1
 
 C. K. OGDEli 
 
 VOCABULARY, 
 
 OR 
 
 COLLECTION OF WORDS AND PHRASES 
 
 WHICH HAVE BEEN fttlFPOSED TO BE PECULIAR 
 TO THE 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 TO WHICH IS PKEFIXED 
 
 AN ESSAY 
 
 ON THE 
 
 TRESENT STATE OF THE ENGLISH lANGUAGE 
 
 IN THE 
 
 UMTED STATES. 
 
 ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE MEMOIRS OF THE AMERICAN ACAD- 
 EMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES J AND NOW REPUBLISHED WITH 
 CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS. 
 
 BY JOHN PICKERING. 
 
 ATatJE, Vt lATIXE LOaUAMITR, VIDENDtJM EST, UT VERBA EFFERAMUS EA, <3l,V3i 
 NEMO JURE aEPREUE>DAT. CIC. DE ORAT. 
 
 VWVWVxr^ 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY CUMMINGS AND HILLIARD, KG. 1 CORNHILL. 
 
 OAXBRII)G£....UILLIARl> AM) METCAIF.
 
 DISTRICT OP :SfASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 District Cleric's Office. 
 
 Be it remembered, that on the twenty ninlli day of May, A D 1816, and 
 in the forticlli year of the independence of the United States of America, John 
 Pickering, Esq. of the said district, has deposited in this office the title of a 
 book, the right v.liereof he claims as author, in the words following', viz : 
 
 " A Vocabulary, or colled ion of words and phrases which have been sup- 
 posed to be peculiar to the United States of America To whicii is prefixed 
 an Essay on the present state of the English language in the United States. 
 Originally publisiied in tlie Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and 
 Sciences ; and now republished with coriections and additions. I5y John 
 Pickering. Atque, ut Latine loquaniur, videndum est, ut verba efferamus ea, 
 qu» nemo jure repreiiendat. Cic. de Orat." 
 
 In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, enljtlcd"An 
 act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of ma])s, charts, 
 and books to the autliors and proprietors of such copies, during tlie time.'* 
 tlierein mentioned ;" and also to an act, entitled " An act supplementary to an 
 act, entitled an act for ihe encouragement of learning, by seciu'ing the copies 
 of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proj)rietors of such copies, du- 
 ring the times tlieiein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts 
 (■•f designings, cnjfraviujj, and etching historical and other prints." 
 
 1 -nr T^ I inc. ^ Clerk of the district 
 .1. W. DA\ Is, < r -ir 1 
 
 L "f -fJiisaiic/iiicetli.
 
 r t 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The following work contains the substance of a Paper 
 lately communicated by me to the American Jicademy of JirtS 
 and Sciences, and published in the last volume of their Memoirs. 
 Immediately after the publication, it was suggested to me by some 
 of my friends, that, as tlie circulation of the Memoirs, from the 
 nature of the subjects usually discussed in them, was confined 
 to a small class of readers, the object of the Paper would be 
 more fully answered, if it should be published by itself. Permis- 
 sion was accordingly obtained for that purpose ; and the work is 
 now submitted to the candour of my countrymen in its present 
 form. 
 
 The Essay, which precedes the Vocabulary, remains in its 
 original form, of a communication addressed to the Jicademy ; but 
 with some additions and corrections. Tlie Vocabulary has been 
 much enlarged and corrected ; and the whole may, in a great 
 measure, be considered as a new work. 
 
 I first began the practice of occasionally noting Americanisms 
 and expressions of doubtful authority for my own use, during my 
 residence in London ; which was from the close of the year 1799 
 to the autumn of 1801. But I liad never attempted to make a
 
