A- (3) prefix meaning "not," from Gk a-, an- "not," from pie base *ne "not" (see un-)

glint --- 1787, from Scottish, apparently an alteration of M.E. glenten "gleam, flash, glisten," from Scand. (cf. Norw. gletta "to look," dial. Swed. glinta "to shine"), from P.Gmc. *glent-, from PIE *ghlei- "to shine, glitter, glow, be warm" (see gleam). Introduced into Eng. by Burns.

glisten --- O.E. glisnian, from P.Gmc. root *glis- (cf. O.Fris. glisa "to shine"), from PIE *ghleis-, from base *ghlei- "to shine, glitter, glow, be warm" (see gleam).

glitch --- 1962, Amer.Eng., possibly from Yiddish glitsh "a slip," from glitshn "to slip," from Ger. glitschen, and related gleiten "to glide." Perhaps directly from Ger.; it began as technical jargon in the argot of electronic hardware engineers, popularized and given a broader meaning by U.S. space program.

glitter (v.) --- c.1300, from O.N. glitra "to glitter," from glit "brightness," from P.Gmc. *glit- "shining, bright" (cf. O.E. glitenian "to glitter," O.H.G. glizzan, Ger. glitzern, Goth. glitmunjan), from PIE *ghleid- (cf. Gk. khlidon, khlidos "ornament"), from base *ghlei- "to shine, glitter" (see gleam). Glitter rock is from 1972; glitterati (playing on literati) first attested 1956.

glitzy --- 1966, from Yiddish glitz "glitter," from Ger. glitzern "sparkle" (see glitter). Noun form glitz is mid-1970s.

gloaming --- O.E. glomung, formed (probably on model of æfning "evening") from glom "twilight," related to glowan "to glow," hence "glow of sunrise or sunset," from P.Gmc. *glo- (see glow). Fell from currency except in Yorkshire dialect, but preserved in Scotland and reintroduced by Burns and other Scottish writers after 1785.

gloat --- 1575, "to look at furtively," from O.N. glotta "smile scornfully," or M.H.G. glotzen "to stare, gloat." Sense of "to look at with malicious satisfaction" first recorded 1748.

globe --- 1551, "sphere," from L. globus "round mass, sphere," related to gleba "clod, soil, land." Sense of "planet earth," or a three-dimensional map of it first attested 1553. Globalization first attested 1959. Global village first attested 1960, popularized, if not coined, by Canadian educator Marshall McLuhan (1911-80). "Postliterate man's electronic media contract the world to a village or tribe where everything happens to everyone at the same time: everyone knows about, and therefore participates in, everything that is happening the minute it happens. Television gives this quality of simultaneity to events in the global village." [Carpenter & McLuhan, "Explorations in Communication," 1960]

glockenspiel --- 1825, from Ger., lit. "play of bells," from Glocke "bell" (see clock) + Spiel "a play."

glom --- 1907, from glahm "grab, snatch, steal," Amer.Eng. underworld slang, from Scot. glaum (1715), from Gael. glam "to handle awkwardly, grab voraciously, devour." Sense of "look at, watch" (1945) is apparently derived from the same word.

gloom --- c.1300 as a verb, "to look sullen or displeased," perhaps from Scand. (cf. Norw. dial. glome "to stare somberly"); the noun is 1596 in Scottish, "sullen look," from the verb. Sense of "darkness, obscurity" is first recorded 1629 in Milton's poetry; that of "melancholy" is 1744 (gloomy in this sense is attested from 1590). Gloomy Gus used in a general sense of "sullen person" since 1940s, from a comic strip character of that name first recorded 1904.

glop --- 1943, imitative of the sound of something viscous and unappetizing hitting a dinner plate.

gloria --- c.1420, from M.L. gloria in "Gloria Patri," hymn praising god (and similar hymns), from L. gloria "glory."

glory --- c.1300, "magnificence," from O.Fr. glorie, from L. gloria "great praise or honor," of uncertain origin. Gk. doxa "expectation" (Homer), later "opinion, fame," and ultimately "glory," was used in Biblical writing to translate a Heb. word which had a sense of "brightness, splendor, magnificence, majesty," and this was subsequently translated as L. gloria, which has colored that word's meaning in most European tongues. Wuldor was an O.E. word used in this sense. Glory days was in use by 1980s; glorious is c.1300, from O.Fr. glorieus, from L. gloriosus "full of glory," from gloria. In 14c.-17c. it also could mean "boastful, vainglorious." Glorified in the sense of "transformed into something better" is recorded from 1821.

