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 (Volume 1).

  • Johnson, Samuel, 1709-1784.
Date:
1819
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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 (Volume 1). Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    1. To clear, to acquit of a crime, in a ju- dicial sense. Your great goodness, out of holy pity, Absolv'd him with an axe. Shaksp. Henry VIII. Our victors, blest in peace, forget their wars, Enjoy past dangers, and absolve the stars. Tickell. As he hopes, and gives out, by the influence of his wealth, to be here absolved; in condemning this man, you have an opportunity of belying that gene- ral scandal, of redeeming the credit lost by former judgments. Swift's Miscellanies. 2. To set free from an engagement or pro- mise. Compell'd by threats to take that bloody oath, And the act ill, I am absolv'd by both. Waller's Maid's Tragedy. This command, which must necessarily compre- hend the persons of our natural fathers, must mean a duty we owe them, distinct from our obedience to the magistrate, and from which the most absolute power of princes cannot absolve us. Locke. 3. To pronounce sin remitted in the ec- clesiastical sense. But all is calm, in this eternal sleep: Here grief forgets to groan, and love to weep; Ev'n superstition loses ev'ry fear; For God, not man, absolves our frailties here. Pope's Eloisa to Abelard. 4. To finish, to complete. This use is not common. What cause Mov'd the Creator, in his holy rest Through all eternity, so late to build In chaos; and the work begun, how soon Absolv'd. Milton's Paradise Lost, b. vii. I. 94. If that, which is so supposed infinitely distant, from what is now current, is distant from us by a finite interval, and not infinitely; then that one cir- culation, which preceded it, must necessarily be like ours; and consequently absolved in the space of twenty-four hours. Hale's Origin of Mankind. A'bsolute, ab'-so-lute.44S adj. [absolutus, Lat.] 1. Complete; applied, as well to persons, as to things. Because the things, that proceed from him, are perfect, without any manner of defect or maim; it cannot be, but that the words of his mouth are ab- solute, and lack nothing which they should have, for performance of that thing whereunto they tend. Hooker, b. ii. § 6. What is his strength by land?— —Great and increasing: but, by sea, He is an absolute master. Shakspeare's Antony and Cleopatra. 2. Unconditional, as an absolute promise. Although it runs in forms absolute, yet it is indeed conditional; as depending upon the qualification of the person, to whom it is pronounced. South's Sermons. 3. Not relative; as, absolute space. I see still the distinctions of sovereign and infe- rior, of absolute and relative worship, will bear any man out in the worship of any creature with respect to God; as well at least, as it doth in the worship of images. Stillingjl. Def. of Disc, on Rom. Idol. An absolute mode is that, which belongs to its subject, without respect to any other beings what- soever; but a relative mode is derived from the re- gard that one being has to others. Watts's Logic. In this sense we speak of the ablative case absolute in grammar. 4. Not limited; as, absolute power. My crown is absolute, and holds of none: I cannot in a base subjection live; Nor suffer you to take, tho' I would give. Dryd. hid. Emp. 5. Positive; certain; without any hesitation. In this sense it rarely occurs. Long is it, since 1 saw him: But time hath nothing bltur'd those lines of favour, Which then he wore; the snatches in his voice, And burst of speaking, were as his: I'm absolute, 'Twas very Cloten. Shakspeare's Cymbeline. A'bsolutely, ab'-so-lute-le. adv. [from absolute.] 1. Completely, without restriction. All the contradictions, which grow in those minds, that neither absolutely climb the rock of vir- tue, nor freely sink into the sea of vanity. Sidney. What merit they can build upon having joined with a protestant army, under a king they acknow- ledge, to defend their own liberties and properties, is, to me, absolutely inconceivable; and, I believe, will equally be so for ever. Swift's Presb. Plea. 2. Without relation; in a state unconnected. Absolutely we cannot discommend, we cannot absolutely approve either willingness to live, or for- wardness to die. Hooker, b. v. These then being the perpetual causes of zeal; the greatest good, or the greatest evil; either a&- solutely so in themselves, or relatively so to us; it is therefore good, to be zealously affected for the one against the other. Sprat's Sermons. No sensible quality (as light, and colour, and heat, and sound) can be subsistent in the bodies themselves, absolutely considered, without a relation to our eyes and ears and other organs of sense. These qualities are only the effects of our sensation; which arise from the different motions, upon our nerves, from objects without, according to their va- rious modifications and positions. Bentley's Sermons. 