ted English · revision 6235

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1300|origins=non teðja}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tɛd/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English tedden, probably [[bor|non|teðja|t=to spread manure]] (past tense tadda), related to [[m|non|tað|t=dung]],^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998)^(SOED 2002) or from an unrecorded Old English *teddan;^(Etymonline) it is related to [[goh|zetten|t=to spread]] and German [[m|de|verzetteln|t=to scatter]].^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To spread out newly mown grass for drying: about 1300 in Etymonline,^(Etymonline) the 15th century in the OED and Hoad.^(OED 1989)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ To scatter or dissipate, figuratively, is from about 1560,^(OED 1989) and in dialect to arrange or tidy the hair or a room from 1796.^(OED 1989) The AHD notes that an American inventor of the mid-19th century called his haymaking machine a [[tedder]], and that tedder then became a New England verb with the same meaning as ted.^(AHD) The word was in general dialect use in Scotland, Ireland and England.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1300 – to spread hay.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1560 – to scatter.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1796 – to tidy.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To spread out newly cut grass or [[hay]] to dry.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[tedder]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[hay]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Ted'', with a capital, is also short for [[Teddy boy]] (1956), and was a Second World War name for a German soldier.^(OED 1989)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}