glory hole --- a drawer or place where things are heaped together in a disorderly manner, 1825, the first element probably a variant of Scot. glaur "to make muddy" (c.1450), perhaps from O.N. leir "mud."

gloss (1) --- luster, 1538, from Scand. (cf. Icelandic glossi "flame," related to glossa "to flame"), or obsolete Du. gloos "a glowing," from M.H.G. glos.

gloss (2) --- word inserted as an explanation, 1548, gloze, from L. glossa "obsolete or foreign word," from Gk. glossa (Ionic), glotta (Attic) "obscure word, language," lit. "tongue." Extended sense of "explain away" is 1638, from idea of a note inserted in the margin of a text to explain a difficult word.

glossary --- c.1380, from L. glossarium "collection of glosses" (see gloss (2)), from Gk. glossarion, dim. of glossa "obsolete or foreign word."

glossolalia --- speaking in tongues, 1879, from Gk. glossa "tongue, language" + lalia "a speaking," from lalein "to speak, prattle," of echoic origin.

glottis --- 1578, from Gk. glottis "mouth of the windpipe," from glotta, Attic dial. variant of glossa "tongue." Glottal is first recorded 1846.

Gloucester --- English county, O.E. Gleawceaster, from L. Coloniae Glev (2c.), from Glevo, a Celtic name meaning "bright place" (perhaps influenced by O.E. gleaw "wise, prudent") + O.E. ceaster "Roman town."

glove --- O.E. glof "covering for the hand," also "palm of the hand," from P.Gmc. *galofo (cf. O.N. glofi), probably from *ga- collective prefix + *lofi "hand" (cf. O.N. lofi, M.E. love, Goth. lofa "flat of the hand"). Ger. Handschuh, the usual word for "glove," lit. "hand-shoe" (O.H.G. hantscuoh; also Dan., Swed. hantsche) is represented by O.E. Handscio, but this is only attested as a proper name. To fit like a glove is first recorded 1771.

glow --- O.E. glowan "to shine as if red-hot," from P.Gmc. base *glo- (cf. O.S. gloian, O.N. gloa, O.H.G. gluoen, Ger. glühen "to glow"), from PIE *ghlo-. First record of glow-worm is from c.1320.

glower --- 1500, "to stare with wide eyes," from a Scandinavian source (cf. Norw. dial. glora "to glow"), from P.Gmc. base *glo-, root of O.E. glowan "to glow," which infl. the spelling. Meaning "to look angrily, scowl" is first recorded 1775.

glucose --- 1840, from Fr. glucose (1838), from Gk. gleukos "must, sweet wine," related to glykys "sweet," from *glku-, dissimilated in Gk. from PIE *dlk-u- "sweet" (cf. L. dulcis).

glue --- c.1330, from O.Fr. glu, from L.L. glus (gen. glutis) "glue," from L. gluten "glue," from PIE *gleit- "to glue, paste" (cf. Lith. glitus "sticky," glitas "mucus;" O.E. cliða "plaster").

glug --- 1768, imitative of the sound of swallowing a drink, etc.

glum --- 1547, from M.E. gloumen (v.) "become dark" (c.1300), later gloumben "look gloomy or sullen" (c.1380); see gloom.

glut (v.) --- c.1315, "to swallow too much, to feed to repletion," probably from O.Fr. gloter "to swallow, gulp down," from L. gluttire "swallow, gulp down," from PIE base *glu- "to swallow" (cf. Rus. glot "draught, gulp"). The noun (1533), from the verb, originally meant "a gulp;" meaning "condition of being full or sated" is 1579; mercantile sense is first recorded 1594.

gluten --- 1639, "any sticky substance," from L. gluten (gen. glutinis) "glue." Used 16c.-19c. for the part of animal tissue now called fibrin; used since 1803 of the nitrogenous part of the flour of wheat or other grain; hence glutamic acid (1871), a common amino acid, and its salt, glutamate (1876). Glutinous "of the nature of glue" is c.1400 (implied in glutinosity), from L. glutinosus, from gluten.

