man of the cloth – Originally applied to anyone who wore a uniform or livery for work. More…
mufti – Civilian clothes worn by a person who usually wears a uniform. More…
uniform – Something that is uniform has literally only “one form,” from Latin unus, “one,” and forma, “form.” More…
doughboy – The small round doughnuts served to sailors in the 19th century were called doughboys—and they resembled the round buttons on the sailors’ uniforms—so the sailors came to be known as this. More…
billow – The swell on the ocean produced by the wind, or on a river or estuary by the tide or wind. More…
slack water, slack tide – Before any turn of the tide, there is a time of slack water or slack tide. More…
happy as a clam – Originally happy-as-a-clam-at-full-tide; it may refer to the fact that when the tide is full, nobody is digging clams. More…
tidy – Comes from tide, which in Old English meant “time period”; its original meaning was “timely, opportune.” More…
empty – First meant “at leisure, unoccupied,” and it could also mean “unmarried.” More…
leisure – Based on Latin licere, “be allowed.” More…
scholastic – Based on Latin scholasticus, “devote one’s leisure to learning.” More…
vacation – Coming from Latin vacation/vacatio, from vacare, “to be free, empty; to be at leisure,” around 1395, this term entered Old English, meaning “rest and freedom from any activity.” More…
fob – A small pocket close to the waistband of trousers. More…
galluses – Another name for suspenders for trousers. More…
plus fours – Got their name (c. 1920) from the fact that such trousers were made four inches longer than standard knickerbockers or shorts, which came to just above the knee. More…
trousers, trouse – The singular of trousers is trouse. More…
facetious – Originally meant “having polished or urbane manners,” and, along with sequoia, uses all five vowels. More…
nitid – A word for “bright, shining, polished, glossy.” More…
polite – Actually meant “polished” or “burnished” when it came into English. More…
urban, urbane – Urban refers to a city; urbane means polished and smooth, as in a person’s demeanor. More…
boom – From Dutch, originally a long beam or pole. More…
pogo stick – Came onto the scene around 1921, but is of uncertain etymology, possibly from “pole” and “go.” More…
pole position – Refers to pole as the term for the inside fence on a racecourse. More…
trolley pole – The pole sticking up from a bumper car. More…
umbrella – Etymologically, it is a “little shadow.” More…
parapluie – A French word for umbrella, derived from Latin pluvia, “rain.” More…
bumbershoot – Another word for umbrella, formed by combining an alteration of the word umbrella and an alteration of the word parachute. More…
nuclear umbrella – A protective status in which a nuclear state promises to use its arsenal to defend an ally without nuclear capabilities. More…
factory – Originally a place where traders did their business in another country, based on Latin factorium, “an oil press” (for olive oil). More…
oil – From Latin oleum, from Greek elaion, “olive oil; other oily substance.” More…
salmagundi – First a dish of chopped meat and eggs, highly seasoned and served with lemon juice and olive oil. More…
wine cradle – A basket (etc.) used to hold wine at a slant. More…
slant – A variant of slent, an older word. More…
slash – The slash is also called a virgule, diagonal, separatrix, slant, and solidus. More…
tilt – Originally meant “fall over,” from Germanic taltaz, “unsteady,” long before it meant “slant.” More…
muselet – The wire that holds a champagne cork in place. More…
reinforced concrete – Has wire or metal bars embedded to increase its tensile strength. More…
down to the wire – Alludes to the imaginary wire at the finish line in a horse race. More…
under the wire – Meaning “just in time,” it is also from horse racing. More…