08/12/2016 - B Friday Flashcards
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| 4749547348 | bacillus (n.) | 1877, medical Latin, from Late Latin bacillus "wand," literally "little staff," diminutive of baculum "a stick," from PIE root *bak- "staff" (also source of Greek bakterion; see bacteria) + instrumentive suffix -culo. Introduced as a term in bacteriology 1853 by German botanist Ferdinand Cohn (1828-1898). [a rod-shaped bacterium.] |  | 0 |
| 4749559059 | backless (adj.) | 1926, in reference to women's clothing, from back (n.) + -less. [(of a woman's garment) cut low at the back.] |  | 1 |
| 4749534113 | backache (n.) | a prolonged pain in one's back. |  | 2 |
| 4749534336 | backbite (v.) | to say mean or spiteful things about someone who is absent. |  | 3 |
| 4749547932 | backboard (n.) | a board placed at or serving as the back of something. |  | 4 |
| 4749535222 | backbone (n.) | "spine," early 14c., from back (n.) + bone (n.). Figurative sense of "strength of character" is attested from 1843. [the series of vertebrae extending from the skull to the pelvis; the spine.] |  | 5 |
| 4749547933 | backdrop (n.) | 1913, in U.S. theatrical argot, from back (adj.) + drop (n.). [a painted cloth hung at the back of a theater stage as part of the scenery.] |  | 6 |
| 4749539076 | backfield (n.) | the football players whose positions are behind the line. |  | 7 |
| 4749548148 | backfire (n.) (v.) | 1839, American English, originally "a fire deliberately lit ahead of an advancing prairie fire to deprive it of fuel," from back (adj.) + fire (n.). As a verb in this sense, recorded from 1886. The meaning "premature ignition in an internal-combustion engine" is first recorded 1897. Of schemes, plans, etc., "to affect the initiator rather than the intended object" it is attested from 1912, a figurative use from the accidental back-firing of firearms. [a loud noise caused by the improperly timed explosion of fired in the cylinder of an internal combustion engine; (of a plan or action) rebound adversely on the originator; have the opposite effect to what was intended.] |  | 8 |
| 4749539327 | backflip (n.) | a backward somersault done in the air with the arms and legs stretched out straight. |  | 9 |
| 4749548149 | backgammon (n.) | the area of play behind either the offensive or defensive line. |  | 10 |
| 4749539328 | background (n.) | the scenery behind something; the setting within which something takes place |  | 11 |
| 4749540699 | backhand (n.) | as a tennis stroke, 1650s, from back (adv.) + hand. As a verb, by 1935. The figurative adjectival sense of "indirect" is from c. 1800. Related: Backhanded; backhanding. [(in tennis and other racket sports) a stroke played with the back of the hand facing in the direction of the stroke, typically starting with the arm crossing the body.] |  | 12 |
| 4749548154 | backhoe (n.) | by 1928, from back (n. or adj.) + hoe (n.). [an excavating machine having a bucket that is drawn toward the machine.] |  | 13 |
| 4749540700 | backing (n.) | 1590s, "support;" 1640s, "retreat;" verbal noun from back (v.). Physical sense of "anything forming a backing to something else" is from 1793. Meaning "musical accompaniment" is recorded from 1940. [support.] |  | 14 |
| 4749549050 | backlash (n.) | 1815, of machinery, from back (adj.) + lash (n.). In metaphoric sense, it is attested from 1955. [a strong and adverse reaction by a large number of people, especially to a social or political development.] |  | 15 |
| 4749540701 | backlog (n.) | 1680s, "large log placed at the back of a fire," from back (adj.) + log (n.1). Figurative sense of "something stored up for later use" is first attested 1883, but this and the meaning "arrears of unfulfilled orders" (1932) might be from, or suggested by, log (n.2).[large log placed at the back of a fire; an accumulation of something, especially uncompleted work or matters that need to be dealt with.] |  | 16 |
| 4749540941 | back order (n.) | a business order yet to be fulfilled because stock in unavailable. |  | 17 |
| 4749549345 | backpack (n.) | 1914 as a noun, 1916 as a verb, from back (n.) + pack (n.). Related: Backpacked; backpacking. [a bag with shoulder straps that allow it to be carried on one's back.] |  | 18 |
| 4749541126 | backpedal (n.) | move the pedals of a bicycle backward in order to brake. |  | 19 |
| 4749549346 | backrest (n.) | a support for a person's back when the person is seated. |  | 20 |
| 4749541127 | backside (n.) | c. 1400, from back (adj.) + side (n.). In the specific sense of "rump, buttocks" it is first recorded c. 1500. [a person's buttocks or rump.] |  | 21 |
| 4749541128 | backslide (v.) | in the religious sense, 1580s, from back (adj.) + slide (v.). Related: Backslider; backsliding (1550s). [relapse into bad ways or error.] |  | 22 |
| 4749541357 | backspin (n.) | a backward rotary motion of a ball. |  | 23 |
| 4749549066 | backstage (n.) | the area in a theater out of view of the audience, especially in the wings or dressing rooms. |  | 24 |
| 4749542424 | backstairs (n.) | stairs at the back or side of a building; secret. |  | 25 |
