Origin and history of facilitate

Old English helpan "to help, support, succor; benefit, do good to; cure, amend" (transitive, class III strong verb; past tense healp, past participle holpen), from Proto-Germanic *helpanan (source also of Old Norse hjalpa, Old Frisian helpa, Middle Dutch and Dutch helpen, Old Hig

c. 1200, "physical comfort, undisturbed state of the body; tranquility, peace of mind," from Old French aise "comfort, pleasure, well-being; opportunity," which is of uncertain origin. According to Watkins is ultimately from Latin adiacens "lying at," present participle of adiace

early 15c., alleviaten, "to mitigate, relieve (sorrows, suffering, etc.)," from Late Latin alleviatus, past participle of alleviare "lift up, raise," figuratively "to lighten (a burden), comfort, console," from assimilated form of Latin ad "to" (see ad-) + levis "light" in weight

imperial parliament met; hence Reichstag Fire (which took place Feb. 27, 1933) as symbolic of a disruptive act engineered to facilitate...

Of similar contrivances or conduits from c. 1400; from mid-15c. as "projection from a vessel to facilitate pouring from it...

A skid as something used to facilitate downhill motion led to figurative phrases such as hit the skids "go into rapid decline...

was the name of a useful device, "wheel-plate or circle iron of a carriage" placed on the forward axle for support and to facilitate...

late Old English (replacing Old English fers, an early West Germanic borrowing directly from Latin), "line or section of a psalm or canticle," later "line of poetry" (late 14c.), from Anglo-French and Old French vers "line of verse; rhyme, song," from Latin versus "a line, row, l

late 12c., serven, "to render habitual obedience to, owe allegiance to," also "minister, give aid, give help," from Old French servir "to do duty toward, show devotion to; set table, serve at table; offer, provide with," from Latin servire "be a servant, be in service, be enslave

late 14c., severen, transitive, "cause a separation or division, put or keep apart," from Anglo-French severer, Old French sevrer "to separate" (12c., later in French restricted to "to wean," i.e. "to separate from the mother"), from Vulgar Latin *seperare, from Latin separare "t