mort (n.1)

"girl, woman" (chaste or not, but especially one of roaming tendencies or loose morals), 1560s, canting jargon, and like most of it of unknown origin and no etymology.

also from 1560s

mort (n.2)

in hunting, "a flourish sounded on a horn at the death of the quarry, c. 1500, from Old French mort "dead," from Latin mortem (source also of Spanish muerte, Italian morte), accusative of mors "death" (from PIE root *mer- "to rub away, harm," also "to die" and forming words referring to death and to beings subject to death). Or the French word might be from Vulgar Latin *mortus, from Latin mortuus, from the same PIE root. Mort was used earlier in Middle English as "death" (c. 1300).

also from c. 1500

Entries linking to mort

*mer-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to rub away, harm." Possibly identical with the root *mer- that means "to die" and forms words referring to death and to beings subject to death.

It forms all or part of: amaranth; ambrosia; amortize; Amritsar; immortal; manticore; marasmus; mare (n.3) "night-goblin, incubus;" morbid; mordacious; mordant; moribund; morsel; mort (n.2) "note sounded on a horn at the death of the quarry;" mortal; mortality; mortar; mortgage; mortify; mortmain; mortuary; murder; murrain; nightmare; post-mortem; remorse.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit mrnati "crushes, bruises," mriyate "to kill," martave "to die," mrta- "died, dead," mrtih "death," martah "mortal man," amrta- "immortal;" Avestan miriia- "to die," miryeite "dies," Old Persian martiya- "man;" Hittite mer- "to disappear, vanish," marnu- "to make disappear;" Armenian meranim "to die;" Greek marainein "to consume, exhaust, put out, quench," marasmus "consumption," emorten "died," brotos "mortal" (hence ambrotos "immortal"); Latin mors (genitive mortis) "death," mori "to die;" Armenian merani- "to die;" Gothic maurþr, Old English morþ "murder;" Old Irish marb, Welsh marw "dead;" Lithuanian mirti "to die," mirtis "death;" Old Church Slavonic mreti "to die," mrutvu "dead;" Russian mertvyj, Serbo-Croatian mrtav "dead."

Trends of mort

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to Explore

mortgage

, morgage, "a conveyance of property on condition as security for a loan or agreement," from Old French morgage (13c.), mort...gaige, literally "dead pledge" (replaced in modern French by hypothèque), from mort "dead" (see mortal (adj.)) + gage "pledge...Old French mort is from Vulgar Latin *mortus "dead," from Latin mortuus, past participle of mori "to die" (from PIE root...

rum

; queer-bung = an empty purse; queer-cole = bad money; queer-diver = a bungling pickpocket; queer-ken = a prison; queer-mort...

little

Little death "orgasm" (1932) translates French petite mort....

family

early 15c., "servants of a household," from Latin familia "family servants, domestics collectively, the servants in a household," thus also "members of a household, the estate, property; the household, including relatives and servants," abstract noun formed from famulus "servant,

brown-nose

also brownnose, "try excessively to make a good impression on one with authority," 1939, American English colloquial, said to be military slang originally, from brown (adj.) + nose (n.), "from the implication that servility is tantamount to having one's nose in the anus of the pe

top-notch

also top notch, "best quality, most stylish," 1840, something of a vogue phrase about 1841, from top (adj.) + notch (n.). Figurative of the "highest point" of something, but the exact mechanical image is uncertain and never seems to be mentioned. At the time it was the name of a

preliminary

"preceding and leading up to something more important," 1660s, from French préliminaire and directly from Medieval Latin praeliminaris, from Latin prae "before" (see pre-) + limen (genitive liminis) "threshold" (see limit (n.)). A word that arose in reference to painstaking diplo

zone

late 14c., from Latin zona "geographical belt, celestial zone," from Greek zōnē "a belt, the girdle worn by women at the hips," from zōnnynai "to gird," from PIE root *yos- "to gird" (source also of Avestan yasta- "girt," Lithuanian juosiu, juosti "to gird," Old Church Slavonic p

ketchup

1680s, also spelled catsup which form first appeared in Jonathan Swift's 1730 poem A Panegyrick on the D--n. This spelling is still in use in U.S., influenced by cat and sup. In some of the earliest uses described as an East Indian sauce made with fruits and spices, with sp

religion

c. 1200, religioun, "state of life bound by monastic vows," also "action or conduct indicating a belief in a divine power and reverence for and desire to please it," from Anglo-French religiun (11c.), Old French religion, relegion "piety, devotion; religious community," and direc

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updated on June 03, 2019

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Dictionary entries near mort

Morris

morris-dance

morrow

Morse code

morsel

mort

mortal

mortality

mortally

mortar

mortarboard