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

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.)

Title Page

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$But yet you draw not iron; for my heart Is true, as steel. Shakspeare. Let him change his lodging from one part of the town to another, which is a great adamant of ac- quaintance. Bacon. Adamante'an, ad-a-man-te'an. erf;'.[from adamant.] Hard, as adamant. He weaponless himself, Made arms ridiculous, useless the forgery Of brazen shield and spear, the hammer'd cuirass, Chalybean temper'd steel, and frock of mail Adamantean proof. Milton. This word occurs perhaps only in this passage. Adama'ntine, ad-a-man'tin.140 adj. [ada- mantinus, Lat.] 1. Made of adamant. Wide is the fronting gate; and, rais'd on high With adamantine columns, threats the sky. Drijd. 2. Having the qualities of adamant; as, hardness, indissolubility. Could Eve's weak hand, extended to the tree, In sunder rend that adamantine chain; Whose golden links, effects and causes be: And which, to God's own chair, doth fix'd remain? Davies. An eternal sterility must have possessed the world, where all things had been fixed and fastened ever- lastingly with the adamantine chains of.specific gravity; if the Almighty had not spoken and said, «Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit, after its kind:' and it was so. Bentley. In adamantine chains shall death be bound, And hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound. Pope. Tho' adamantine bonds the chief restrain, The dire restraint his wisdom will defeat, And soon restore him to his regal seat. Pope. A'dam's-a'pple, ad'amz-ap'pl. n. s. [in anatomy.] A prominent part of the throat. To ADA'PT, a-dapt'. v. a.[ada/ito, Lat.] To fit one thing to another; to suit; to proportion. 'Tis true, but let it not be known, My eyes are somewhat dimmish grown; For nature, always in the right, To your decays adapts my sight. Swift. It is not enough, that nothing offends the ear; but a good poet will adapt the very sounds, as well as words, to the things he treats of. Pope's Letters. Adaptation, ad-ap-ta'shun.827 n. s. [from ada/it.~] The act of fitting one thing to another: the fitness of one thing to another. Some species there be of middle natures; that is, t>f bird and beast, as batts: yet are their parts so set together, that we cannot define the beginning or end of either; there being a commixtion of both, rather than adaptation or cement of the one unto the other. Broivn's Vulgar Erronrs. Adhesion maybe in part ascribed, cither to some elastical motion in the pressed glass, or to the ex- quisite adaptation of the almost numberless (though very small) asperities of the one, and the numerous little cavities of the other: whereby the surfaces do lock in with one anether, or are (as it were) clasped together. BoVle- Ada'ption, a-dap'shun. n. s. [from adafit.~] The act of fitting. It were alone a sufficient work, to shew all the necessities, the wise contrivances, and prudent adap- tions of these admirable machines, for the benefit of the whole. Cheyne- Ada'ptness, a-dapt'ness. n. e. [for ada/it- edness, from adafit.] Some notes are, to display the adaptness of the *ound to the sense. Dr- Mwlm. This word I have found nowhere else. To Adco'ri'orate, ad-kor'p6'rate. v. a [from ad and cor/ius.] To unite one body with another; more usually wrote accorfiorate; which see. To ADD, ad. v. a. [addo, Lat.] 1. To join something to that, which was before. Mark, if his birth makes any difference; If, to his words, it adds one grain of sense. Dryd. They, whose muses have the highest flown, Add not to his immortal memory, But do an act of friendship to their own. Dryd. 2. To perform the mental operation, of adding one number or conception to another. To add to, is proper; but, to add together, seems a solecism. Whatsoever positive idea a man has in his mind, of any quantity; he can repeat it, and add it to the former, as easily, as he can add together the ideas of two days or two years. Locke. A'ddable, ad'da-bl. adj. [from add.] That, to which something may be added: Ad- dible is more proper. It signifies more properly that, which may be added. The first number, in every addition, is called the addable number; the other, the number or numbers added; and the number, invented by the addition, the aggregate or sum. Cocker. To Adde'oimate, ad-des'se-mate.91 v. a. [addecimo, Lat.] To take or ascertain tithes. Diet. To Adde'em, ad-deem', v. a. [from deem.'] To esteem; to account. This word is now out of use. She scorns to be