mid-15c., "treasurer, official charged with the keeping of accounts and the distribution of money," especially "caretaker of accounts and provisions on a ship," originally also "maker of purses" (mid-14c.; late 13c. as a surname), agent noun from Middle English purse (see purse (n.)).

mid-15c., purveu, in law, "the body of a statute, the substance of an act," from Anglo-French purveu est "it is provided," or purveu que "provided that" (late 13c.), clauses that introduced statutes in old legal documents, from Anglo-French purveu, Old French porveu (Modern French pourvu) "provided," past participle of porveoir "to provide," from Latin providere "look ahead, prepare, supply, act with foresight," from pro "ahead" (see pro-) + videre "to see" (from PIE root *weid- "to see").

The extended sense of "scope, extent" is attested by 1788 in "Federalist" (Madison). Modern sense and spelling influenced by view (n.).

commercial term for "amount by which a cask or bottle falls short of being full," mid-15c., ulage, from Anglo-French ulliage (early 14c.), Anglo-Latin oliagium (late 13c.), Old French ouillage, from ouiller "to fill up (a barrel) to the bung," literally "to fill to the eye," from ueil "eye" (perhaps used colloquially for "bung"), from Latin oculus (from PIE root *okw- "to see").

"extremely small," colloquial, perhaps by mid-15c., from earlier noun use in sense of "quantity, amount" (especially a littel wei "a little thing or amount," c. 1300), said to be from a northern variant of Old English wæge "weight, unit of weight," from Proto-Germanic *wego, from PIE root *wegh- "to go, move, transport in a vehicle." The original sense would be of motion, which led to that of lifting, then to that of "measure the weight of" (compare weigh, from the same source). Adjectival wee bit apparently developed as parallel to such forms as a bit thing "a little thing."

Wee hours "hours after midnight" is attested by 1891, from Scottish phrase wee sma' hours (1819); so called for their low numbers. Wee folk "faeries" is recorded from 1819.

mid-15c., "youth, young person, one who is growing up," from French adolescent (15c.) or directly from Latin adolescentem/adulescentem (nominative adolescens/adulescens) "young man or woman, a youth," noun use of an adjective meaning "growing, near maturity, youthful." The adjective is the present participle of adolescere "grow up, come to maturity, ripen," from ad "to" (see ad-) + alescere "be nourished," hence, "increase, grow up" (inchoative of alere "to nourish," from a suffixed form of PIE root *al- (2) "to grow, nourish").

Adolesce was a back-formed verb used early 20c. (OED quotes H.G. Wells, G.B. Shaw, Louis MacNeice), but it seems not to have grown.

"ancient Celtic minstrel-poet," mid-15c., from Scottish, from Old Celtic bardos "poet, singer," from Celtic *bardo-, possibly from PIE *gwredho- "he who makes praises," suffixed form of root *gwere- (2) "to favor."

In historical times, a term of great respect among the Welsh, but one of contempt among the Scots (who considered them itinerant troublemakers). Subsequently idealized by Scott in the more ancient sense of "lyric poet, singer." Poetic use of the word in English is from Greek bardos, Latin bardus, both from Gaulish.

All vagabundis, fulis, bardis, ſcudlaris, and ſiclike idill pepill, ſall be brint on the cheek, and ſcourgit with wandis, except thay find ſum craft to win thair living. [from a 16c. list of historical laws of Scottish kings, in Sir James Balfour, "Practicks: Or, a System of the More Ancient Law of Scotland," 1754]

mid-15c., "to howl like a dog," from Old Norse baula "to low like a cow," and/or Medieval Latin baulare "to bark like a dog," both echoic. The meaning "shout loudly" is attested from 1590s. To bawl (someone) out "reprimand loudly" is by 1908, American English. Related: Bawled; bawling.

"water-tight, barrel-like vessel for containing liquids," mid-15c., from French casque "a cask; a helmet," from Spanish casco "skull; wine-vat; helmet," originally "potsherd," from cascar "to break up," from Vulgar Latin *quassicare, frequentative of Latin quassare "to shake, shatter" (see quash). The sense evolution is uncertain.

mid-15c., elocucioun, "oratorical or literary style," from Late Latin elocutionem (nominative elocutio) "voice production, a speaking out, utterance, manner of expression," in classical Latin especially "rhetorical utterance, oratorical expression," noun of action from past-participle stem of eloqui "to speak out," from ex "out" (see ex-) + loqui "to speak" (from PIE root *tolkw- "to speak"). Related: Elocutionary; elocutionist.

"place (papers) in consecutive order for future reference," mid-15c., filen, from Old French filer "string documents on a thread or wire for preservation or reference" (15c.), earlier "to spin thread," from fil "thread, string" (12c.), from Latin filum "a thread, string; thread of fate; cord, filament," which is reconstructed to be from PIE *gwhis-lom, suffixed form of root *gwhi- "thread, tendon." The notion is of documents hung up on a line in consecutive order for ease of reference.

File (filacium) is a threed or wyer, whereon writs, or other exhibits in courts, are fastened for the better keeping of them. [Cowel, "The Interpreter," 1607]

Methods have become more sophisticated, but the word has stuck. The meaning "to place among the records of a court or office" is from 1510s; in reference to newspaper reporters sending in copy, 1954. The intransitive sense of "march in a line (as soldiers do) one after another" is from 1610s. Related: Filed; filing.