gluteus --- buttocks muscle, 1681, from Mod.L. glutæus, from Gk. gloutos "rump."

glutton --- c.1225, from O.Fr. gluton, from L. gluttonem, acc. of glutto "overeater," formed from gluttire "to swallow," from gula "throat," from PIE *gel-.

glycerin --- 1838, from Fr. glycérine, coined by Fr. chemist Michel-Eugène Chevreul (1786-1889), from Gk. glykeros "sweet." So called for its taste.

glyph --- 1727, from Fr. glyphe (1701), from Gk. glyphe "a carving," from glyphein "to hollow out, engrave, carve" (cognate with L. glubere "to peel, shell," and O.E. cleofan "to cleave").

G-man --- FBI agent, 1930, shortening of government man; used earlier in an Irish context (1917), but the abbreviation is perhaps the same one.

gnarl --- contort, twist, 1814, a back-formation from gnarled, which appears only in Shakespeare ("Measure for Measure," 1603) but was picked up 19c. by romantic poets and brought into currency. It is probably a variant of M.E. knar "knot in wood" (1382), originally "a rock, a stone," of uncertain origin. Gnarly first attested 1829; picked up 1970s as surfer slang to describe a dangerous wave; it had spread in teen slang by 1980s, where it meant both "excellent" and "disgusting."

gnash --- 1496, variant of M.E. gnasten "to gnash the teeth" (c.1300), perhaps from O.N. gnastan "a gnashing," of unknown origin, probably imitative.

gnat --- O.E. gnætt, earlier gneat, from P.Gmc. *gnattaz (cf. Low Ger. gnatte, Ger. Gnitze).

gnaw --- O.E. gnagan (pt. *gnog, pp. gnagan), a common Gmc. word (cf. O.S. gnagan, O.N. gnaga, M.Du. knagen, Ger. nagen), probably imitative of gnawing.

gneiss --- 1757, from Ger. Gneiss "type of metamorphic rock," from M.H.G. gneist "spark" (so called because the rock glitters), from O.H.G. gneisto "spark."

gnocchi --- 1891, from It., pl. of gnocco, from nocchio "a knot in wood;" so called for their shape.

gnome --- dwarf-like earth-dwelling spirit, 1712, from Fr. gnome, from L. gnomus, used 16c. in a treatise by Paracelsus, who gave the name pigmaei or gnomi to elemental earth beings, possibly from Gk. *genomos "earth-dweller." A less-likely suggestion is that Paracelsus based it on the homonym that means "intelligence" (preserved in gnomic). Popular in children's literature 19c. as a name for red-capped Ger. and Swiss folklore dwarfs. Garden figurines first imported to England late 1860s from Germany.

gnomic --- full of instructive sayings, 1815, from Fr. gnomique, from L.L. gnomicus "concerned with maxims, didactic," from Gk. gnomikos, from gnome "thought, opinion, maxim, intelligence," from gignoskein "to come to know" (see gnostic). Eng. gnome meant "short, pithy statement of general truth" (1577).

gnomon --- pillar that tells time by the shadow it casts, esp. on a sundial, 1546, from L. gnomon, from Gk. gnomon "indicator," lit. "one who discerns," from gignoskein "to come to know" (see gnostic).

Gnostic --- c.1585, from L.L. gnosticus, from Late Gk. gnostikos, noun use of adj. gnostikos "knowing, able to discern," from gnostos "knowable," from gignoskein "to learn, to come to know" (see know). Applied to various early Christian sects that claimed direct personal knowledge beyond the Gospel or the Church hierarchy. The adj. meaning "relating to knowledge" (with lower-case g-) is from 1656.

gnu --- 1777, from Du. gnoe, used by Ger. traveler Georg Forster (1754-1794) to render Hottentot i-ngu "wildebeest," from Southern Bushman !nu: (in which ! and : represent clicks).