addeem'd so worthless-base, As to be mov'd to such an infamy. Daniel's Civil Wars. A'dder, ad'dtir.98 418 n. s. [JExcep, Mx- top, Nabbpe,as it seemsfrom eittpe, Sax. poison] A serpent, a viper, a poi- sonous reptile; perhaps of any species. In common language, adders and snakes are not the same. Or is the adder better than the eel, Because his painted skin contents the eye? Shaksp. An adder did it; for, with doubler tongue Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung. Shaksp. The adder teaches us %vhere to strike, by her cu- rious and fearful defending of her head. Taylor. A'ddeb's-gra'ss, ad'durz-gr&ss. n. s. The name of a plant, imagined by Skin- ner to be so named, because serpents lurk about it. A'dder's-to'ngue, ad'durz-tung. n. s. [ofihioglossum, Lat.] The name of an herb. It hath no visible flower; but the seeds are produ- ced on a spike, which resembles a serpent's tongue; which seed is contained in many longitudinal cells. Miller. The most common simples are comfrey, bugle, agrimony, sanicle, paul's-betony, fluellin, periwin- kle, adder's-tongue. Wiseman's Surgery. A'dder's-wo'rt, ad'durz-wnrt. n. s. An herb; so named, on account of its virtue, real or supposed, of curing the bite of serpents. A'ddible, ad'de-bl.406 adj. [from add.] Possible to be added. See Addable. The clearest idea it can give of infinity, is the con- fused, incomprehensible remainder of endless, addir hie numbers, which affords no prospect of stop or boundary. Locke. Addibi'litv, ad'de-lnTIe-te.811 n. s. [from addible.] The possibility of being added. This endless addition or addihilihj (if any one like the word better) of numbers, so apparent to the mind, is that, which gives us the clearest and most distinct idea of infinity. Locke. A'ddice, ad'dis.142 n. s. [for which we corruptly speak and write adz, from abepe, Sax. an axe.] The addice hath its blade made thin, and some- what arching. As the axe hath its edge parallel to its handle, so the addice hath its edge athwart the handle, and is ground to a basil on its inside to its outer edge. Moxon's Mechanical Exercises ToADDrCT, ad-dikt'. v. a. [addico, Lat.] 1. To devote, to dedicate, in a good sense; which is rarely used. Ye know the house of Stephanus; that they have addicted themselves, to the ministry of the saints. 1 Cor. x\i. 15. 2. It is commonly taken in a bad sense; as, he addicted himself to -vice. 3. To devote one's self to any person, par- ty, or persuasion. A Latinism. I am neither author or fautor of any sect: I will have no man addict himself to me; but, if I have any thing right, defend it as truth's. Ben Jonson. Addi'ctedness, ad-dik't£d-ness. n. s. [from addicted.] The quality or state of being addicted. Those know, how little I have remitted of my for- mer addictedness to make chymical experiments. Boyle. Addi'ction, iid-dik'shun. n. s. [addictio, Lat.] 1 The act, of devoting or giving up. 2. The state, of being devoted. It is a wonder, how his grace should glean it; Since his addiction was, to courses vain; His companies, unletter'd, rude, and shallow; His hours, fill'd-up with riots, banquets, sports. Shaksp. A'dditament, ad-dit'a-ment. n. s. [addi- tamentum, Lat.] The addition, or thing added Iron will not incorporate with brass, nor other metals, of itself, by simple fire; so as the enquiry must be upon the calcination, and the additament, and the eharge of them. Bacon. In a palace, there is first the case or fabrick, or moles of the structure itself; and, besides that, there are certain additaments, that contribute to its ornar ment and use; as, various furniture, rare fountains and aqueducts, divers things appendicated to it. Hale's Origin of Mankind. Addi'tion, Sd-dish'shun.469 n. s. [from add.] 1. The act, of adding one thing to another; opposed to diminution. The infinite distance, between the Creator and the noblest of all creatures, can never be measured, nor exhausted by endless addition of finite degrees. Bentley. 2. Additament, or the thing added. It will not be modestly done, if any of our own wisdom intrude or interpose, or be willing to make additions, to what Christ and his apostles have de- signed. Hammond. Some such resemblances, methinks, I find Of our last evening's talk, in this thy dream; But, with addition strange! Milton. The abolishing of villanage, together with the custom (permitted among the nobles) of selling their lands, was a mighty addition to the power of the com- mons. Swift- 3. In aritbmetick. Addition is the reduction of two or more number* of like kind together into one sum or total. Cocker's Arithmstick$