Origin and history of devastating

wind blows spirally around the center," coined by British East India Company official Henry Piddington to describe the devastating...

[Arthur Young, "Nautical Dictionary," London, 1863] The figurative sense of "shattering or devastating thing or event" is...

c. 1200, "a whip used for inflicting pain or punishment, a lash used for torture," from Anglo-French scorge, escorge, back-formation from Old French scurge, eschurge "a whip, scourge, thong," from escorgier "to whip," which is from Vulgar Latin *excorrigiare. This is a compound o

mid-14c., overwhelmen, "to turn upside down, overthrow, knock over," from over- + Middle English whelmen "to turn upside down" (see whelm). Meaning "to submerge completely" is early 15c. Perhaps the connecting notion is a boat, etc., washed over, and overset, by a big wave. Figur

"to come up to, catch up with, catch in pursuit," early 13c., from over- + take (v.). According to OED (1989), originally "the running down and catching of a fugitive or beast of chase"; the editors find the sense of over- in this word "not so clear." The meaning "take by surpris

Middle English sweten, from Old English swætan "perspire, excrete moisture from the skin," also "toil, labor, work hard," from Proto-Germanic *swaitjan "to sweat," from the source of sweat (n.). Compare Frisian swette, Dutch zweeten, Danish svede, German schwitzen. The meaning "b

late Old English, "act of giving way and falling down" (a sense now obsolete), from Latin ruina "a collapse, a rushing down, a tumbling down" (source also of Old French ruine "a collapse," Spanish ruina, Italian rovina), which is a derivative of ruere "to rush, fall violently, co

mid-14c., of persons, "disconsolate, miserable, overwhelmed with grief, deprived of comfort;" late 14c., of persons, "without companions, solitary, lonely;" also, of places, "uninhabited, abandoned," from Latin desolatus, past participle of desolare "leave alone, desert," from de

Old English ofercuman "to reach, overtake, move or pass over," also "to conquer, prevail over, defeat in combat" (the Devil, evil spirits, sin, temptation, etc.), from ofer (see over) + cuman "to come" (see come (v.)). A common Germanic compound (Middle Dutch overkomen, Old High

late 14c., communioun, "participation in something; that which is common to all; union in religious worship, doctrine, or discipline," from Old French comunion "community, communion" (12c.), from Latin communionem (nominative communio) "fellowship, mutual participation, a sharing