what is the etymology of fugitive?
80029
1382, from O.Fr. fugitif, from L. fugitivus "fleeing" (but commonly used as a noun meaning "runaway"), from stem of fugere "run away, flee," from PIE base *bheug- "to flee" (cf. Gk. pheugein "to flee," Lith. bugstu "be frightened"). Replaced O.E. flyma. From 17c.-19c. Eng. had the useful adj. fugacious "likely to flee."
425554
ex-is a prefix\n\nIt originates from the Latin 'ex' meaning: former,from out of, free from, without.\n\n(so ex-wife could actaully mean 'free from - wife') hehe...
719432
It's short for TrailBlazers, named for the people using the Oregon Trail. For more on the Oregon Trail,\n\nhttp://www.endoftheoregontrail.org/histhome.html
421934
Noun:\n\none who wrongfully or illegally seizes and holds the place of another.\n\nAlso see usurper.
309552
de·vi·ous   Audio pronunciation of "devious" ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (dv-s)\nadj.\n\n   1. Not straightforward; shifty: a devious character.\n   2. Departing from the correct or accepted way; erring: achieved success by devious means.\n   3. Deviating from the straight or direct course; roundabout: a devious route.\n   4. Away from a main road or course; distant or removed.\n\n\n[From Latin dvius, out-of-the-way  : d-, de- + via, road; see wegh- in Indo-European Roots.]devi·ous·ly adv.\ndevi·ous·ness n.
1009379
aiding and abedding a fugitive
225140
I don't know if there's much etymology of the phrase, but here's an article about it which puts forth some interesting possibilities of the origin.\n\nQuote from the site:\n\n"Some linguists and historians think the expression must have been well known during the war years, citing a story about General Eisenhower's dog. The story goes that the dog (Felix) urinated on a map and the officers joked that the enemy was "pissed off." (Leonard Mosely, Marshall, 1982)."
317290
According to Mencken's 'American Language' and the 'Thesaurus of American Slang' by Berry and Van den Bark, 'lam, lammister' and 'on the lam' -- all referring to hasty departure -- were common in thieves' slang before the start of this century. Mencken quotes a newspaper report on the origin of 'lam' which actually traces it indirectly back to Shakespeare's time -- 'Its origin should be obvious to anyone who runs over several colloquial phrases for leavetaking, such as 'beat it' and 'hit the trail'...The allusion in 'lam' is to 'beat,' and 'beat it' is Old English, meaning 'to leave.' During the period of George Ade's 'Fables in Slang' (1900), cabaret society delight in talking slang, and 'lam' was current. Like many other terms, it went under in the flood of new usages of those days, but was preserved in criminal slang. A quarter of a century later it reappeared.' The Sage of Baltimore goes on to quote a story from the 'New York Herald Tribune' in 1938 which reported that 'one of the oldest police officers in New York said that he had heard 'on the lam' thirty years ago." From the "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1977, 1988).
876116
DWRA: Driving While Resisting Arrest also known as FAATE: Fleeing and Attempting to Elude.\n\nDWHO: Driving Without Headlights On. Don't know why the individual was arrested for that...should have been a citation.
914159
Consult AskOxford.com… and take your pick of meaning and origin!
50335
Good question, my wife used to use that phrase. She couldn't remember where or when she picked it up.  Some phrases are regional, as well.  Like the term "Uff Da" used primarily in Minnesota & Wisconsin, is a Norwegian equivalent of "good grief".  "Uff" like "oops" and "Da" meaning "then" - "uff" (oops), "da" (then).
598477
a sentence worded or expressed so as to elicit information.\n\nIt comes from Latin - quaerere 'ask,seek'- through Old French then Middle English.
155509
This acronym stands for 'absent without leave'.  It means that you are tardy.  It means that you are busted!  When you do return you will probably be subject to office hours, or court marshall, or loss of rank and priviledge or perhaps even brig time!  You better have a damn good excuse, like calling on the phone and saying:"Sir, this is Cpl JONES. don't pay the ransom, I bit my way through the ropes and I'm on my way back to base."
983362
It is the old english common-law term for an "Arrest Warrant". It is still commonly used is some states.
118785
It is similar to games played on land such as Blind Man's Bluff.  Presumably the name, and the phrase, alludes to a famed explorer because the game involves exploration, that is trying to find something (or someone) by wandering around.
332279
Etymology: Latin abscondere to hide away, from abs- + condere to store up, conceal -- more at CONDIMENT\n: to depart secretly and hide oneself\n- ab·scond·er noun
50628
Ok, this verb actually comes from Old Norse into Middle English, not Old English as I first thought.  The original Middle would have been "geten," similar in usage to the phrases beget, begat, begotten from Latin.  "Geten" would have been the form for all of the phrases originally.  I geten, he geten, they geten, etc.  No change.  That's how many of the Old and Middle verbs were.  \n\nEventually, a second form evolved (linguistically): gotten, probably from the above change of the word begat from Latin, which is actually a completely different word from a different language, not used in the same sense, but probably from the same root in the Proto-English language that existed before the year 450 C.E.  \n\nEventually, this new verbal form, gotten (which, incidently, would be the actual correct form to use in the phrase "I have gotten the note" instead of "I got the note.") degenerated into got to shorten the phrasing.  So, really, the only reason that we use the form got to refer to a specific time/place is because at some point the language masters of the Elizabethan age declared that the word gotten sounded better than the word geten (don't even ask about the shift from one "t" to two "t"s in verbal forms, it's some weird German thing) and so they made it the precise time/place transition.  \n\nThey did a lot of that kind of stuff at the beginning of the Middle to Modern English switch.  They language masters who were printing books were trying to make a common spelling and grammar among the English speakers before true mass printing came into being.\n\nHope this helped!