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2110 entries found
fustian (n.)
"thick cotton cloth," c. 1200, from Old French fustaigne, fustagne (12c., Modern French futaine), from Medieval Latin fustaneum, perhaps from Latin fustis "staff, stick of wood; cudgel, club" (see fustigate) as a loan-translation of Greek xylina lina "linens of wood" (i.e. "cotton"). But the Medieval Latin word also is sometimes said to be from Fostat, town near Cairo where this cloth was manufactured. [Klein finds this derivation untenable.] Figurative sense of "pompous, inflated language" recorded by 1590s.
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fustigate (v.)
"to cudgel, to beat," 1650s, back-formation from Fustication (1560s) or from Latin fusticatus, past participle of fusticare "to cudgel" (to death), from fustis "cudgel, club, staff, stick of wood," of unknown origin. De Vaan writes that "The most obvious connection would be with Latin -futare" "to beat," but there are evolutionary difficulties.
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fusty (adj.)
"stale-smelling," late 14c., from French fusté "fusty, tasting of the cask," from Old French fuste, fuist "wine cask," originally "stick, stave, wood" (Modern French fût), from Latin fustis "staff, stick of wood" (see fustigate). Related: Fustiness. Fustilugs was 17c. slang for "a woman of gross or corpulent habit" [OED], later generally in dialect for a big-boned person.
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futhorc (n.)
1851, historians' name for the Germanic runic alphabet; so called from its first six letters (th being a single rune), on the model of alphabet.
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futile (adj.)
"incapable of producing result," 1550s, from Middle French futile or directly from Latin futilis, futtilis "vain, worthless, futile," a figurative use, literally "pouring out easily, easily emptied" (the Latin adjective used as a noun meant "a water vessel broad above and pointed below"), hence "leaky, unreliable," from fundere "to pour, melt," from nasalized form of PIE root *gheu- "to pour." Related: Futilely.
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futility (n.)
1620s, from French futilité or directly from Latin futilitatem (nominative futilitas) "worthlessness, emptiness, vanity," from futilis "vain, worthless" (see futile). Hence, jocular futilitarian (1827, n. and adj.); futilitarianism.
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futon (n.)
1876, from Japanese, said to mean "bedroll" or "place to rest."
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future (adj.)
late 14c., "that is yet to be; pertaining to a time after the present," from Old French futur "future, to come" (13c.), from Latin futurus "going to be, yet to be," as a noun, "the future," irregular suppletive future participle of esse "to be," from PIE root *bheue- "to be, exist, grow." In grammar, of tense, from 1520s.
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future (n.)
"future events; time to come," late 14c., modeled on Latin futura, neuter plural of futurus (see future (adj.)).
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futures (n.)
"goods sold on agreement for future delivery," 1880, from future (n.) in a financial sense "speculative purchase or sale of stock or other commodities for future delivery."
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