"fellow, lad, man," 1550s, rhyming nickname for Rick, short for Richard, one of the commonest English names, it has long been a synonym for "fellow," and so most of the slang senses are probably very old, but naturally hard to find in the surviving records. The meaning "penis" is attested from 1891 in Farmer's slang dictionary (possibly British army slang). Meaning "detective" is recorded from 1908, perhaps as a shortened variant of detective. As a verb, "to bungle; to waste time," also "to cheat, treat badly," by 1969, American English (often with off or around).
The story of Dick Whittington's cat is an old one, told under other names throughout Europe, of a poor boy who sends a cat he had bought for a penny as his stake in a trading voyage; the captain sells it on his behalf for a fortune to a foreign king whose palace is overrun by rats. The hero devotes part of his windfall to charity, which may be why the legend in England has been attached since 16c. to Sir Richard Whittington (d. 1423), three times Lord Mayor of London, who died childless and devoted large sums in his will to churches, almshouses, and St. Bartholomew's Hospital.
1968, acronym from fictitious "Youth International Party," modeled on hippie.
On December 31, 1967, Abbie [Hoffman], Jerry [Rubin], Paul Krassner, Dick Gregory, and friends decided to pronounce themselves the Yippies. (The name came first, then the acronym that would satisfy literal-minded reporters: Youth International Party.) [Todd Gitlin, "The Sixties," 1987, p.235]
1823, "act of flopping; any action that produces the sound 'flop;' the sound itself," from flop (v.). Figurative sense of "a failure; that which is a failure" is by 1893, from the notion of a sudden break-down or collapse. Extended form flopperoo is attested by 1936. The Fosbury flop high-jumping technique (1968) is so called in reference to U.S. athlete Dick Fosbury (b. 1947), who used it to win the 1968 Olympic gold medal.
"shell or piece of ivory fancifully carved," a sailor's word, by 1864 in that spelling, also scrimshon, etc., "A nautical word of unstable orthography" [Century Dictionary]; a back-formation from American English scrimshander ("Moby Dick," 1851), scrimshonting (1825), which is of obscure origin. Scrimshaw is an English surname, attested from mid-12c., from Old French escremisseor "fencing-master." As a verb, by 1883.
mid-13c., spoten, "to mark or stain with spots" (implied in spotted); late 14c. as "to stain, sully, tarnish," from spot (n.).
The meaning "detect, catch with the eye, see and recognize," is by 1718, originally colloquial and applied to a person "marked" as criminal or suspect; the general sense is from 1860. Related: Spotting. Spotted fever is attested from 1640s, for its symptom. Spotted dick "suet pudding with currants and raisins" is attested from 1849.
"dog," 1917, American English, of unknown origin. Earlier it was a dog name, attested as such by 1901 as the name of a dog owned by Dick Craine, "the Klondike pioneer" (the article in the May 12 Buffalo Courier reports: " 'Pooch' is the Alaskan name for whisky, and although the dog is not addicted to the use of this stimulant, he is a genuine Eskimo dog, and, therefore, it is appropriate"). Harvard coach "Pooch" Donovan also was much in the news during the early years of 20c.
city in Alaska, settled 1881 and named for French-Canadian prospector Joe Juneau (1836-1899), who with Dick Harris founded the place shortly after gold was discovered nearby.
"each, considered indefinitely as a unitary part of an aggregate; all, of a collective or aggregate number, taken one by one;" early 13c., contraction of Old English æfre ælc "each of a group," literally "ever each" (Chaucer's everich), from each with ever added before it for emphasis. The word still is felt to want emphasis; as in Modern English every last ..., every single ..., etc.
Also a pronoun to Chaucer, Shakespeare, Spenser, "each of any number of persons or things; every one." Compare everybody, everything, etc. The word everywhen is attested from 1843 but never caught on; neither did everyhow (1837).
Every now and then "repeatedly, at short intervals" is from 1660s. Every once in a while, U.S. colloquial, "now and then, from time to time," is attested from 1814 (Bartlett calls it "A singular though very common expression"). Slang phrase every Tom, Dick, and Harry "every man, everyone" dates from at least 1723, from the common English given names.
That is to ſay, they affirm, that once upon a Time (tho' they never yet could tell when) all Mankind were upon a Level, and that there was no ſuch Thing as Government in the World; and that Tom, Dick, and Harry, ay, every individual Man, Woman, and Child, had a Right to the whole World. [Charles Leslie, "A Short and Eaſie Method with the Deists," London, 1723]
