Samuel Johnson selected definitions Flashcards
(41 cards)
aggregate
the complex or collective result of the conjunction or acervation of many particulars
addle
originally applied to eggs, and signifying such as produce nothing, but grow rotten under the hen; thence transferred to brains that produce nothing.
to ake
it is frequently applied, in an improper sense, to the heart; as, the heart akes; to imply grief or fear. shakespeare has used it, still more licentiously, of the soul.
alamode
according to the fashion: a low word
ambidexter
- a man who has equally the use of both his hands.
2. a man who is equally ready to act on either side, in party disputes. this sense is ludicrous.
beau
a man of dress; a man whose great care is to deck his person
bopeep
to look out, and draw back as if frightened, or with the purpose to fright some other
bucaniers
a cant word for the privateers, or pirates, of america
Cant
- a corrupt dialect used by beggars and vagabonds
- a particular form of speaking peculiar to some certain class or body of men
- a whining pretension to goodness, in formal and affected terms
- barbarous jargon
darkling
[a participle, as it seems, from darkle, which yet i have never found.]
being in the dark; being without light: a word merely poetical
dormitory
a burial place
eame
[eam, saxon; eom, dutch.] Uncle; a word sill used in the wilder parts of staffordshire
encyclopedia, encyclpedy
the circle of sciences; the round of learning
enthusiasm
a vain belief of private revelation; a vain confidence of divine favour or communiation
Excise
a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid
exossated
deprived of bones
eyeservant
a servant that works only while watched
farce
a dramatick representation written without regularity, and stuffed with wild and ludicrous conceits
gambler
[a cant word, I suppose, for game or gamester.]
a knave whose practice it is to invite the unwary to game and cheat them
to garble
to sift; to part; to separate the good from the bad
grubstreet
originally the name of a street in London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems; whence any mean production is called grubstreet.
ink
the black liquor with which men write
lexicographer
a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words
lich
a dead carcase whence lichwake, the time or act of watching by the dead; lichgate, the gate through which the dead are carried to the grave; lichfield, the field of the dead, a city in Staffordshire, so named from martyred christians. salve magna parens. lichwake is still retained in Scotland i the same sense.
