Eponyms (words named for people)

Word	Named For:
Bloody Mary	A vodka and tomato juice drink; after the nickname of Mary I, Queen of England (1553-58), notorious for persecution of Protestants.
bloomers	Full, loose trousers that are gathered at the knee; after Amelia Bloomer, an American social reformer who advocated (1851) such clothing.
bobbies	In Great Britain, police officers; after Sir Robert Peel, the statesman who organized the London police force, 1850.
bowdlerize	To delete written matter considered indelicate; after Thomas Bowdler, English editor of an expurgated Shakespeare (1825).
boycott	To avoid trade or dealings wit, as a protest; after Charles C. Boycott, an English land agent in County Mayo, Ireland, ostracized in 1880 for refusing to reduce rents.
Braille	A system of writing for the blind; after Louis Braille, the French teacher of the blind who invented it (1853).
chauvinist	Excessively patriotic; after Nicolas Chauvin, a character in a 19th-century play who is devoted to Napoleon.
diesel	A type of internal combustion engine or a vehicle driven by it; after Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913), who built the first successful diesel engine.
guillotine	A machine for beheading; after Joseph Guillotin, a French physician who proposed its use in 1789 as more humane than hanging.
leotard	A close-fitting garment for the torso, worn by dancers, acrobats and the like; after Julius Leotard, a 19th-century French aerial gymnast.
sandwich	2 or more slices of bread with a filling in between; after John Montagu, 4th earl of Sandwich (1718-92), who supposedly ate food in this form so that he would not have to leave the gaming table.
silhouette	An outline image; from Etienne de Silhouette (1709-67), a close-fisted French finance minister.

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Last updated: 2005-01-17