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Origin and history of avaunt

avaunt(interj.)

late 15c., "begone," literally "move on," from Old French avant "forward!" It is a variant of avant (q.v.).

also from late 15c.

Entries linking to avaunt

avant

French, literally "before," in various terms borrowed into English; cognate with Italian avanti, both from Late Latin abante, a compound of ab "from" (see ab-) and ante "before, in front of" (from PIE root *ant- "front, forehead," with derivatives meaning "in front of, before") which meant "from in front of," but in Vulgar Latin came to mean simply "before."

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    thou
    Avaunt, caitiff, dost thou thou me! I am come of good kin, I tell thee!...
    let
    Old English lætan (Northumbrian leta) "to allow; to leave behind, depart from; leave undone; bequeath," also "to rent, put to rent or hire" (class VII strong verb; past tense let, leort, past participle gelæten), from Proto-Germanic *letan (source also of Old Saxon latan, Old Fri
    renounce
    late 14c., renouncen, "give up (something, especially to another), resign, surrender," from Old French renoncier "give up, cede" (12c., Modern French renoncer) and directly from Latin renuntiare "bring back word; proclaim; protest against, renounce," from re- "against" (see re-)
    crestfallen
    "dejected, dispirited," 1580s, creast falne, it has the form of a past-participle adjective, but the verb crestfall is recorded only from 1610s, in reference to diseased horses, and is rare. It's possible that the image behind this use of the word is not having the crest fallen,
    bat
    "a stick or staff used in beating, a war-club, staff used to strike the ball in certain games," c. 1200, from rare Old English batt "cudgel," a western England word at first, probably from Welsh or another Celtic source (compare Irish and Gaelic bat, bata "staff, cudgel"), later
    tattoo
    1680s, "signal calling soldiers or sailors to quarters at night," earlier tap-to (1640s), from Dutch taptoe, from tap "faucet of a cask" (see tap (n.1)) + toe "shut, to" (from Proto-Germanic *to; see to (prep.)). "So called because police formerly visited taverns in the evening t
    tender
    "soft, easily injured," early 13c., from Old French tendre "soft, delicate; young" (11c.), from Latin tenerem (nominative tener) "soft, delicate; of tender age, youthful," from a derivative of PIE root *ten- "to stretch," on the notion of "stretched," hence "thin," hence "weak" o
    exuberant
    mid-15c., "over-abundant," from Latin exuberantem (nominative exuberans) "superfluous; extraordinary," present participle of exuberare "be abundant, grow luxuriously," from ex, here probably "thoroughly" (see ex-), + uberare "be fruitful," related to uber "udder," from PIE root *
    inspire
    mid-14c., enspiren, "to fill (the mind, heart, etc., with grace, etc.);" also "to prompt or induce (someone to do something)," from Old French enspirer (13c.), from Latin inspirare "blow into, breathe upon," figuratively "inspire, excite, inflame," from in- "in" (from PIE root *e
    cognitive
    1580s, "pertaining to cognition," with -ive + Latin cognit-, past participle stem of cognoscere "to get to know, recognize," from assimilated form of com "together" (see co-) + gnoscere "to know" (from PIE root *gno- "to know"). Taken over by psychologists and sociologists after

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