3. Without limits or dependence. The prince long time had courted fortune's love; But, once possess'd, did absolutely reign: Thus, with their Amazons, the heroes strove, And conquer'd first those beauties they would gain. Dryden's Annus Mirabilis. 4. Without condition. And of that nature (for the most part) are tilings, absolutely unto all men's salvation necessary, either to be held or denied, either to be done or avoided. Hooker's Preface. 5. Peremptorily, positively. Being as I am, why didst not thou Command me absolutely not to go; Going into such danger, as thou saidst? Parad. Lost, b. ix. Absoluteness, ab'-so-lute-ne'ss. n. s. [from absolute.] 1. Completeness. 2. Freedom from dependence, or limits. The absoluteness and illimitedness of his commis- sion was generally much spoken of. Clarendon, b. viii. There is nothing, that can raise a man to that ge- nerous absoluteness of condition, as neither to cringe, to fawn, or to depend meanly; but that, which gives him that happiness within himself, for which men depend upon others. South's Serm. 3. Despotism. He kept a strait hand on his nobility; and chose rather to advance clergymen and lawyers, which weve more obsequious to him, but had less interest in the people: which made for his absoluteness, but not for his safety. Bacon's Hem~y VII. They dress up power with all the splendor and temptation absoluteness can add to it. Locke. Absolution, ab-so-lu'-shun. n. s. [abso- lution Lat.] 1. Acquittal. Absolution, in the civil law, imports a full ac- quittal of a person by some final sentence of law; also, a temporary discharge of his farther atten- dance upon a mesne process, through a failure or defect in pleading: as it does likewise in the canon law; where, and among divines, it likewise signifies a relaxation of him from the obligation of some sentence, pronounced either in a court of law, or else inforo poenitentiaH. Thus there is, in this kind of law, one kind of absolution, termed judicial; and another, styled a declaratory or extra-judicial ab- solution. Aytiffe's Parergon Juris Canonici b2 2. The remission of sins, or penance, de- clared by ecclesiastical authority. The absolution pronounced by a priest, whether papist or protestant, is not a certain infallible ground to give the person, so absolved, confidence towards God. South's Sermons. A'bsolutorv, ab-sol'-u-tur-re. adj. [ab- solutorius, Lat.] That which absolves. Though an absolutory sentence should be pro- nounced in favour of the persons, upon the account of nearness of blood; yet, if adultery shall after- wards be truly proved, he may be again proceeded against as an adulterer. Ayliffe's Parergon. A'bsonant, ab'-so-nant.644 adj. [See Ab- sonous.] Contrary to reason, wide from the purpose. A'bsonous, ab'-so-nus. adj. [absonus, Lat. ill-sounding.] Absurd, contrary to reason. It is not much in use; and it may be doubted, whether it should be followed by to or from. To suppose an uniter of a middle constitution, that should partake of some of the qualities of both, is unwarranted by any of our faculties; yea, most absonous to our reason. Glanville's Scepsis Scientifica, c. 4. To Abso'rb, ab-sorb'. v. a. \_absorbeo, Lat. preter. absorbed; part. pret. ab- sorbed, or absor/it.] 1. To swallow up. Moses imputed the deluge, to the disruption of the abyss; and St. Peter, to the particular- consti- tution of that earth, which made it obnoxious to be absorpt in water. Burnet's Theory. Some tokens shew Of fearless friendship, and their sinking mates Sustain; vain love, tho' laudable, absmpt By a fierce eddy, they together found The vast profundity. Phillips. 2. To suck up. See Absorbent. The evils that come of exercise are, that it doth absorb and attenuate the moisture of the body. Bacon. Supposing the forementioned consumption should prove so durable, as to absorb and extenuate the said sanguine parts to an extreme degree; it is evi- dent, that the fundamental parts must necessarily come into danger. Harvey on Comsumptions. While we perspire, we absorb the outward air. Arbuthnot. Abso'rbent, ab-sd'r-bent. n. s. [absor- bens, Lat.] A medicine that, by the softness or porosity of its parts, either eases the asperities of pungent humours, or dries away superfluous moisture in the body. Quincy. There is a third class of substances, commonly called absorbents; as, the various kinds of shells, coral, chalk, crabs-eyes, &fc. which likewise raise an effervescence with acids, and are therefore called alkalis, though not so properly, for they are not sa^ts- Arbuthnot on Aliments. Abso'rpt, ab-so'rpt. fiart. [from ab- sorb.] Swallowed up; used as well in a figurative sense, of persons, as, in the primitive, of things. What can you expect from a man, who has not talked these five days? who is withdrawing his thoughts, as far as he can, from all the present world, its customs and its manners, to be fully pos- sessed and absmpt in the past. Pope's iMters. Abso'rption, ab-sorp'-shun. n. s. [from absorb.] The act of swallowing up. It was below the dignity of those sacred penmen or the Spirit of God that directed (hem, to shew us the causes of this disruption, or of this absorption: this is left to the enquiries of nun. Burnet's Tluory of the Earth.