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Origin and history of killjoy

killjoy(n.)

also kill-joy, 1776, from kill (v.) + joy. Kill formerly was used with other stems (for example kill-courtesy "boorish person," kill-cow "bully, big man," etc.; also compare Kellogg).

also from 1776

Entries linking to killjoy

joy(n.)

c. 1200, "feeling of pleasure and delight;" c. 1300, "source of pleasure or happiness," from Old French joie "pleasure, delight, erotic pleasure, bliss, joyfulness" (11c.), from Latin gaudia "expressions of pleasure; sensual delight," plural of gaudium "joy, inward joy, gladness, delight; source of pleasure or delight," from gaudere "rejoice," from PIE root *gau- "to rejoice" (cognates: Greek gaio "I rejoice," Middle Irish guaire "noble").

As a term of endearment from 1580s. Joy-riding is American English, 1908; joy-ride (n.) is from 1909.

Kellogg

surname, attested from late 13c. (Gilbert Kelehog), literally "kill hog," a name for a butcher (compare kill-buck, a medieval surname, also noted as a term of contempt for a butcher). The U.S. cereal company began in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1906, founded by W.K. Kellogg (1860-1951), business manager of the Battle Creek Sanatorium, as Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company.

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daredevil
1794, "recklessly daring person, one who fears nothing and will attempt anything," from dare (v.) + devil (n.). The devil might refer to the person, or the sense might be "one who dares the devil." For the formation, compare scarecrow, killjoy, dreadnought, pickpocket (n.), cut-t
spoil-sport
"one who hinders enjoyment," 1786, from the verbal phrase (attested by 1711) in reference to one who "ruins" the "fun;" see spoil (v.) + sport (n.). Compare Chaucer's letgame "hinderer of pleasure" (late 14c.), with obsolete verb let "hinder, prevent, stop" (see let (n.)). Anothe
worry wart
1930, from newspaper comic "Out Our Way" by U.S. cartoonist J.R. Williams (1888-1957), in which Worry Wart is attested by 1929. Worry Wart was a generic nickname or insult for any character who caused others to worry, which is the inverse of the current colloquial meaning. For ex
wet
Old English wæt "moist, rainy, liquid," also as a noun, "moisture; liquid drink," from Proto-Germanic *wed- (source also of Old Frisian wet). Also in part from cognate Old Norse vatr, and all ultimately from PIE root *wed- (1) "water; wet." Of paint, ink, etc., "not yet dry" from
blanket
c. 1300, "coarse white woolen stuff," also "a large oblong piece of woolen cloth used for warmth as a bed-covering" (also as a cover for horses), from Old French blanchet "light wool or flannel cloth; an article made of this material," diminutive of blanc "white" (see blank (adj.
party
c. 1300, partie, "a part, division, section, portion," a sense now obsolete; also "physical piece, fragment; section of a book or treatise," from Old French partie "side, part; portion, share; separation, division" (12c.), literally "that which is divided," noun use of fem. past
tribulation
"a state of affliction or oppression, suffering, distress," c. 1200, from Old French tribulacion (12c.), from Church Latin tribulationem (nominative tribulatio) "distress, trouble, affliction," noun of action from past-participle stem of tribulare "to oppress, afflict," a figurat
hamartia
"tragic flaw," Greek, literally "fault, failure, guilt, sin" from hamartanein "to fail of one's purpose; to err, sin," originally "to miss the mark," from PIE *hemert- "to miss, fail." "The aspiration must be analogical. The word has no known cognates, but the reconstructed root
undermine
c. 1300, undermyne, "render unstable by digging at the foundation," from under + mine (v.1) "dig." The figurative sense "injure by invisible, secret, or dishonorable means" is attested from early 15c. Similar formation in Dutch ondermijnen, Danish underminere, German unterminiren
ginger
11c., from Old English ginȝifer, ginȝiber, from Late Latin gingiber, from Latin zingiberi, from Greek zingiberis, from Prakrit (Middle Indic) singabera, from Sanskrit srngaveram, from srngam "horn" + vera- "body," so called from the shape of its root. But this may be Sanskrit fol

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