub, Greek hypo; see sub-). Related to up, and throughout Germanic the word has the appearance of a past participle of *up (v.), but no such verb has been found. The source of words for "open" in many Indo-European languages seems to be an opposite of the word for "closed, shut" (such as Gothic uslukan).

Of physical spaces, "unobstructed, unencumbered," c. 1200; of rooms with unclosed entrances, c. 1300; of wounds, late 14c. Transferred sense of "frank, candid" is attested from early 14c. Of shops, etc., "available for business," it dates from 1824. Open door in reference to international trading policies is attested from 1856. Open season is first recorded 1896, of game; and figuratively 1914 of persons. Open book in the figurative sense of "person easy to understand" is from 1853. Open house "hospitality for all visitors" is first recorded 1824. Open-and-shut "simple, straightforward" first recorded 1841 in New Orleans. Open marriage, one in which the partners sleep with whomever they please, is from 1972. Open road (1817, American English) originally meant a public one; romanticized sense of "traveling as an expression of personal freedom" first recorded 1856, in Whitman.
store (n.): c. 1300, "supplies or provisions for a household, camp, etc.," from store (v.) or else from Old French estore "provisions; a fleet, navy, army," from estorer or from Medieval Latin staurum, instaurum "store." General sense of "sufficient supply" is attested from late 15c. The meaning "place where goods are kept for sale" is first recorded 1721 in American English (British English prefers shop (n.)), from the sense "place where supplies and provisions are kept" (1660s).
The word store is of larger signification than the word shop. It not only comprehends all that is embraced in the word shop, when that word is used to designate a place in which goods or merchandise are sold, but more, a place of deposit, a store house. In common parlance the two words have a distinct meaning. We speak of shops as places in which mechanics pursue their trades, as a carpenter's shop a blacksmith's shop a shoemaker's shop. While, if we refer to a place where oods and merchandise are bought and sold, whether by wholesale or retail, we speak of it as a store. [C.J. Brickell, opinion in Sparrenberger v. The State of Alabama, December term, 1875]
Stores "articles and equipment for an army" is from 1630s. In store "laid up for future use" (also of events, etc.) is recorded from late 14c. Store-bought is attested from 1912, American English; earlier store-boughten (1872).
Bethany: Biblical village, its name in Hebrew or Aramaic is literally "house of poverty," from bet "house of" (construct state of bayit "house") + 'anya "poverty."
gay (adj.): late 14c., "full of joy, merry; light-hearted, carefree;" also "wanton, lewd, lascivious" (late 12c. as a surname, Philippus de Gay), from Old French gai "joyful, happy; pleasant, agreeably charming; forward, pert; light-colored" (12c.; compare Old Spanish gayo, Portuguese gaio, Italian gajo, probably French loan-words). Ultimate origin disputed; perhaps from Frankish *gahi (related to Old High German wahi "pretty"), though not all etymologists accept this. Meaning "stately and beautiful; splendid and showily dressed" is from early 14c. In the English of Yorkshire and Scotland formerly it could mean "moderately, rather, considerable" (1796; compare sense development in pretty (adj.)).

The word gay by the 1890s had an overall tinge of promiscuity -- a gay house was a brothel. The suggestion of immorality in the word can be traced back at least to the 1630s, if not to Chaucer:
But in oure bed he was so fressh and gay
Whan that he wolde han my bele chose.
Slang meaning "homosexual" (adj.) begins to appear in psychological writing late 1940s, evidently picked up from gay slang and not always easily distinguished from the older sense:
After discharge A.Z. lived for some time at home. He was not happy at the farm and went to a Western city where he associated with a homosexual crowd, being "gay," and wearing female clothes and makeup. He always wished others would make advances to him. ["Rorschach Research Exchange and Journal of Projective Techniques," 1947, p.240]
The association with (male) homosexuality likely got a boost from the term gay cat, used as far back as 1893 in American English for "young hobo," one who is new on the road, also one who sometimes does jobs.
"A Gay Cat," said he, "is a loafing laborer, who works maybe a week, gets his wages and vagabonds about hunting for another 'pick and shovel' job. Do you want to know where they got their monica (nickname) 'Gay Cat'? See, Kid, cats sneak about and scratch immediately after chumming with you and then get gay (fresh). That's why we call them 'Gay Cats'." [Leon Ray Livingston ("America's Most Celebrated Tramp"), "Life and Adventures of A-no. 1," 1910]
Quoting a tramp named Frenchy, who might not have known the origin. Gay cats were severely and cruelly abused by "real" tramps and bums, who considered them "an inferior order of beings who begs of and otherwise preys upon the bum -- as it were a jackal following up the king of beasts" [Prof. John J. McCook, "Tramps," in "The Public Treatment of Pauperism," 1893], but some accounts report certain older tramps would dominate a gay cat and employ him as a sort of slave. In "Sociology and Social Research" (1932-33) a paragraph on the "gay cat" phenomenon notes, "Homosexual practices are more common than rare in this group," and gey cat "homosexual boy" is attested in Noel Erskine's 1933 dictionary of "Underworld & Prison Slang" (gey is a Scottish variant of gay).