go --- O.E. gan "to go," from W.Gmc. *gai-/*gæ- (cf. O.Fris. gan, M.Du. gaen, Ger. gehen), from PIE *ghei-, perhaps connected to Skt. jihite "goes away," Gk. kikhano "I reach, meet with," but there is not general agreement on cognates. The O.E. past tense was eode, of uncertain origin but evidently once a different word (perhaps connected to Goth. iddja); it was replaced 1400s by went, formerly past tense of wenden "to direct one's way" (see wend). In northern England and Scotland, however, eode tended to be replaced by gaed, a construction based on go. In modern Eng., only be and go take their past tenses from entirely different verbs. The word in its various forms and combinations takes up 45 columns of close print in the OED. The noun sense of "a try or turn at something" is from 1825; meaning "something that goes, a success" is from 1876. Verbal meaning "say" emerged 1960s in teen slang. Going to "be about to" is from 1482. Go for broke is from 1951, Amer.Eng. colloquial; go down on "perform oral sex on" is from 1916. That goes without saying (1878) translates Fr. cela va sans dire. Phrase on the go "in constant motion" is from 1843; go-between is 1598; go-getter is 1910, Amer.Eng., but goer, with essentially the same meaning, is c.1378. Goner "something dead or about to die" is first recorded 1850.

go south --- vanish, abscond, 1920s, Amer.Eng., probably from mid-19c. notion of disappearing south to Mexico or Texas to escape pursuit or responsibility, reinforced by Native American belief (attested in colonial writing mid-18c.) that the soul journeys south after death.

go west --- 19c. British idiom for "die, be killed" (popularized during World War I), "probably from thieves' slang, wherein to go west meant to go to Tyburn, hence to be hanged, though the phrase has indubitably been influenced by the setting of the sun in the west." [Partridge]

goad (n.) --- O.E. gad "spearhead," from P.Gmc. *gaido (cf. Lombardic gaida "spear"), from PIE *ghai- (cf. Skt. hetih "missile, projectile," O.Ir. gae "spear"). Figurative use is since 16c., probably from the Bible. The verb is from 1579.

goal --- 1531, "end point of a race," perhaps from O.E. *gal "obstacle, barrier," a word implied by gælan "to hinder." The word appears once before this, in a poem from c. 1315. Football sense is attested from 1548.

goat --- O.E. gat "she-goat," from P.Gmc. *gaitaz (cf. O.N. geit, Ger. Geiß, Goth. gaits "goat"), from PIE *ghaidos "young goat," also "play" (cf. L. hædus "kid"). The word for "male goat" in O.E. was bucca (see buck) until late 1300s shift to he-goat, she-goat. (Nanny goat is 18c., billy goat 19c.). Meaning "licentious man" is attested from 1675. To get (someone's) goat is from 1910, perhaps with notion of "to steal a goat mascot from a racehorse," or from Fr. prendre sa chèvre "take one's source of milk."

goatee --- 1844 (as goaty), from goat (q.v.). So called from its resemblance to a male goat's chin hairs.

gob --- a mouthful, lump, c.1382, from O.Fr. gobe "mouthful, lump," from gober "gulp, swallow down," probably from Gaul. *gobbo- (cf. Ir. gob "mouth," Gael. gob "beak"). This Celtic source also seems to be root of gob "mouth" (c.1550), which is the first element in gob-stopper "a kind of large hard candy" (1928).

gobble (1) --- eat fast, 1601, probably partly echoic, partly frequentative of gob, via gobben "drink something greedily."

gobble (2) --- turkey noise, 1680, probably imitative.

gobbledygook --- 1944, Amer.Eng., first used by U.S. Rep. Maury Maverick, D.-Texas, (1895-1954), a grandson of the original maverick (q.v.) and chairman of U.S. Smaller War Plants Corporation during World War II. First used in a memo dated March 30, 1944, banning "gobbledygook language" and mock-threateaning, "anyone using the words activation or implementation will be shot." Maverick said he made up the word in imitation of turkey noise.

