Volume 1

A dictionary of the English language: in which the words are deduced from their originals, and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers. To which are prefixed, a history of the language, and an English grammar / by Samuel Johnson.

  • Samuel Johnson
Date:
1755
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of the English language: in which the words are deduced from their originals, and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers. To which are prefixed, a history of the language, and an English grammar / by Samuel Johnson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    A B S ABU an idea from other parts of it; by which means, fuch ab- ftraifted ideas are formed, as neither rep refen t any thing cor¬ poreal or fpiritual ; that is, any thing peculiar or proper to mind or body. IVatts’s Logic!. 2. The ftate of being abftra&ed. 3. Abfence of mind, inattention. 4. Dilregard of worldly objefts. Abstractive. adi. [from akflraft.] Having the power or quality of abftraifting. Abstractly, adv. [from abjlraft.] In an abftra<ft manner, abfolutely, without reference to any thing elfe. . Matter abjlrattly and abfolutely confidered, cannot have born an infinite duration now paft and expired. Bentley s Sermons. Abstracted, part. adj. [abflridlus, Lat.J Unbound. Didl. To Abstri'nge. v. a. [abjlringo, Lat.] To unbind. Di£l. To ABSTRU'DE. v. a. [abjirudo, Lat.] To thruft off, or puli away. Dili. Abstru'se. adj. [abjlrufus, Lat. thruft out of fight.] 1. Hidden. Th’ eternal eye, whofe fight difeerns Abfrufcft thoughts, from forth his holy mount. And from within the golden lamps that burn Nightly before him, law, without their light. Rebellion rifing. Milton s Paradife Lojl, b.v. 1. 712. 2. Difficult, remote from conception or apprehenfion. It isop- pofed to obvious and cafy. So fpake our Sire, and, by his count’nance, feem’d • Ent’ring on ftudious thoughts abjlrufe. Parad. Lojl, b. viii. The motions and figures within the mouth are abjlrufe, and not eafy to be diftinguifhed, efpecially thofe of the tongue, which is moved through the help of many mufcles, fo eafily, and habitually, and varioufly, that we are fcarce able to give a judgment of motions and figures thereby framed. Holder’s Elements of Speech. No man could give a rule of the greateft beauties, and the knowledge of them was fo abjlrufe, that there was no man¬ ner of fpeaking which could exprefs them. Dryd. Dufrefnoy. Abstru'sely. adv. In an abftrufe manner; obfeurely, not plainly, or obvioufiy. Abstru'seness. n.f [from abjlrufe.'] The quality of being abftrufe; difficulty, obfeurity. It is not oftentimes fo much what the feripture fays, as what fome men perfuade others it fays, that makes it feem obfeure, and that as to fome other paflages that are fo indeed, fince it is the abjlrufenefs of what is taught in them, that makes them al- moft inevitably fo; it is little iefs faucy, upon fuch a fcore, to find fault with the ftyle of the feripture, than to do fo with the author for making us but men. Boyle on the Scripture. Abstrusity, n.f. [fromabjlrufe.] 1. Abftrufenefs. 2. That which is abftrufe. A word feldom ufed. Authors are alfo fufpicious, nor greedily to be fwallowed, who pretend to write of fecrets, to deliver antipathies, fym- pathies, and the occult abjlrufities of things. Brown’s Vid. Err. To Absu'me. v. a. [abfnno, Lat.] To bring to an end by a gradual wafte; to eat up. That which had been burning an infinite time could never be burnt, no not fo much as any part of it; for if it had burned part after part, the whole mull needs be abfumed in a portion of time. Hales Origin of Mankind. ABSU'RD. adj. \abfurdus, Lat.] 1. Unreafonable, without judgment, as ufed of men. Seeming wife men may make fhift to get opinion ; but let no man choofe them for employment; for certainly you had better take for bufinefs a man fomewhat abfurd, than over formal. Bacon’s EJfay, 27. 2. Inconfiftent, contrary to reafon, ufed of fentiments or prac¬ tices. The thing itfelf appeared defireable to him, and accordingly be could not but like and defire it; but then, it was after a very irrational abfurd way, and contrary to all the methods and principles of a rational agent; which never wills a thing really and properly, but it applies to the means, by which it is to be. acquired. South s Sermons. A man, who cannot write with wit on a proper fubjedf, is dull and ftupid ; but one, who (hews it in an improper place, is as impertinent and abfurd. A deli Jon. Spectator, N° 291. But grant that thofe can conquer, thefe can cheat, *Tis phrafe abfurd to call a villain great: Who wickedly is wife, or madly brave. Is but the more a fool, the more a knave. Pope’s EJfay on Man. Absu'rdity. n.f. [fromabfurd.] 