Origin and history of Eliot

improvement;" in practical terms, "the improvement of society by regulated practical means;" by 1868, attributed to "George Eliot...In her general attitude towards life, George Eliot was neither optimist nor pessimist....["George Eliot," letter to James Sully, Jan. 19, 1877]...

Eliot uses it in the French sense "craggy," which probably he got from Laforgue. Related: Anfractuosity (1590s)....

Eliot, from "Choruses from the Rock"]...

Eliot (1932)....

Eliot and his Age"]...

George Eliot used it (in German) in 1849, and it was popularized in English early 20c. by translation of Freud's work, but...

Eliot, "Reflections on Vers libre," New Statesman, 3 March 1917]...

late 14c. in Latin form abyssus, "depths of the earth or sea; primordial chaos;" early 14c. as abime "depths of the earth or sea; bottomless pit, Hell" (via Old French; see abysm). Both are from Late Latin abyssus "bottomless pit," from Greek abyssos (limnē) "bottomless (pool),"

1520s, from French imminent (14c.) and directly from Latin imminentem (nominative imminens) "overhanging; impending," present participle of imminere "to overhang, lean towards," hence "be near to," also "threaten, menace, impend, be at hand, be about to happen," from assimilated

"sportive, playful," 1590s, from French facétieux (16c.), from facétie "a joke" (15c.), from Latin facetiae "jests, witticisms" (singular facetia), from facetus "witty, elegant, fine, courteous," which is of unknown origin, perhaps related to facis "torch." Formerly often in a go