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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    It imports the mifreprefentation of the qualities of things and anions, to the common apprehenfions of men, abuftng their minds with falfe notions ; and fo, by this artifice, making evil pals lor good, and good for evil, in all the great concerns of South's Sermons. Nor be with all thefe tempting words abus’d3 1 hefe tempting words were all to Sappho us’d. , _ Pope's Sappho to Phaon. 3- Bo treat with rudenefs, to reproach. I am no ftrumpet, but of life as honeft As you that thus abufc me. Shakefpearc s Othello. But he mocked them, and laughed at them, and abufedt\\tm Shamefully, and fpake proudly. 1 Mac. vii. 34. Some praife at morning what they blame at night. But always think the laft opinion right. A mufe by thefe is like a miftrefs us’d, This hour (he’s idoliz’d, the next abus'd. Pope's E{f. on Cut. The next criticifm upon the ftars feems to be introduced for no other reafon, but to mention Mr. Bickerftaff, whom the au¬ thor every-where endeavours to imitate and abufe. Addifon. Abu'se. n. f [from the verb abufe.J 1. The ill ufe of any thing. ^ he calling away things profitable for the fuftenance of man’s life, is an unthankful abufe of the fruits of God’s good provi¬ dence towards mankind. Hooker, b. v. § 9. Little knows Any, but God alone, to value right The good before him, but perverts beft things To worft abufe, or to their meaneft ufe. Parad. Loft, b. iv. z* A corrupt praftice, bad cuftom. 1 he nature of things is fuch, that, if abufes be not reme¬ died, they will certainly encreafe. Swift for Advanccm. of Rclig. 3. Seducement. W as it not enough for him to have deceived me, and through the deceit abufed me, and, alter the abuje, forfaken me, but that he mull now, of all the company, and before all the company, lay want of beauty to my charge. Sidney, b. ii. 4. Unjuft cenfure, rude reproach, contumely. I dark in light, expos’d To daily fraud, contempt, abufe, and wrong. Sampf Agon. Abu'ser. n.f [from the verb abufe.'] 1. He that makes an ill ufe. 2. He that deceives. Next thou, th’ abufer of thy prince’s ear. Denh. Sophy. 3. He that reproaches with rudenefs. 4. A ravilher, a violater. Abu'sive. ad], [from abufe.] 1. Pradlifing abufe. ^ The tongue mov’d gently firft, and fpeech was low. Till wrangling fcience taught itnoife and Ihow, And wicked wit arofe, thy moft abufive foe. Pope's Mifcell. Dame Nature, as the learned Ihow, Provides each animal its foe 3 Hounds hunt the hare, the wily fox Devours your geefe, the wolf your flocks. Thus envy pleads a natural claim, 'Fo perfecute the mufe’s fame, On poets in all times abufive, From Homer down to Pope inclufive. Swift's Mifcellanies. 2. Containing abufe; as, an abufive lampoon. Next, Comedy appear’d with great applaufe. Till her licentious and abufive tongue Waken’d the magiftrates coercive pow’r. ' Rofcommon. 3. Deceitful 3 a fenfe little ufed, yet not improper. It is verified by a number of examples, that whatfoever is gained by an abufive treaty, ought to be reftored in integrum. Bacon's Confiderations on IVar with Spain. Abusively, adv. [from abufe.] 1. Improperly, by a wrong ufe. The oil, abufively called fpirit, of rofes fwims at the top of the water, in the form of a white butter 5 which I remember not to have obferved in any other oil drawn in any limbeck. Boyle's Sceptical Chymiftry. 2. Reproachfully. Abu'siveness. n.f. [from abufe.] T he quality of being abu¬ five 3 foulnefs of language. Pick out of mirth, like ftones out of thy ground, Profanenefs, filthinefs, abufivenefs. Thefe are the feum, with which coarfe wits abound : The fine may fpare thefe well, yet not go lefs. Herbert. ToABU'T. v. n. obfolete. [aboutir, to touch at the end, Fr.] To end at, to border upon 3 to meet, or approach to, with the particle upon. Two mighty monarchies, Whofe high upreared and abutting fronts Perilous the narrow ocean parts afunder. Shakcfp. Henry V. In entering the fame, we will firft pitch at the Loocs, two fe-veral corporations, diftinguifhed by the addition of eaft and weft, abutting upon a navigable creek, and joined by a fair bridge of many arches. Carew's Survey of Cornwall. Acu ttal. n. f [from abut.] The butting or boundaries of any land. A writing declaring on what lands, highways, or other places, it does abut. Dili. Aeu'tMent. n.f. [from abut.] That which abuts, or borders upon another. Ab y'sm. n.f. [abyfme, old Fr. now written contraLiedly abime.] A gulf; the fame with abyfs. My good ftars, that were my former guides. Have empty left their orbs, and fliot their fires Into the abyfni of hell. Shcikcfpeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Aby'ss. n.f. [abyffus, Lat. A/Swrcr^, bottomlefs, Gr.J 1. A depth without bottom. Who (hall tempt with wand’ring feet The dark, unbottom’d, infinite abyfs, And, through the palpable obfeure, find out This uncouth way. Milton s Paradife Lojl, b. ii. /. 