Advertisement
4696 entries found
cabbage (n.)
type of cultivated culinary vegetable that grows a rounded head of thick leaves, mid-15c., caboge, from Old North French caboche "head" (in dialect, "cabbage"), from Old French caboce "head," a diminutive from Latin caput "head" (from PIE root *kaput- "head"). Earlier in Middle English as caboche (late 14c.). The plant was introduced to Canada 1541 by Jacques Cartier on his third voyage. First record of it in modern U.S. is 1660s.

The decline of "ch" to "j" in the unaccented final syllable parallels the common pronunciation of spinach, sandwich, Greenwich, etc. The comparison of a head of cabbage to the head of a person (usually disparaging to the latter) is at least as old as Old French cabus "(head of) cabbage; nitwit, blockhead," from Italian capocchia, diminutive of capo. The cabbage-butterfly (1816) is so called because its caterpillars feed on cabbages and other cruciferous plants.
Related entries & more 
Advertisement
cabbala (n.)
"Jewish mystic philosophy," 1520s, from Medieval Latin cabbala, from Mishnaic Hebrew qabbalah "reception, received lore, tradition," especially "tradition of mystical interpretation of the Old Testament," from qibbel "to receive, admit, accept." Compare Arabic qabala "he received, accepted." Hence "any secret or esoteric science." Related: Cabbalist.
Related entries & more 
cabbalistic (adj.)
"of or pertaining to cabbalists or the cabbala," 1620s, from cabbala + -istic. Cabbalistical is from 1590s.
Related entries & more 
cabbie (n.)
also cabby, "cab-driver," 1848, from cab (n.) + -ie. Also see taxi (n.).
Related entries & more 
caber (n.)
pole used in housebuilding, especially as an object tossed in the Highland games, 1510s, from Gaelic cabar "pole, spar," cognate with Irish cabar "lath," Welsh ceibr "beam, rafter."
Related entries & more 
Advertisement
cabernet (n.)

family of grapes, or wine made from them, 1833, from French. There seems to be no general agreement on the etymology; the word seems not very old in French and is from the Médoc dialect. Supposedly the best of them, cabernet sauvignon is attested in English from 1846.

Related entries & more 
cabin (n.)
mid-14c., "small house or habitation," especially one rudely constructed, from Old French cabane "hut, cottage, small house," from Old Provençal cabana, from Late Latin capanna "hut" (source also of Spanish cabana, Italian capanna); a word of doubtful origin. Modern French cabine (18c.), Italian cabino are English loan-words.

Meaning "room or partition of a ship" (later especially one set aside for use of officers) is from mid-14c. Cabin fever first recorded by 1918 in the "need to get out and about" sense; earlier (1820s) it was a term for typhus.
Related entries & more 
cabinet (n.)
1540s, "secret storehouse, treasure chamber; case for valuables," from Middle French cabinet "small room" (16c.), diminutive of Old French cabane "cabin" (see cabin); perhaps influenced by (or rather, from) Italian gabbinetto, diminutive of gabbia, from Latin cavea "stall, stoop, cage, den for animals" (see cave (n.)).

Meaning "case for safe-keeping" (of papers, liquor, etc.) is from 1540s, gradually shading to mean a piece of furniture that does this. Sense of "private room where advisers meet" (c. 1600) led to modern political meaning "an executive council" (1640s); perhaps originally short for cabinet council (1620s); compare board (n.1) in its evolution from place where some group meets to the word for the group that meets there. From 1670s also "building or part of a building set aside for the conservation and study of natural specimens, art, antiquities, etc."
Related entries & more 
cabinet-maker (n.)
"one whose occupation is the making of household furniture," 1680s, from cabinet + maker.
Related entries & more 
cabinetry (n.)

1825, "the art or craft of making cabinets;" 1857, "cabinets collectively;" from cabinet + -ry.

Related entries & more 

Page 8

Advertisement

Trending Words

© 2001-2020 Douglas Harper