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1184 entries found
uglify (v.)
1570s; see ugly + -fy. Related: uglified; uglifying.
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ugliness (n.)
"repulsiveness of appearance," late 14c., from ugly + -ness.
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ugly (adj.)
mid-13c., uglike "frightful or horrible in appearance," from a Scandinavian source, such as Old Norse uggligr "dreadful, fearful," from uggr "fear, apprehension, dread" (perhaps related to agg "strife, hate") + -ligr "-like" (see -ly (1)). Meaning softened to "very unpleasant to look at" late 14c. Extended sense of "morally offensive" is attested from c. 1300; that of "ill-tempered" is from 1680s.

Among words for this concept, ugly is unusual in being formed from a root for "fear, dread." More common is a compound meaning "ill-shaped" (such as Greek dyseides, Latin deformis, Irish dochrud, Sanskrit ku-rupa). Another Germanic group has a root sense of "hate, sorrow" (see loath). Ugly duckling (1877) is from the story by Hans Christian Andersen, first translated from Danish to English 1846. Ugly American "U.S. citizen who behaves offensively abroad" is first recorded 1958 as a book title.
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uh 

inarticulate sound, attested from c. 1600; uh-huh, spoken affirmative (often ironic or non-committal) is recorded by 1894; negative uh-uh is attested from 1924.

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UHF 
1937, abbreviation of ultra-high frequency (1932) in reference to radio frequencies in the range of 300 to 3,000 megahertz.
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uhlan (n.)
type of cavalryman, 1753, from German Uhlan, from Polish ułan "a lancer," from Turkish oghlan "a youth." For sense evolution, compare infantry.
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uilleann 
in uilleann pipe, from Irish uilleann "elbow," from Old Irish uilenn, from PIE *ol-ena-, from root *el- "elbow, forearm."
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ukase (n.)
"decree issued by a Russian emperor," 1729, from Russian ukaz "edict," back-formation from ukazat' "to show, decree, to order," from Old Church Slavonic ukazati, from u- "away," perhaps here an intensive prefix, from PIE *au- (2) "off, away" + kazati "to show, order," from Slavic *kaz- (related to the first element of Casimir), from PIE root *kwek- "to appear, show."
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uke (n.)
short for ukulele, by 1915.
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Ukraine 
from Russian or Polish Ukraina, literally "border, frontier," from u- "at" + krai "edge." So called from being regarded as the southern frontier of Poland or Russia. Related: Ukrainian.
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