405. 2. A great depth, a gulph. The yawning earth difclos’d th’ abyfs of hell: The weeping ftatues did the wars foretell, And holy fweat from brazen idols fell. Dryd. Virg. Georg, i. 3. In a figurative fenfe, that in which any thing is loft. For fepulchres themfclves muft crumbling fall In time’s abyfs, the common grave of all. Dryd. Juv. Sat. x. If, difeovering how far we have clear and diftindt ideas, we confine our thoughts within the contemplation of thofe things, that are within the reach of our underftandings, and launch not out into that abyfs of darknefs, out of a prefumption, that no¬ thing is beyond our comprehenfion. Locke. 4. The body of waters fuppofed at the center of the earth. We are here to confider what is generally underftood by the great abyfs, in the common explication of the deluge 3 and ’tis commonly interpreted either to be the fea, or fubterraneous waters hid in the bowels of the earth. Burnet’s Theor. Earth. 5. In the language of divines, hell. From that infatiable abyfs, Where flames devour, and ferpents hifs. Promote me to thy feat of blifs. Ro/common. Ac, Ak, or Ake. Being initials in the names of places, as Alton, fignify an oak, from the Saxon ac, an oak. Gibfon's Camden ACACIA, n.f [Lat.] 1. A drug brought from Egypt, which, being fuppofed the in- fpiffated juice of a tree, is imitated by the juice of floes, boiled to the fame confiftence. Difiionaire de Comm. Savary. Trevoux. 2. A tree commonly fo called here, though different from that which produces the true acacia 3 and therefore termed pfcudoca- cia, or Virginian acacia. It hath a papilionaceous flower, from whofe flower-cup rifes the pointal, wrapped in a fimbriated membrane, which after¬ wards becomes a pod, opening into two parts, in which are contained feveral kidney-lhaped feeds. Millar. Acade'mial. aelj. [from academy.] Relating to an academy* beionging to an academy. Acade'mian. n.f. [from academy.] A fcholar of an academy or univerfity 3 a member of an univerfity. Wood, in his Athena Uxomenfes, mentions a great feaft made for the academians. Acade MICK. n.f. [from academy.] Aftudentof an univerfity A young academic fhall dwell upon a journal that treats of trade in a didatorial ftyle, and fhall be'lavifh in the praife of t1hcrau.tll?r; at the fame time, perfons well skilled in thofe different fubjecls, hear the tattle with contempt. IVitts's Improvement of the Mind, f>.\ c < Acade MICK. adJ% [,academicus, Lat.] Relating to an univerfity! While thro poetic feenes the genius roves, J Or wanders wild in academic groves. Dunciad, b. iv. 1. 4.8 r A vei%MICAL' [academicus’ Lat-J Belonging to an uni- He drew him firft into the fatal circle, from a kind of re- lolved privatenefs at his houfe at Lampfie in South Wales • where, after the academical life, he had taken fuch a tafte of the rural, as I have heard him fay, that he could well have bent his mind to a retired courfe. W tt Academician, n.f. [academicien, Fr.] The member of an \cadenT 1S generally ufed in fpeaking of the profeffors in the academies of France. pwenors m A<demyMIST* ^ ^from academy-\ The member of an aca- It is obferved by the Parifian academics, that fome amphibious rrl3tkp,y ““ fea-ca,f or *4»4igiS A'CADEMY. n.f. [anciently, andproperly,Crattim- the firft fyllable, now frequency oIA&T fZZt™ from Acadcrnus of Athens, whofe houfe was turned into a fthoo ' from whom the Groves of Academe in Milton ] ’ X' fomefrt11317 ^ °f ^ UnitinS for the Promotion of Our court fhall be a little academy, T,t‘1 .and contemplative in living arts. Shah. Love's Lab. Loft 2. The place where fciences are taught. ^ Amongft the madam,,, which were ccmpofed bv the rare gemus of thofe great men, thefe four are reckoned as’ the pri„ apal ; name ), the Athenian fchool, that of Sicyon ^ “f 3. Ahn°u:^hat of Conmh- ^ +'Ot^lo0riOn’ » the^;veiflties acanthus.