Gobi --- desert in central Asia, from Mongolian gobi "desert." Gobi Desert is thus a pleonasm (see Sahara).

goblet --- c.1380, from O.Fr. gobelet, dim. of gobel "cup," probably related to gobe "gulp down" (see gob (1)).

goblin --- c.1327, from O.Fr. gobelin (12c., as Gobelinus, the name of a spirit haunting the region of Evreux), of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Ger. kobold (see cobalt), or from M.L. cabalus, from Gk. kobalos "rogue, knave," kobaloi "wicked spirits invoked by rogues." Another suggestion is that it is a dim. of the proper name Gobel.

goby --- kind of fish, 1769, from L. gobius, from Gk. gobios, of unknown origin.

go-cart --- 1676, originally "a litter, sedan chair;" also "an infant's walker" (1689), from go + cart. The modern form go-kart (1959) was coined in reference to a kind of miniature racing car with a frame body and a two-stoke engine.

god --- O.E. god "supreme being, deity," from P.Gmc. *guthan (cf. Du. god, Ger. Gott, O.N. guð, Goth. guþ), from PIE *ghut- "that which is invoked" (cf. Skt. huta- "invoked," an epithet of Indra), from root *gheu(e)- "to call, invoke." But some trace it to PIE *ghu-to- "poured," from root *gheu- "to pour, pour a libation" (source of Gk. khein "to pour," khoane "funnel" and khymos "juice;" also in the phrase khute gaia "poured earth," referring to a burial mound). "Given the Greek facts, the Germanic form may have referred in the first instance to the spirit immanent in a burial mound" [Watkins]. Cf. also Zeus. Not related to good. Originally neut. in Gmc., the gender shifted to masc. after the coming of Christianity. O.E. god was probably closer in sense to L. numen. A better word to translate deus might have been P.Gmc. *ansuz, but this was only used of the highest deities in the Gmc. religion, and not of foreign gods, and it was never used of the Christian God. It survives in Eng. mainly in the personal names beginning in Os-. "I want my lawyer, my tailor, my servants, even my wife to believe in God, because it means that I shall be cheated and robbed and cuckolded less often. ... If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him." [Voltaire] First record of Godawful "terrible" is from 1878; God speed as a parting is from c.1470. God-fearing is attested from 1835. God bless you after someone sneezes is credited to St. Gregory the Great, but the pagan Romans (Absit omen) and Greeks had similar customs.

goddess --- 1340, from god (q.v.) + fem. suffix -esse.

Godfrey --- male proper name, from O.Fr. Godefrei, from O.H.G. Godafrid (Ger. Gottfried), lit. "the peace of God," from O.H.G. got "God" + fridu "peace."

godhead --- from god (q.v.) + M.E. -hede, cognate with -hood and Ger. -heit. Along with maidenhead, this is the sole survival of this form of the suffix.

Godiva --- d.1067, Lady of Coventry and wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. Legend first recorded 100 years after her death, by Roger of Wendover. "Peeping Tom" aspect added by 1659.

godsend --- 1814, "a wreck," from God's send, from God (q.v.) + M.E. sande "that which is sent, message." Sense of "happy chance" is from 1831.

gofer --- 1956, Amer.Eng. coinage from go for (coffee, spare parts, etc.), with a pun on gopher.

goggle (v.) --- 1540, from M.E. gogelen "to roll about" (c.1380), infl. by M.E. gogel-eyed "squint-eyed, one-eyed" (1382), of uncertain origin, perhaps somehow imitative. As a surname (Robert le Gogel) attested from 1307. Noun sense of "protective eyeglasses" first recorded 1715.

go-go --- 1964, "fashionable," from slang the go "the rage" (1962); see go. First appearance of go-go dancer is from 1965.

Goidelic --- pertaining to the branch of Celtic languages that includes Irish, Gaelic, and Manx, 1882, coined by Sir John Rhys (and first used in his "Celtic Britain"), from O.Ir. Goidel "Gael" (see Gael).

goiter --- 1625, from Fr. goître, from Rhône dialect, from O.Prov. goitron "throat, gullet," from V.L. *gutturiosum, from L. guttur "throat" (see guttural).