| 4749549067 | backstop (n.) | 1819, in cricket, from back (adj.) + stop (n.). In U.S. baseball, from 1889, "fence behind the catcher;" figurative extension to "catcher on a baseball team" is from 1890. The verb is attested from 1956 in the sense of "support." Related: Backstopped; backstopping. [a person or thing placed at the rear of or behind something as a barrier, support, or reinforcement.] |  | 26 |
| 4749542425 | backstory (n.) | a story that tells what led up to the main story or plot (as of a film) |  | 27 |
| 4749542839 | backstroke (n.) | 1670s, "counter-punch," from back (adj.) + stroke (n.). From 1876 in swimming, from back (n.). [a swimming stroke executed on the back.] |  | 28 |
| 4749549069 | back talk (n.) | impudent, insolent, or argumentative replies. |  | 29 |
| 4749543023 | backtrack (v.) | "retrace one's steps," figuratively, by 1896, from literal sense, with reference to hunted foxes, from back (adv.) + track (v.). Related: Backtracked; backtracking. ["retrace one's steps,"] |  | 30 |
| 4749549070 | backup (n.) | help or support; the procedure for making extra copies of data in case the original is lost or damaged. | 31 | |
| 4749549051 | backwash (n.) | 1876, "motion of a receeding wave," from back (adj.) + wash (n.). |  | 32 |
| 4749543274 | backwater (n.) | late 14c., "water behind a dam," from back (adj.) + water (n.1). Hence flat water without a current near a flowing river, as in a mill race (1820); figurative use of this for any flat, dull place is from 1899. [a part of a river not reached by the current, where the water is stagnant.] |  | 33 |
| 4749549052 | backwoods (n.) | wooded or partly cleared areas far grin cuties. |  | 34 |
| 4749543275 | bacon (n.) | early 14c., "meat from the back and sides of a pig" (originally either fresh or cured, but especially cured), from Old French bacon, from Proto-Germanic *bakkon "back meat" (source also of Old High German bahho, Old Dutch baken "bacon"). Slang phrase bring home the bacon first recorded 1908; bacon formerly being the staple meat of the working class. [salted and smoked meat from the sides of back of a pig.] |  | 35 |
| 4749549053 | bacterium (n.) / bacteria (n. plural) | 1847, plural of Modern Latin bacterium, from Greek bakterion "small staff," diminutive of baktron "stick, rod," from PIE *bak- "staff used for support" (also source of Latin baculum "rod, walking stick"). So called because the first ones observed were rod-shaped. Introduced as a scientific word 1838 by German naturalist Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (1795-1876). [a member of a large group of unicellular microorganisms that have cell walls but lack organelles and an organized nucleus, including some that can cause disease.] |  | 36 |
| 4749543724 | bactericidal (adj.) / bactericide (v.) | a substance that kills bacteria. |  | 37 |
| 4749549054 | bacteriology (n.) | 1884, from German; see bacteria + -ology. Related: Bacteriological (1886). Bacteriological warfare is from 1924. [the study of bacteria.] |  | 38 |
| 4749543871 | bacteriophage (n.) | 1921, from French bactériophage (1917), from bacterio-, comb. form of bacteria, + -phage. "-phage"; word-forming element meaning "eater," from stem of Greek phagein "to eat" (see -phagous). [a virus that parasitizes a bacterium by infecting it and reproducing inside it.] |  | 39 |
| 4749543872 | bacterial (adj.) | bacteria definition. sing. bacterium. | 40 | |
| 4749544079 | badge (n.) | mid-14c., perhaps from Anglo-French bage or from Anglo-Latin bagis, plural of bagia "emblem," all of unknown origin. [a distinctive emblem worn as a mark of office, membership, achievement, licensed employment, etc.] |  | 41 |
| 4749549057 | badger (n.) | 1520s, perhaps from bage "badge" (see badge) + -ard "one who carries some action or possesses some quality," suffix related to Middle High German -hart "bold" (see -ard). If so, the central notion is the badge-like white blaze on the animal's forehead (as in French blaireau "badger," from Old French blarel, from bler "marked with a white spot;" also obsolete Middle English bauson "badger," from Old French bauzan, literally "black-and-white spotted"). But blaze (n.2) was the usual word for this. [a heavily built omnivorous nocturnal mammal of the weasel family, typically having a gray and black coat.] |  | 42 |
| 4749544080 | badinage (n.) | "light railery," 1650s, from French badinage "playfulness, jesting," from badiner (v.) "to jest, joke," from badin "silly, jesting," from Old Provençal badar "to yawn, gape," from Late Latin badare "to gape," from *bat-, the root of abash. [playful talk back and forth; banter.] |  | 43 |
| 4749549058 | badland (n.) | "arid, highly eroded regions of the western U.S.," 1852, from bad + land (n.). Applied to urban districts of crime and vice since 1892 (originally with reference to Chicago). [extensive tracts of heavily eroded, uncultivable land with little vegetation.] |  | 44 |
| 4749549216 | backspace (n.) | to move back space in a text with the press of a key |  | 45 |