 IV 
 
 Collcriion of our prculiaiilios till a fow years ago ; when, in cou- 
 sot|'UMit f of a (U-cUIo«l opinion of some friends, that a uork ol the 
 kinl wouM ho ^(Mirrallv acccptahle, I hcgan to umIucc into order 
 the few materials I possessed, aiul to make such additions to them 
 as my leisure v. ould permit. The present volume is the result of 
 tl'.at labour ; for labour it may truly be called. To those persons 
 indord, who have never undertaken to make such a collection, and 
 to Investigate, compare and cite the numerous authorities, which 
 a w(tvk of t'lis nature demands, tlie present volume will, perhaps, 
 appeal- not U) have been a very arduous task. But when the 
 reader shall have examined it, and have observed the various ci- 
 tations, and the continual references to dictionaries and glossa- 
 ries, he will be able to furm some judgment of the time and pains 
 it must have cost me. These circumstances, however, are men- 
 tioned merely with a view to have just allowances made for the 
 deficiencies, which mav be obser\-ed in the work. It has, I am 
 sensible, many imperfections ; of which my own Americanisms 
 may not be the least ; and I again ask the reader, as I have done 
 in tlie Essay^ to consider this merely as the beginning of a work, 
 which can be completed only by long and accurate observation. 
 
 In order, however, to render this performance as worthy of 
 attention as possible, I submitted it originally to several English 
 and American friends ; and I cannot dismiss it without acknowl- 
 edging my obligations to them. Two of those friends, in particu- 
 lar, English gentlemen of education (whose remarks are distinguish- 
 ed by the signatures mentioned in the course of the work) have 
 strong claims upon me. One of tbcni, indeed (1 say it with pain) is 
 now beyond the reach of public applause, and of this expression of 
 ■my feelings. That the reader, however, may justly appreciate thehr
 
 authority, I ought to state, what they have often observed to me, 
 that although they were educated in England^ yet having resided 
 in ximerica a long time, (about twenty years) their ear had lost 
 much of that sensibility to deviations from the pure English idi- 
 om, which once would have enabled them to pronounce with de- 
 cision in cases where they now felt doubts. 
 
 I shall detain the reader with only a few remarks more in re- 
 spect to the execution of the work ; and these arise, in part, from 
 the circumstances under which the present, like almost every 
 American work, has been written. 
 
 It should be recollected, that in this country we can hardly be 
 said to have any authors by profession. The works we have pro- 
 duced, have, for the most part, been written by men, who were 
 obliged to depend upon other employments for their support ; and 
 who could devote to literary pursuits those few moments only, 
 which their thirst for learning stimulated them to snatch from theii- 
 daily avocations. Our writings, therefore, though not deficient 
 in ability, yet too frequently want that finishing, as artists term 
 it, which is to be acquired only by long practice in writing, as 
 in other arts; and this is a defect, which, with scholars ac- 
 customed to highly-finished productions, can only be compensat- 
 ed by an extraordinary degree of merit in the substance of a 
 work. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be thought by some persons, tliat I have ad- 
 mitted words into the Vocabulary, which do not properly belong- 
 to it; particularly, on account of their being, either Ko^^;ecM/irtr 
 to this country, or mere vulgarisms. It should, Iiowever, be re-- 
 collected, that I was not making a dictionary of our language, 
 but a glossary of provincialisms ; that many words would be ad
 
 mittcd into such a voik (as thov are in I'act by the English glos- 
 »ari>ts) which would ho rojecfrd Irom a dictionary; and, that it 
 stMMi\(Ml (i) he nsofid (as 1 have ohsorvod in the Essay*) to insert 
 all words, the le^itimactj of which had been questioned ; in order^, 
 that thi'ir claim to a place in the language might be discussed and 
 sotth'd. AVith res])ect to some of these words too, I may add; 
 that they had been already brought into notice by our lexicogra- 
 phers and other w riters ; and, therefore, seemed to demand at- 
 tention in this work. I have, however, endeavoured to state 
 such particulars under most of the words, as, I trust, will enable 
 tlie reader to form a just estimate of them; and, if I have beea 
 successful in this respect, even though some words may be found 
 in the collection which ought not to be there, yet the object of 
 the work w ill be accomplished. 
 