The "Dictionary of American Slang" reports that gay (adj.) was used by homosexuals, among themselves, in this sense since at least 1920. Rawson ["Wicked Words"] notes a male prostitute using gay in reference to male homosexuals (but also to female prostitutes) in London's notorious Cleveland Street Scandal of 1889. Ayto ["20th Century Words"] calls attention to the ambiguous use of the word in the 1868 song "The Gay Young Clerk in the Dry Goods Store," by U.S. female impersonator Will S. Hays, but the word evidently was not popularly felt in this sense by wider society until the 1950s at the earliest.
"Gay" (or "gai") is now widely used in French, Dutch, Danish, Japanese, Swedish, and Catalan with the same sense as the English. It is coming into use in Germany and among the English-speaking upper classes of many cosmopolitan areas in other countries. [John Boswell, "Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality," 1980]
As a teen slang word meaning "bad, inferior, undesirable," without reference to sexuality, from 2000.
full (adj.): Old English full "containing all that can be received; having eaten or drunk to repletion; filled; perfect, entire, utter," from Proto-Germanic *fulla- "full" (source also of Old Saxon full, Old Frisian ful, Dutch vol, Old High German fol, German voll, Old Norse fullr, Gothic fulls), from PIE *pele- (1) "to fill" (see poly-). Related: Fuller; fullest.

The adverb is Old English ful "very, fully, entirely, completely" and was common in Middle English (full well, full many, etc.); sense of "quite, exactly, precisely" is from 1580s. Full moon, one with its whole disc illuminated, was Old English fulles monan; first record of full-blood in reference to racial purity is from 1812. Full house is 1710 in the theatrical sense, 1887 in the poker sense (three of a kind and a pair, earlier full-hand, 1850). Full-dress (adj.) "appropriate to a formal occasion" is from 1761, from the noun phrase.
white (adj.): Old English hwit "bright, radiant; clear, fair," also as a noun (see separate entry), from Proto-Germanic *hwitaz (source also of Old Saxon and Old Frisian hwit, Old Norse hvitr, Dutch wit, Old High German hwiz, German weiß, Gothic hveits), from PIE *kweid-o-, suffixed form of root *kweit- "white; to shine" (source also of Sanskrit svetah "white;" Old Church Slavonic sviteti "to shine," svetu "light;" Lithuanian šviesti "to shine," svaityti "to brighten").

As a surname, originally with reference to fair hair or complexion, it is one of the oldest in English, being well-established before the Conquest. Meaning "morally pure" was in Old English. Association with royalist causes is late 18c. Slang sense of "honorable, fair" is 1877, American English; in Middle English it meant "gracious, friendly, favorable." The racial sense "of those races (chiefly European or of European extraction) characterized by light complexion" is recorded from c. 1600; meaning "characteristic of or pertaining to white people" is from 1852, American English. White supremacy attested from 1884, American English; white flight is from 1966, American English.