gold --- O.E. gold, from P.Gmc. *gulth- (cf. O.S., O.Fris., O.H.G. gold, Ger. Gold, M.Du. gout, Du. goud, O.N. gull, Dan. guld, Goth. gulþ), from PIE base *ghel-/*ghol- "yellow, green," possibly ult. "bright" (cf. O.C.S. zlato, Rus. zoloto, Skt. hiranyam, O.Pers. daraniya-, Avestan zaranya- "gold;" see Chloe). In reference to the color of the metal, it is recorded from c.1400. Golden replaced M.E. gilden, from O.E. gyldan. Gold is one of the few Mod.Eng. nouns that form adjs. meaning "made of ______" by adding -en (e.g. wooden, leaden, waxen, olden); O.E. also had silfren "made of silver," stænen "made of stone." Goldenrod is 1568; goldfinch is from O.E. goldfinc; goldfish is from 1698, introduced into England from China, where they are native. Gold-digger "woman who pursues men for their money," first recorded 1915. Goldbrick (n.) "shirker" (1914) is World War I armed forces slang, from earlier verb meaning "to swindle, cheat" (1902) from the old con game of selling spurious "gold" bricks. Golden mean "avoidance of excess" translates L. aurea mediocritas (Horace). Golden rule (originally Golden law) so called from 1674. "Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same." [George Bernard Shaw, 1898]

Goldilocks --- name for a person with bright yellow hair, 1550, from adj. form of gold + lock in the hair sense. The story of the Three Bears first was printed in Robert Southey's miscellany "The Doctor" (1837), but the central figure there was a bad-tempered old woman. Southey did not claim to have invented the story, and older versions have been traced, either involving an old woman or a "silver-haired" girl (though in at least one version it is a fox who enters the house). The naming of the girl as Goldilocks is only attested from c.1904.

golem --- artificial man, automaton, 1897, from Heb. golem [Psalm cxxxix:16] "shapeless mass, embryo," from galam "he wrapped up, folded."

golf --- 1457, Scot. gouf, usually taken as an alteration of M.Du. colf, colve "stick, club, bat," from P.Gmc. *kulth- (cf. O.N. kolfr "clapper of a bell," Ger. Kolben "mace, club"). The game is from 14c., the word is first mentioned (along with fut-bol) in a 1457 Scot. statute on forbidden games.

Golgotha --- hill near Jerusalem, via L. and Gk., from Aramaic gulgulta, lit. "place of the skull," from Heb. gulgoleth "skull." So called in reference to its shape (see Calvary).

Goliath --- L.L., from Heb. Golyath, name of Philistine giant killed by David [I Sam. xvii].

golliwog --- grotesque blackface doll, 1895, coined by Eng. children's book author and illustrator Florence K. Upton (1873-1922), perhaps from golly + polliwog.

golly --- euphemism for God, first recorded 1775, in a source that refers to it as "a sort of jolly kind of oath, or asseveration much in use among our carters, & the lowest people."

gonad --- 1880, coined from Gk. gone "seed, act of generation, race, family," from gignesthai "be born."

gondola --- 1549, from It. (Venetian) gondola, earlier goundel, from O.It. gondula, perhaps from Rhaeto-Romanic dial. gondola "roll, rock." Meaning "cabin of an airship" is 1896, though it was used hypothetically in 1881 in a prediction piece titled "300 Years Hence": "You step into an aërial gondola ... and are at once borne upwards."

Gondwana --- name of a region in north central India, from Skt. gondavana, from vana "forest" + Gonda, name of a Dravidian people, lit. "fleshy navel, outie belly-button." The name was extended by geologists to a series of sedimentary rocks found there (1873), then to identical rocks in other places; the fossils found in this series were used by geologists to reconstruct the ancient southern supercontinent, which was thus called Gondwanaland (1896), from Ger., where it was coined by E. Suess in 1885.

gonfalon --- 1595, variant of M.E. gonfanon (c.1300), from O.Fr. gonfanon "knight's pennon," from O.H.G. guntfano "battle flag," from P.Gmc. *gunthja- "war" + *fano "banner" (cf. Goth. fana "cloth"). Cognate with O.E. guþfana, O.N. gunnfani. Change of -n- to -l- by dissimilation.

gong --- c.1600, from Malay gong, probably imitative of its sound when struck.

gonorrhea --- 1526, from L.L. gonorrhoia, from gonos "seed" + rhoe "flow," from rhein "to flow." Mucus discharge was mistaken for semen. In early records often Gomoria, etc., from folk etymology association with biblical Gomorrah.

gonzo --- 1971, Amer.Eng., in Hunter S. Thompson's phrase gonzo journalism, from It. gonzo "simpleton, blockhead." Thompson in 1972 said he got it from editor Bill Cardosa, and explained it as "some Boston word for weird, bizarre."

goo --- 1903, Amer.Eng., probably from burgoo (1787) "thick porridge."