 In this country, as is tlie case in England, we have thirsty re- 
 formers and presumptuous sciolists, who would unsettle the whole 
 of our admirable language for the purpose of making it conform to 
 their whimsical notions of propriety. Some of our corruptions 
 have originated with sucli people. But one of the greatest pests 
 of speech in this country, as in England also, (to use tlie words 
 of Dr. Johnson) is, the " frequency of translation." Several of 
 the corruptions, which English critics have censured in our writ- 
 ings, arc mere Gallicisms ; and unless the licence of translators 
 is checked (to adopt the language of Johnson again) their idleness 
 and ignorance will " reduce us to babble a dialect of France." 
 Every writer should remember (as an English Review justly ob- 
 serves) that " it is his business to use his language as he finds it ; 
 and a great part of his skill lies in giving effect to that, which in 
 
 • Sec the remarks, at p. 19-
 
 other hands might appeai- to disadvantage. If one expression is 
 objectionable, it is liis task to find another, that is not so, to fill 
 his own idea, yet not depart from the language he employs."* 
 
 Salem ( Massachusetts J, May S.9, 1816. 
 * Brit, Crit. vol. xxli. p. 77-
 
 ESSAY. 
 
 The preservation of the English language in its purity 
 throughout the United States is an object deserving the at- 
 tention of every American, who is a friend to the literature 
 and science of his country. It is in a particular manner 
 entitled to the consideration of the Academy ; for, though 
 subjects, which are usually ranked imder the head of PIuj- 
 steal Science^ were doubtless chiefly in view with the foun- 
 ders of the Academy, yet, our language also, which is to 
 be the instrument of communicating to the public the spec- 
 ulations and discoveries of our countrymen, seems necessa- 
 rily "to fall within the design oftlie institution;" because, 
 unless that language is well settled, and can be read with 
 ease by all to whom it is addressed, our authors will write 
 and publish, certainly under many disadvantages, though 
 perhaps not altogether in vain. 
 
 It is true, indeed, that our countrymen may speak and 
 write in a dialect of Englisli, which will be understood in 
 the United States; but if they are ambitious of having 
 their works read by Englishmen as well as by Americans, 
 they mnst wTite in a language that Englishmen can read 
 with pleasure. And if for some time to come it should 
 not be the lot of many Ameiicans to publish works, which 
 will be read out of their own countiy, yet all, who have 
 the least tincture of learning, will continue to feel an ardent 
 desire to acquaint themselves with Ihiglish authors. Let 
 us then for a moment imagine the time to have arrived,
 
 M) 
 
 wlicii .liiifricdiis shall iu» loii,;;i'f Ih' ablf to iiiulerstimd the 
 works of Milloii, Pojif, Swill. Addison, and otlier Eng- 
 lish authors, justly stvlcd classic, uitiiout the aid of a 
 tidiisldHon into a Iani;iia.e;c, that is to bo called at some 
 t'litiin' dav the Jlmciican ton.n^uo ! By sucli a change, it is 
 tiiie. our loss A\()uld not be so great in works purely scien- 
 tific, as in those which are usually termed works of taste; 
 for the obvious reason, that tlie design of the former is 
 mereh to connnunicate inrorniation, %\ithout regard to el- 
 egance of language or the force and beauty of the sentiments. 
 But the excellencies of works of taste cannot be felt even in 
 the best translations; — a truth, which, without resorting to 
 the exami)le of the mat( hless ancients, will be acknowl- 
 edged by cAciy man, who is acquainted with the admirable 
 works extant in various living languages. Nor is this the 
 only view in which a radical change of language would 
 be an evil. To say nothing of tlie facilities afforded by a 
 common language in the ordinaiy intercourse of business, 
 it should not be forgotten, that our religion and our laws 
 are studied in the language of the nation, from which we 
 are descended ; and, with the loss of the language, we 
 should finally suffer tlie loss of those peculiar advantages, 
 wliidi >\e now derive from the investigations of the jurists 
 and divines of that country. 
 
 But. it is often asked among us, do not the people of 
 this country now speak and write the English language 
 w ith jjurity ? A brief consideration of the subject will fur- 
 nish a satisfactory answer to this question ; it will also 
 er.able us to cori-ect the erroneous opinions entertained by 
 some Anu 1 u ans on this point, and at the same time to de- 
 fend our countrymen against the charge made by some 
 English Vrriters, of a design to effect an entire change in 
 the language. 
 