White way "brightly illuminated street in a big city" is from 1908. White flag of truce or surrender is from c. 1600. White lie is attested from 1741. White Christmas is attested from 1847. White House as the name of the U.S. presidential residence is recorded from 1811. White water "river rapids" is recorded from 1580s. White Russian "language of Byelorussia" is recorded from 1850; the mixed drink is from c. 1978. Astronomical white dwarf is from 1924. White witch, one who used the power for good, is from 1620s.
villa (n.): 1610s, "country mansion of the ancient Romans," from Italian villa "country house, villa, farm," from Latin villa "country house, farm," related to vicus "village, group of houses," from PIE *weik-sla-, suffixed form of root *weik- (1) "clan" (source also of Sanskrit vesah "house," vit "dwelling, house, settlement;" Avestan vis "house, village, clan;" Old Persian vitham "house, royal house;" Greek oikos "house;" Old Church Slavonic visi "village;" Gothic weihs "village;" Lithuanian viešpats "master of the house"). Of modern structures from 1711.
Hestia: goddess of the hearth, from Greek hestia "hearth, house, home, family" (see vestal).
tepee (n.): 1743, ti pee, from Dakota (Siouan) thipi "dwelling, house."
Bethlehem: the name probably means "House of Lahmu and Lahamu," a pair of Mesopotamian agricultural deities.
Baqubah: city in Iraq, from Arabic baya 'kuba "Jacob's house."
Taft: surname, from a variant of Old English toft "homestead, site of a house."
teocalli (n.): place of worship of ancient Mexicans, 1570s, from American Spanish, from Nahuatl (Aztecan) teohcalli "temple, church," literally "god-house," from teotl "god" + calli "house."
dar: Arabic word, literally "house," used in place names, such as Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, literally "House of Peace."
maisonette (n.): 1818, "small house," from French maisonnette, diminutive of maison "house" (11c.), from Latin mansionem (see mansion). Meaning "a part of a building let separately" is from 1912.
toft (n.): "homestead, site of a house," late Old English, from Old Norse topt "homestead," from Proto-Germanic *tumfto, from PIE *dem- "house, household" (see domestic).
chalet (n.): 1782, from Swiss-French chalet "herdsman's hut, Alpine cottage," probably a diminutive of Old French chasel "farmhouse, house, abode, hut," perhaps from Vulgar Latin *casalis "belonging to a house," from Latin casa "house;" or from Old Provençal cala "small shelter for ships," from a pre-Latin language [Barnhart].
igloo (n.): "dome-shaped Eskimo hut, usually made of blocks of hard snow," 1824, Canadian English, from an Eskimo word for "house, dwelling" (compare Greenlandic igdlo "house"). Of any dome-shaped construction, by 1956.
domestic (adj.): early 15c., from Middle French domestique (14c.) and directly from Latin domesticus "belonging to the household," from domus "house," from PIE *dom-o- "house," from root *dem- "house, household" (source also of Sanskrit damah "house;" Avestan demana- "house;" Greek domos "house," despotes "master, lord;" Latin dominus "master of a household;" Old Church Slavonic domu, Russian dom "house;" Lithuanian dimstis "enclosed court, property;" Old Norse topt "homestead").

It represents the usual Indo-European word for "house" (Italian, Spanish casa are from Latin casa "cottage, hut;" Germanic *hus is of obscure origin). The noun meaning "household servant" is 1530s (a sense also found in Old French domestique). Domestics, originally "articles of home manufacture," is attested from 1620s. Related: Domestically. Domestic violence is attested from 19c. as "revolution and insurrection;" 1977 as "spouse abuse, violence in the home."
bungalow (n.): 1670s, from Gujarati bangalo, from Hindi bangla "low, thatched house," literally "Bengalese," used elliptically for "house in the Bengal style" (see Bengal). Related: Bungaloid.
guiser (n.): "masquerader, mummer, one who goes from house to house, whimsically disguised, and making diversion with songs and antics, usually at Christmas," late 15c., agent noun from guise.
manse (n.): late 15c., "mansion house," from Medieval Latin mansus "dwelling house; amount of land sufficient for a family," noun use of masculine past participle of Latin manere "to remain" (see mansion).
quinta (n.): "country house, villa," 1754, from Spanish and Portuguese quinta, originally a farm and house let out for a rent of one-fifth of its produce, from Latin quintus "one fifth," related to quinque "five" (see quinque-).
hogan (n.): Navaho Indian dwelling, 1871, American English, from Athapaskan (Navaho) hoghan "dwelling, house."
Casablanca: city in Morocco, Spanish, literally "white house" (see casino, blank (adj.)).
bully pulpit (n.): 1904, coined by U.S. president Teddy Roosevelt, in reference to the White House.
byre (n.): "cow-shed," Old English byre, perhaps related to bur "cottage, dwelling, house" (see bower).
vicarage (n.): early 15c., "benefice of a vicar," from vicar + -age. Meaning "house or residence of a vicar" is from 1520s.
landlady (n.): "woman who owns a house or land occupied by tenants, 1520s, from land (n.) + lady.
driveway (n.): 1884 in sense "private road from a public road to a private house," from drive (v.) + way (n.).
backbencher (n.): 1874 in the House of Commons sense, from back (adj.) + bench (n.); occupants of the rear seats being the least-prominent politicians.