Origin and history of digs

1550s, "bundle of straw to lie on," a word of obscure origin (perhaps a merger of several separate words), possibly from or related to Low German or obsolete Flemish pad "sole of the foot," which is perhaps from PIE *pent- "to tread, go" (see find (v.)), but see path (n.). Sense

late 14c., druggen, "work hard, especially at servile, monotonous, or uninteresting work," (and compare druggunge, mid-13c.), probably from a variant of Old English dreogan "to work, suffer, endure," from Proto-Germanic *dreugana (source also of Old Saxon driogan, Old Norse drygj

"place or position occupied by something," especially with reference to environment, also "land on which a building stands, location of a village," late 14c., from Anglo-French site, Old French site "place, site; position," and directly from Latin situs "a place, position, situat

c. 1400, "cave; mine; pit dug in the earth" (late 13c. in place names), from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse grod "pit," or from Middle Dutch groeve "furrow, ditch" (Modern Dutch groef), both from Proto-Germanic *grobo (source also of Old Norse grof "brook, river bed," Ol

"charitable relief of the poor," especially as a religious duty, also "that which is given to relieve the poor or needy," Old English ælmesse "almsgiving, act of relieving the needy," from Proto-Germanic *alemosna (source also of Old Saxon alamosna, Old High German alamuosan, Old

"a severe blow," 1670s, probably from a Scandinavian source (compare Norwegian slamre, Swedish slemma "to slam, bang") of imitative origin. The meaning "a violent closing of a door" is from 1817. The meaning "an insult, put-down" is from 1884. Slam-bang (adv.) "suddenly, violentl

c. 1200, adjective developed from Old English holh (n.) "hollow place, hole," from Proto-Germanic *hul-, from PIE root *kel- (1) "to cover, conceal, save." The figurative sense of "insincere" is attested from 1520s. Related: Hollowly. Spelling development followed that of fallow,

Middle English taken, from late Old English tacan "to grip, seize by force, lay hold of," from a Scandinavian source (such as Old Norse taka "take, grasp, lay hold," past tense tok, past participle tekinn; also compare Swedish ta, past participle tagit). This is reconstructed to

late 14c., "explanation, spoken or written remark," from Old French coment "commentary" or directly from Late Latin commentum "comment, interpretation," in classical Latin "invention, fabrication, fiction," neuter past participle of comminisci "to contrive, devise," from com-, he

c. 1300, "a turn, a shift on duty," from Old French tor, tourn, tourn "a turn, trick, round, circuit, circumference," from torner, tourner "to turn" (see turn (v.)). Sense of "a continued ramble or excursion" is from 1640s. Tour de France as a bicycle race is recorded in English