Online Etymology Dictionary

[ncr]

For anyone even remotely interested in the origins of words in the English language, I herewith recommended you Douglas Harper's absolutely amazing etymonline.com (http://www.etymonline.com/). Lots of linguistic information, as well as interesting trivia. Try it out!

[The Enforcer!]

For anyone even remotely interested in the origins of words in the English language, I herewith recommended you Douglas Harper's absolutely amazing etymonline.com (http://www.etymonline.com/). Lots of linguistic information, as well as interesting trivia. Try it out!
What fun!

The Enforcer!

[ncr]

To quote an example relevant to this forum:

Subway
1825, "underground passage" (for water pipes or pedestrians), from sub- + way. The sense of "underground railway in a city" is first recorded 1893, in ref. to Boston.

U-bahn
Ger. or Austrian subway system, 1938 (originally in ref. to Berlin), from Ger. U-bahn, short for Untergrund-bahn, lit. "underground railway."

tube
1611, from M.Fr. tube (1460), from L. tubus "tube, pipe," of unknown origin. The London subway was christened the Twopenny Tube before it even opened (H.D. Browne, in the "Londoner" of June 30, 1900); tube for "cylindrical railway tunnel" is attested from 1847. The meaning "TV as a medium" is from 1959, short for cathode ray tube or picture tube. Tube top as a women's clothing style is attested from 1972. Tubular is attested from 1673, "having the form of a tube or pipe," but the modern slang sense is from 1982, Valspeak, from surfers' slang for a hollow, curling wave, ideal for riding. Tube steak is attested from 1963 as "frankfurter," slang meaning "penis" is recorded by mid-1980s. Tubing as a recreational pastime is recorded from 1975.

As you can see, it will find all definitions that contain the search word: subway (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=subway&searchmode=none)

[ncr]

Here's something remotely related:

Michael A. Fischer's Worthless Word for the Day (http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd/). For anyone wanting to boost their English vocabulary with rare, quirky, unusual, obscure, obsolete, pretentious, bizarre, etc., expressions.

Introduction (http://home.mn.rr.com/wwftd/disclaim.htm)

Index (http://home.mn.rr.com/wwftd/wwftds.htm)