1. The quality of being abfurd ; want of judgment applied to men ; want of propriety applied to things. How clear foever this idea of the infinity of number be, there is nothing more,evident than the abfurdity of the actual idea of an infinite number. Locke. 2. That which is abfurd; as, his travels were full of abfurdities. In which fenfe it has a plural. That fatisfadiion we receive from the opinion of fome pre¬ eminence in ourfelves, when we lee the abfurdities of another, or when we refledt on any paft abfurdities of our own. Vol. I. Addifon. Spectator, NJ 249. Aesu'rdly. adv. [from abfurd.] After an abfurd manner; im¬ properly. unreafonably. But man we find the only creature. Who, led by folly, combats nature; Who, when file loudly cries, forbear, With obftinacy fixes there; And where his genius leaft inclines, Abfurdly bends his whole defigns. Swift’s Mifcellanles. We may proceed yet further with the athci'ft, and convince him, that not only his principle is abfurd, but his confequences alfo as abfurdly deduced from ft. Bentley’s Sermons. Abs^rdness. n. f. [from abfurd.] The quality of being abfurd ; injudicioufnefs, impropriety. See Absurdity ; which is more frequently ufed. Abundance, n.f [abondance,Yx.] 1. Plenty ; a fenfe chiefly poetical. At the whifper of thy word. Crown’d abundance fpreads my board. Crajhaw \ The doubled charge his fubjedts love fupplies, Who, in that bounty, to themfelves are kind ; So glad Egyptians fee their Nilus rife. And, in his plenty, their abundance find. Dryd. Ann. Mu'. 2. Great numbers. The river Inn, during its courfe through the Tyrol, is ge¬ nerally Ihut up between a double range of mountains, that are moft of them covered with woods of fir-trees. Abundance of peafants are employed in hewing down of the largeft of thefe trees, that, after they are barked and cut into fhape, are tum¬ bled down. Addijon on Italy. 3. A great quantity. Their chief enterprize was the recovery of the Holy land ; in which worthy, but extremely difficult, adlion, it is lament¬ able to remember what abundance of noble blood hath been fhed with very fmall benefit unto the Chriftian ftate. Sir Walter Raleigh’s EJfays. 4. Exuberance, more than enough. For well I wot, moft mighty fovereign, That all this famous antique hiftory. Of fome, th’ abundance of an idle brain Will judged be, and painted forgery. Spenf. Fairy Jjh b. ii, Abu'ndant. adj. [abundans, Lat.] 1. Plentiful. Good the more Communicated, more abundant grows ; The author not impair’d, but honour’d more.Par.LoJl, b. w 2. Exuberant. If the veflels are in a ftate of too great rigidity, fo as not to yield, a ftrong projedtile motion occafions their rupture, and haemorrhages ; efpecially in the lungs, where the blood is abundant. Arbuthnot on Aliments. 3. Fully ftored. It is followed fometimes by in, commonly by with. The world began but fome ages before thefe were found out, and was abundant with all things at firft; and men not very numerous; and therefore were not put fo much to the ufe of their wits, to find out ways for living commodioufly. Burnet’s Theory of the Earth. 4. It is applied generally to things, fometimes to perfons. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long- fuffering and abundant in goodnefs and truth. Exod. xxxiv. 6. Abundantly, adv. [from abundant.] I. In plenty. Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life. Genefts, i. 20. God on thee Abundantly his gifts hath alfo pour’d ; Inward and outward both, his image fair. Par. Lojl, Lviii. •2. Amply, liberally, more than fufficiently. What the example of our equals wants of authority, is abun¬ dantly fupplied in the imaginations of friendfhip, and the re¬ peated influences of a conftant converfation. Rogers’s Serm. Heroic poetry has ever been efteemed the greateft work of human nature. In that rank has Ariftotle placed it; and Lon¬ ginus is fo full of the like expreffions, that he abundantly con¬ firms the other’s teftimony. Dryden’s State of Innocence, Pref. To ABU'SE. v. a. [abutor, Lat.] In abufe the verb, f has the found of z; in the noun, the common found. 1. To make an ill ufe of. They that ufe this world, as not abufmg it; for thefalhion of this world pafleth away. 1 Cor. vii. 31. He has fixed and determined the time for our repentance, beyond which he will no longer await the perverfenefs of men, no longer fuffer his compaffion to be abufed. Rogers’s Sermons. 2. To deceive, to impofe upon. The world hath been much abufed by the opinion of mak¬ ing gold : the work itfelf I judge to be poffible ; but the means hitherto propounded, are, in the practice, full of error. Bacon's Natural Hijlory, N° 126. He perhaps, Out of my weaknefs and my melancholy, As he is very potent with fuch fpirits, Abufes me to damn me. Shakefpeare’s Hamlet. E It