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"Wart," on the other hand, has meant "a small excrescence on the skin" since it appeared in [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._600-1100.09THE_OLD_ENGLISH.2C_OR_ANGLO-SAXON_PERIOD Old English] from a Germanic [[root]]. Several centuries of [[development]] gave "wart" a variety of figurative [[meanings]], including that of "a [[defect]] or unattractive feature" (as in the phrase "warts and all") and, perhaps [[inevitably]], "an annoying, obnoxious or insignificant person" in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_century 19th century].
"Wart," on the other hand, has meant "a small excrescence on the skin" since it appeared in [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._600-1100.09THE_OLD_ENGLISH.2C_OR_ANGLO-SAXON_PERIOD Old English] from a Germanic [[root]]. Several centuries of [[development]] gave "wart" a variety of figurative [[meanings]], including that of "a [[defect]] or unattractive feature" (as in the phrase "warts and all") and, perhaps [[inevitably]], "an annoying, obnoxious or insignificant person" in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_century 19th century].
Thus the [[stage]] is set for decoding "worry wart" as "a person who annoys others by worrying loudly and constantly over nearly [[everything]]." The earliest use of the phrase in print found so far is from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956 1956], although an earlier form, "worryguts," had been popular in Britain since the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1930's 1930s]. But "worry wart" became a household [[standard]] when it was used as the name of a recurrent character in "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_Our_Way Out Our Way]," a popular newspaper comic strip drawn by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._Williams_(cartoonist) James R. Williams] from 1922 to 1957. Oddly enough, Williams' "Worry Wart" was a young boy who caused [[worry]] in others, rather than being [[plagues]] by worry himself.[http://www.word-detective.com/0807B.html]
Thus the [[stage]] is set for decoding "worry wart" as "a person who annoys others by worrying loudly and constantly over nearly [[everything]]." The earliest use of the phrase in print found so far is from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956 1956], although an earlier form, "worryguts," had been popular in Britain since the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1930's 1930s]. But "worry wart" became a household [[standard]] when it was used as the name of a recurrent character in "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_Our_Way Out Our Way]," a popular newspaper comic strip drawn by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._Williams_(cartoonist) James R. Williams] from 1922 to 1957. Oddly enough, Williams' "Worry Wart" was a young boy who caused [[worry]] in others, rather than being [[plague]]d by worry himself.[http://www.word-detective.com/0807B.html]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936 1936]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936 1936]
==Definition==
==Definition==
*1: a [[person]] who is inclined to [[worry]] unduly
*1: a [[person]] who is inclined to [[worry]] unduly