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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    2: Applied to things. An acccjjbry is laid to be that which does accede unto fome principal fa£t or thing in law; and, as fuch, generally fpeaking, follows the reafon and nature of its principal. Ayliffes Par ergon 'Juris Canonici. A'ccidence. n.f [a corruption of accidents, from accidentia, Lat.] The little book containing the ftrft rudiments of grammar, and explaining the properties of the eight parts of fpeech. I do confefs I do want eloquence. And never yet did learn mine accidence. Taylor the Water-poet. A'CCIDENT. n.f. {accidcns, Lat.] 1. The property or quality of any being, which may be feparated from it, at leaft in thought. If file were but the body’s accident, And her foie being did in it fubfift, As white in fnow, flie might herfelf abfent. And in the body’s fubflance not be mifs’d. Sir John Davies. An accidental mode, or an accident, is fuch a mode as is not neceflary to the being of a thing; for the fubjedt may be with¬ out it, and yet remain of the fame nature that it was before; or it is that mode which may be feparated or abolifhed from its fubj e£L Watts's Logick. 2. In grammar, the property of a word. The learning of a language is nothing elfe but the informing of ourfelves, what compofures of letters are, by confent and inftitution, to fignify fuch certain notions of things, with their modalities and accidents. Holder s Elements of Speech. 3. That which happens unforefeen ; cafualty, chance. General lav/s are like general rules in phyfic, according whereunto, as no wife man will defire himfelf to be cured, if there be joined with his difeafe fome fpecial accident, in regard whereof, that whereby others in the fame infirmity, but with¬ out the like accident, recover health, would be, to him, either hurtful, or, at the leaf!, unprofitable. Hooker, b. v. § 9. The flood, and other accidents of time, made it one common field and pafture with the land of Eden. Raleigh's Hifl. World. Thus we rejoic’d, but foonourjoy is turn’d Into perplexity, and new amaze ; For whither is he gone ? What accident Hath rapt him from us ? Paradife Regained, b. i. And trivial accidents fhall be forborn. That others may have time to take their turn. Dryd. Fables. The reformation owed nothing to the good intentions of king Henry. He was only an inftrument of it (as the logicians fpeak) by accident. Swift's Mifcellanies. Accidental, n.f {accidental, Fr. See ACCIDENT.] A pro¬ perty noneflential. Conceive, as much as you can, of the eflentials of any fub- jedt, before you confider its accidentals. Watts's Logick. Ac cide'ntal. adj. [from accident.] 1. Having the quality of an accident, noneftential; ufed with the particle to, before that in which the accident inheres. A diftinction is to be made between what pleafes narurally in itfelf, and what pleafes upon the account of machines, adtors, dances, and circumftances, which are merely accidental to the tragedy. Rymer’s Tragedies of the lafl Age. This is accidental to a {fate of religion, and therefore ought to be reckoned among the ordinary difficulties of it. Tillotfon. 2. Cafual, fortuitous, happening by chance. Thy fin’s not accidental, but a trade. Shakefp. Mcaf for Meaf So fhall you hear Of accidental judgments, cafual {laughters; Of deaths put on by cunning, and forc’d caufe. ShakefHam. Look upon things of the molt accidental and mutable nature; accidental in their production, and mutable in their continu¬ ance ; yet God’s prefcience of them is as certain in him, as the memory of them is, or can be, in us. South's Sermons. 3. In the following paflage it feems to fignify adventitious. Ay, fuch a minilter as wind to fire. That adds an accidental ficrcenefs to Its natural fury. Denham's Sophy. Accidentally, adv. [from accidental.'] After an accidental manner ; noneffentially. Other needful points of public matters, no lefs concerning the good of the commonwealth, though but accidentally depend¬ ing upon the former. Spenfer's State of Ireland. I conclude choler accidentally better, and acrimonious, but not in itfelf. Harvey on Confumptions. 