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Origin and history of subsidize

subsidize(v.)

1755, "secure the services of (mercenaries, foreign troops, etc.) by payment of a subsidy," from subsidy + -ize. Also of nations, "to buy neutrality or alliance."

A sense of "secure the services of by bribery" is from 1815. The meaning "support by grants of (often government) money" is from 1828. Related: Subsidized; subsidizing.

also from 1755

Entries linking to subsidize

subsidy(n.)

late 14c., subsidie, "help, aid, assistance, relief," especially "aid in money, pecuniary aid," from Anglo-French subsidie, Old French subside "help, aid, assistance, contribution," from Latin subsidium "a help, aid, assistance, (military) reinforcements, troops in reserve," from subsidere "to settle down, stay, remain" (see subside). The meaning "direct pecuniary aid to private industry" is by 1867.

subsidise(v.)

chiefly British English spelling of subsidize. For suffix, see -ize. Related: Subsidised; subsidising.

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yap
1660s, "bark as a (small) dog," earlier as a noun, "yapping dog" (c. 1600), probably of imitative origin. Compare verb yamph in same sense (1718). Originally in reference to dog sounds; meaning "to talk idle chatter" is first recorded 1886. Related: Yapped; yapping. As a noun, 18
pay
c. 1200, paien, "to appease, pacify, satisfy, be to the liking of," from Old French paier "to pay, pay up" (12c., Modern French payer), from Latin pacare "to please, pacify, satisfy" (in Medieval Latin especially "satisfy a creditor"), literally "make peaceful," from pax (genitiv
support
late 14c., supporten, "to hold up, prop up, bear the weight of;" also "to aid" someone, "speak in support or advocacy of;" also "put up with, bear without opposition, endure without being overcome, tolerate," from Old French suporter "to bear, endure, sustain, support" (14c.) and
argument
early 14c., "statements and reasoning in support of a proposition or causing belief in a doubtful matter," from Old French arguement "reasoning, opinion; accusation, charge" (13c.), from Latin argumentum "a logical argument; evidence, ground, support, proof," from arguere "make c
frog-march
also frog's march, 1871, a term that originated among London police and referred to their method of moving "a drunken or refractory prisoner" by carrying him face-down between four people, each holding a limb; the connection with frog (n.1) perhaps being the notion of going along
tabernacle
mid-13c., "portable sanctuary carried by the Israelites in the wilderness," from Old French tabernacle "the Jewish Tabernacle; tent, canopy; tomb, monument" (12c.), from Latin tabernaculum "tent," especially "a tent of an augur" (for taking observations), diminutive of taberna "h
dismay
c. 1300, dismaien, "become or be alarmed, upset, or frightened; to confound, break down the courage of by danger or difficulty or fear of calamity, fill with despairing apprehension;" perhaps formed in Anglo-French or Middle English from dis-, here probably intensive (see dis-),
passion
c. 1200, "the sufferings of Christ on the Cross; the death of Christ," from Old French passion "Christ's passion, physical suffering" (10c.), from Late Latin passionem (nominative passio) "suffering, enduring," from past-participle stem of Latin pati "to endure, undergo, experien
Munchkin
1900, coined by U.S. author L. Frank Baum (1856-1919) in "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." He never explained how he got the word. The word most like it is perhaps mutchkin, an old Scottish measure of capacity for liquids, which was used by Scott. (It comes from Middle Dutch mutseken
wood
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