pit-a-pat (adv.)

also pitter-pat, 1520s; imitative. As a noun from 1580s.

also from 1520s

Entries linking to pit-a-pat

early 15c., "rapid repetition of words," from a rhyming reduplication of patter (v.2). As "alternating light beating sounds," 1670s, from patter (v.1). As a verb in this sense by 1708. Compare pit-a-pat.

Trends of pit-a-pat

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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groove

c. 1400, "cave; mine; pit dug in the earth" (late 13c. in place names), from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse grod...Old Norse grof "brook, river bed," Old High German gruoba "ditch," German Grube "a pit, hole, ditch, grave," Gothic groba...Meaning "spiral cut in a phonograph record" is from 1902....Figurative sense of "routine" is from 1842, often deprecatory at first, "a rut."...

lake

"body of water surrounded by land and filling a depression or basin," early 12c., from Old French lack (12c., Modern French...lac) and directly from Latin lacus "pond, pool, lake," also "basin, tank, reservoir" (related to lacuna "hole, pit"), from...There was a Germanic form of the PIE root which yielded Old Norse lögr "sea flood, water," Old English lacu "stream, pool...; pit of hell," and this might have influenced the form of the borrowed word....

coke

"fuel residue, solid product of the carbonization of coal,"an important substance in metallurgy, 1660s, a northern England..." (early 15c.), a word of uncertain origin....It seems to have cognates in Old Frisian and Middle Dutch kolk "pothole," Old English -colc, in compounds, "pit, hollow,"...Perhaps the notion is the "core" of the coal, or "what is left in the pit after a fire."...

frisk

mid-15c.), from Old French frisque "lively, brisk," also "fresh, new; merry, animated" (13c.), which is ultimately from a...Sense of "pat down in a search" first recorded 1781. Related: Frisked; frisking....As a noun, "a frolic, a gambol," from 1520s....

tick

early 13c., "to touch or pat," perhaps from an Old English verb corresponding to tick (n.2), and perhaps ultimately echoic...Compare Old High German zeckon "to pluck," Dutch tikken "to pat," Norwegian tikke "touch lightly."...a message (1873), as what a clock does in marking the passage of time (1777), to enumerate on one's fingers (1899), and...in accountancy, etc., "make a mark beside an item on a sheet with a pencil, etc.," often indicating a sale (by 1881, from...

food

Proto-Germanic *fodon (source also of Swedish föda, Danish föde, Gothic fodeins), from Germanic *fod- "food," from PIE *pat...

pad

"to walk, travel on foot, tramp slowly or wearily along," 1550s, probably from Middle Dutch paden "walk along a path, make...a path," from pad, pat "path" (compare path)....Originally a cant word among criminals and vagabonds, perhaps of imitative origin (sound of feet trudging on a dirt road)...formerly had the noun pad meaning "path, foot path" (1560s), which might be from this verb, or from the Dutch noun, or a...

period

early 15c., periode, "a course or extent of time; a cycle of recurrence of a disease," from Old French periode (14c.) and directly from Medieval Latin periodus "recurring portion, cycle," from Latin periodus "a complete sentence," also "cycle of the Greek games," from Greek perio

heel

"back of the foot," Old English hela, from Proto-Germanic *hanhilaz- (source also of Old Norse hæll, Old Frisian hel, Dutch hiel), from a diminutive of PIE *kenk- (3) "heel, bend of the knee" (source also of Old English hoh "hock"). Meaning "back of a shoe or boot" is c. 1400. Do

matrix

late 14c., matris, matrice, "uterus, womb," from Old French matrice "womb, uterus" and directly from Latin mātrix (genitive mātricis) "pregnant animal," in Late Latin "womb," also "source, origin," from māter (genitive mātris) "mother" (see mother (n.1)). The many figurative and

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updated on October 10, 2017

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Dictionary entries near pit-a-pat

pistolero

pistolier

piston

pit

pita

pit-a-pat

Pitcairn

pitch

pitch-and-toss

pitchblende

pitcher