JOHNSON'S

DICTIONARY

OF THE

ENGLISH LANGUAGE,

FOR THE

USE OF SCHOOLS AND GENERAL STUDENTS.

A New Edition,

DAPTED TO THE PRESENT STATE OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, AND COMPREHENDING
THE PRINCIPAL TERMS OF MILITARY SCIENCE, GEOLOGY, ETC.

BY P. AUSTIN NUTTALL, LL.D.

AUTHOR OF THE "CLASSICAL AND ARCHEOLOGICAL DICTIONARY;" TRANSLATOR OF
"HORACE AND JUVENAL;'
11 EDITOR OF "WALKER'S PRONOUNCING
DICTIONARY ENLARGED AND AMENDED," ETC.

LONDON:

G. ROUTLEDGE & CO., FARRINGDON STREET,
AND 18, BEEKMAN STREET, NEW YORK.

1855.

[ HARVAR
UNIVERSIT
LIBRARY

ABBREVIATIONS OF THE "PARTS OF SPEECH" OCCURRING IN THE DICTIONARY,

The first eight, which received their names from the ancient Romans, comprehend all the lending" Parts of Speech,"-the rest being mere collateral emanations; and each of the 60,000 words, of which our language is composed, belongs to one or other of them. Thus the NOUN SUBSTANTIVE (derived from the Latin nomen substantivum) is "the name " of any thing that possesses "substantiality" or abstract being.-The NOUN ADJECTIVE (from the Latin adjectum) is a word "added to" the substantive, to signify the addition of some quality, circumstance, or manner of being. The PRONOUN (from the Latin pro nomine) is used in "place of the Noun," to avoid tautological repetition.-The VERB (from the Latin verbum) is" the word" of a sentence, which asserts, commands, or inquires, and completes its grammatical construction, The ADVERB (from the Latin ad verbum) is a word appended" to a verb," to qualify it, or define the manner how.-The PREPOSITION (from the Latin præpositum) is a word "placed before" a noun or pronoun, to show its relation to something previously mentioned.-The CONJUNCTION (from the Latin conjunctio) is used for the "joining together" of words or sentences.-The INTERJECTION (from the Latin interjectum) is an abrupt exclamation "thrown between" the words of a sentence.-But for more ample philological details see the enlarged edition, published uniformly with the present one.

PREFACE.

"It is the fate of those who toil at the lower employments of life, to be rather driven by the fear of evil, than attracted by the prospect of good,-to be exposed to censure, without hope of praise,-to be disgraced by miscarriage, or punished for neglect, where success would have been without applause, and diligence without reward. Among these unhappy mortals is the writer of Dictionaries; whom mankind have considered, not as the pupil but the slave of science, the pioneer of literature, doomed only to remove rubbish, and clear obstructions from the paths through which Learning and Genius press forward to conquest and glory, without bestowing a smile on the humble drudge that facilitates their progress. Every author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach."

Such was the forcible language of the great lexicographer whose name adorns the title-page of this volume; and although, as the "Architectus verborum" of our language, he had innumerable difficulties to encounter, he eventually succeeded in reducing the chaos of words to order, and laying a : foundation on which future labourers in the vineyard of English philology might raise their superstructures. Hence have numerous editions, bearing the honoured name of Johnson, been ushered into the world, some indeed possessing peculiar merits, and others betraying the most striking defects, in which not only their own errors but the faults and omissions of their great prototype are perpetuated;-some presented in a voluminous and expensive form, calculated exclusively for the rich; and others in a cheap and unassuming guise, intended for the rising generation and the multitude at large. Of the latter description is the present little volume, which is issued in a neat and closely printed form, in anticipation that its moderate price and intrinsic worth will ensure it an extended circulation. It is not, however, to be presumed, that because it is a cheap edition less pains have been devoted to its improvement; since the whole has been critically revised, enlarged, and amended, and neither time nor labour has been spared in its general supervision. Obsolete or vulgar words have been expunged, numerous omissions supplied, and many imperfect or antiquated definitions corrected. As Johnson candidly admitted, he "had left that inaccurate which never was made exact, and that imperfect which never was completed." Hence, of the innumerable words which modern literature, science, or fashion has gradually brought into existence, some thousands have been here incorporated. Many of them, however, are of recent adoption: as Electrotype, Photography, Phrenology, Socialism, Tractarianism, Statistics, Macadamization, Mesmerism, Papier-maché, Gutta-percha, Zincography, &c. There are also numerous terms connected with the military art, which were comparatively unknown in Johnson's time, but which have now, in a great measure, come into conversational use; as, for instance, the words Approaches, Parallels, Lines, Circum

vallation, Galleries, Fascines, Gabions, Embrasures, Enceinte, Fraises, Epaulement, Escarp, Counterscarp, Curtain, Glacis, Ravelin, Traverses, Genouillere, Escalade, Gazons, &c. &c. These the Editor has taken especial care to incorporate and briefly explain. There are also many geological and other scientific terms which the important discoveries of modern times have brought into fashion, and could not with propriety be omitted; as Augite, Boulders, Felspar, Gneiss, Mica, Quartz, Schist, Talc, Schale, Tertiary, &c. Thus it is, and ever will be, that "those who have much leisure to think (as Johnson says) will always be enlarging the stock of ideas; and every increase of knowledge, whether real or fancied, will produce new words or combinations of words."

It is not, however, merely the number of words contained in a dictionary that stamps its value. In the progress of literature not only are new words introduced, but a modification, and sometimes a total change, takes place in the signification of many already in use. While some grow obsolete, others, which once formed part of the phraseology of polished society, are destined, at a subsequent period, to be known only as cant terms or vulgar jargon; such as Awhape, Mulligrubs, &c., which many lexicographers still mechanically retain, but which the Editor has here thought proper to reject.

With regard to PRONUNCIATION it does not appear that Johnson professed to afford much instruction. Notwithstanding the importance which he attached to accentuation, he seems to have been satisfied with the simple introduction of the acute () over the accented syllable of a word; and he did not even avail himself of the advantage which the proper placing of the accent over the vowel or the consonant of a syllable might have afforded him. He uniformly places it over the vowel; so that he makes no distinction in accenting the vowels a and i in such words as ma'gi and magʻic, divi'ne and divin'ity; though the pronunciation is often materially affected by the consonant that follows the vowel. In the present edition, however, the pronunciation of the distinctive vowel, diphthong, or syllable is indicated by the position of the accent; as in ma'gi and magic, divi'ne and divin'ity, be'ardless and bearer, floral and florid, forfeit and fo'rgery, &c.; and sometimes the distinctive sound of the consonant (whether soft, or hard like k) may be denoted by the mere placing of the accent; as in archery and architect, bra'celet and brac'hial, &c.

The acknowledged utility of a Dictionary is the facility which it affords for immediate and ready reference; but in most of the editions of Johnson the antiquated system of alphabetically commingling the letters I-J and U-V, whether initials or medials, has been pertinaciously retained, although they are no longer considered as synonymous. The Editor, however, considering a complete remodification absolutely necessary, has arranged them separately and distinctly, whether they occur at the beginning or in the middle of words, -the I's uniformly preceding the J's, and the U's the V's.

LONDON, June 1855.

P. A. N.

JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY,

ENLARGED AND AMENDED.

A.