2. Cafually, fortuitoufly. Although virtuous men do fometimes accidentally make their way to preferment, yet the world is fo corrupted, that no man can realonably hope to be rewarded in it, merely upon account of his virtue. Swift's Mifcellanies. Accide'ntalkess. n.f. [from accidental.] The quality of be¬ ing accidental: Difi. Acci'fjent, n. f. [accipiens, Lat.] A receiver, perhaps fome¬ times ufed for recipient. Didi. To Acci'te. v. a. [accito, Lat.] To call, to fummons; a word not in ufe now'. Our coronation done, we will accite No prince, no peer, fhall have juft caufe to fay, Heav’n fhorten liar ry’s happy life one day, Shakef Henry IV. Vpj., L 1. AcclA'im. n.f {acilamo, Ldt. from which probably firft th1? verb acclaim, now loft, and then the noun.] A lhout of praife acclamation. Back from purfuit thy pow’rs, with loud acclaim. Thee only extoll’d. Miltdns Par. Lojl, b. iii. I. 397. The herald ends ; the vaulted firmament With loud accldims, and vaft applaule, is rent. Dryd. Fables. Acclam a'tion. n. f. [acclamatio, Lat.] Shouts of applaule; luch as thole With which a viiftorious army lalutes the general. It hath been the cuftom of chriftian men, in token of the greater reverence, to ftand, to utter certain words of acclama¬ tion, and, at the name of Jefus, to bow. Hooker, b. v. § 29* Gladly then he mix’d Among thofe friendly pow’ps, who him receiv’d With joy, and acclamations loud, that one, That, of fo many myriads fall’n, yet one Return’d, not loft. Milt. Par ad. Lojl, b. vi. /. 23, Such an enchantment is there in words, and fo fine a thing does it feem to fome, to be ruined plaufibly, and to be ufhered to their deftrudtion with panegyric and acclamation. South. Ser. Accli'vity. n.f. [from acclivus, Lat.] The fteepnefs or flope of a line inclining to the horizon, reckoned upwards; as, the alcent of an hill is the acclivity, the defeent is the declivity.Quincy. The men, leaving their wives, and younger children below, do, not without lome difficulty, clamber up the acclivities, drag¬ ging their kine with them, where they feed them, and milk them, and make butter and cheefe, and do all the dairy-work. Ray on the Creation. Accli'vous, adj. {acclivus, Lat.] Rifing with a flope. To Acclo'y. v. a. [See CLOY.] 1. To fill up, in an ill fenfe; to eroud, to fluff full; a word a!- moft obfolete. At the well-head the pureft ftreams arife : But mucky filth his branching arms annoys, And with uncomely weeds the gentle wave accloys. Fairy Ff 2. To fill to fatiety ; in wdiich fenfe cloy is ftill in ufe. They that efcape beft in the temperate zone, would be ac- cloyed with long nights, very tedious, no lefs than forty days. Ray on the Creation. To Acco'il. v. n. [See Coil.] To croud, to keep a coil about, to buftle, to be in a hurry ; a word now out of ufe. About the cauldron many cooks accoil’d. With hooks and ladles, as need did require ;■ The while the viands in the veflel boil’d. They did about their bufinefs fweat, and forely toil’d.FairyLJ. A'ccolent. n.f. [accolens, Lat.] He that inhabits near a place; a borderer. Dili. Acco'mmodaele. adj. {accommodabilis, Lat.] That which may be fitted ; with the particle to. As there is infinite variety in the circumftances of perfons, things, actions, times and places ; fo we muff befurnifhed with fuch general rules as are accornmodalle to all this variety, by d wife judgment and diferetion. Watts's Logick, To ACCOMMODATE, v, a. {accommodo,- Lat.] 1. To fupply with conveniences of any kind.- Thefe three, Three thoufand confident, in adl as many; For three performers are the file, when all ■ The reft do nothing; with this word ftand, ftand. Accommodated by the place, (more charming With their own noblenefs, which could have turn’d A diftaft’ to a lance) gilded pale looks. Shakefp. Cymbeline. 2. With the particle to, to adapt, to fit, to make confiftent with. He had altered many things, not that they were not natural before, but that he might accommodate himfelf to the age in which he lived. Dry den on Dramatic Poetry. ’Tw'as his misfortune to light upon an hypotlicfis, that could not be acco?n?nodatcd to the nature of things, and human affairs ; his principles could not be made to agree with that conftitution and order which God had fettled in the world. Locke. Accommodate, adj. {acccmmodatus, Lat.] Suitable, fit; ufed fometimes with the particle for, but more frequently with to. They are fo acted and directed by nature, as to caff their eggs in fuch places as are moft accommodate for the exclufion of1 their young, and where there is food ready for them fo foon as they be hatched. Ray on the Creation. In thefe cafes, we examine the why, the what, and the how% of things, and propofe means accommodate to the end.L'EJlrange. God did not primarily intend to appoint this wray of worfhip, and to impofe it upon them as that which was moft proper and agreeable to him, but that he condescended to it as moft accom modate to their prefent ftate and inclination. TillotJ', Serrn. v. Accommodate 1.y. adv. [from accommodate.] Suitably, fitly. Accommodation, n.f. [from accommodate.j 1. Provifion of conveniencies. 2. In the plural, conveniencies, things requifite toeafe or refrefh- ment. The king’s commiffioncrs wTere to have fuch accommodations, as the other thought fit to leave to them; wrho had been very civil to the king’s commiffioners. Clarendon, b. viii. 3. Adaptation, fitnefs ; with the particle to. The organization of the body, with accommodation, to its func*« F ' tions.