Origin and history of Elsevier

c. 1600, "act of carrying off" as prey or plunder, from rapt + -ure, or else from French rapture, from Medieval Latin raptura "seizure, rape, kidnapping," from Latin raptus "a carrying off, abduction, snatching away; rape" (see rapt). The earliest attested use in English is with

c. 1200, "protector, defender," from Old North French warant "defender; surety, pledge; justifying evidence" (Old French garant), from Frankish *warand, from Proto-Germanic *war- "to warn, guard, protect" (source also of Old High German werento "guarantor," noun use of present pa

1803, "a romantic idea," from romantic + -ism. In literature, 1823, in a French context, in reference to a movement toward medieval forms (especially in reaction to classical ones), an association now more often confined to Romanesque. The movement began in German and spread to E

"make known by open declaration, publish, announce" (a decree, news, etc.), 1520s, from Latin promulgatus, past participle of promulgare "make publicly known, propose openly, publish," probably from pro "forth" (see pro-) + mulgere "to milk" (see milk (n.)), used metaphorically f

"miser, one who makes use of contemptible economy to keep money," c. 1700 ("Dictionary of the Canting Crew"), slang ; literally "kind of person who would skin a flint to save or gain something," from skin (v.) + flint. Flay-flint in same sense is from 1670s. Among the 18c. slang

"the purloining or wrongful appropriation of another's ideas, writing, artistic designs, etc., and giving these forth as one's own" [Century Dictionary], 1620s, from -ism + plagiary (n.) "plagiarist, literary thief" (c. 1600), from Latin plagiarius "kidnapper, seducer, plunderer,

"one who changes from one sect, creed, etc. to another," late 14c., proselite, "a convert, especially "a heathen convert to Judaism" (in Biblical writings, e.g. Matthew xxiii.15, Ezekiel xiv.7), from Old French proselite (13c., Modern French prosélyte), from Late Latin proselytus

late Old English, in Christian use, "an outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual grace," especially "a sacrament of the Church, one of the religious ceremonies enjoined by Christ or the Church," and later specifically "the sacrament of the Eucharist" (c. 1300), from Old F

"with the hands on the hips and the elbows bent outward at sharp angles," c. 1400, in kenebowe, of unknown origin, perhaps from Middle English phrase in keen bow "at a sharp angle" (with keen in its Middle English sense of "sharp" + bow "arch"), or from a Scandinavian word akin t

fabulous monster of Greek mythology, slain by Bellerophon, late 14c., from Old French chimere or directly from Medieval Latin chimera, from Latin Chimaera, from Greek khimaira, name of a mythical fire-breathing creature (slain by Bellerophon) with a lion's head, a goat's body, an