 As the inquiry before us is a simple question of fact, it
 
 11 
 
 is to be determined, like every other question of this na- 
 ture, by propel" evidence. What evidence then have we, 
 that tlie English hin2;iiage is not spoken and wiitten in A- 
 nierica, with the same degree of purity that is to be found 
 in the writers and orators of England ? 
 
 In the first place, although it is agreed, that there is 
 gi'cater uniformity of dialect throughout the United States 
 (in consequence of the frequent removals of people from one 
 part of our country to another) than is to be found through- 
 out England ; yet none of our countrymen, not even those, 
 who arc the most zealous in supporting what they imag- 
 ine to be the honour of the American character, will con- 
 tend, that we have not in some instances depai-ted from 
 the standard of the language. AVe have formed some nexv 
 words ; and to some old ones, that are still used in Eng- 
 land, we have affixed new significations: while others, 
 Avhicli have long been obsolete in England, are still retained 
 in common nse with us. If then, in addition to these ac- 
 knowledgments of our own countrymen, we allow any 
 weight to the opinions of Englishmen, (who must be compe- 
 tent judges in this case,) it cannot be denied, tliat we have 
 in several instances deviated from the standard of the lan- 
 guage, as sj)oken and written in England at the present day. 
 By this, however, I do not mean, that so great a deviation 
 has taken place, as to have rendered any considerable part 
 of our language unintelligible to Englishmen; but merely, 
 that so many corruptions have crept into our English, as 
 to have become the subject of much animadvei'sion and re- 
 gret with the learned of Great Britain. And as we are 
 hardly aware of tlie opinion entertained by them of the ex- 
 tent of these corruptions, it may be useful, if it should 
 not be very flattering to our jiride, to hear their remarks 
 on this subject in their own words. We shall find that 
 these corruptions are cen.^ured, not by mere pretenders
 
 iii 
 
 lo Kaniiiii;. Inii, (^mi lar as ilic lad is lo be ascertained 
 iViMii l\iii;lisli [iiililications,) bv all tbe scbolars of that 
 tiiiiiiti\, will) take an ijiteivsf in Aiueeiean lileraluiv. In 
 prour ol" this, I iv(nirs( tlie attention ol' Ibe Aradeniy lo the 
 l'n||(t\\iii_i;- t\lia(ts IVoni s^^el■al of the British Reviews; 
 some of A\hieh are the most distingniished of the present 
 day, and all of \\hi( ii to.i;rther may be considered as ex- 
 pressing; the .e;eneral o]»ini(Hi of tlie literary men of Great 
 Britain, \\ho have attended to this subject. That all thq 
 remarks are just, to the ex'ent in which they will natu- 
 lally be understood, few of our countrymen will be willing; 
 to admit.* 
 
 The Br Wish Critic (for February 1810) in a review of 
 the Rev. Mr. Jiaiicroffs Life of SVashini:;ton, says — *'In 
 <* the style we observe, with regret rather than w ith aston- 
 " ishment, tlic inti'oduction of several new words, or old 
 " words in a new sense ; a deviation from the rules of the 
 *' En/^lish languai!;e, which, if it continues to be practised 
 «» by good writers in America, will introduce confusion in- 
 •< to the medium of intercourse, and render it a subject of 
 " regret that the people of that continent should not have 
 '' an entirely separate language as well as government of 
 "their o^^n. Instances occur at almost every page; with- 
 "out pains in selecting, the fidlowing may be taken as 
 " specimens," &c. The Reviewers then mention several 
 words, all of which arc inserted in the following Vocabu- 
 lary. 
 
 The same Reviewers (in April 1808) in their account 
 of Chief Justice MarshaWs Life of Washington, have the 
 following remarks: — "In the writings of Jinuricans we 
 " have often discovered deviations from the purity of the 
 " English idioniy w hich we have been more disposed to cen~ 
 "sure than to wonder at. The common speech of the Unit- 
 * Sec J\'occ at the end of tiiis Essay.
 
 i3 
 
 *< cd States has departed very considerably from the staij- 
 *Mai'd adopted in England, and in this case it is not to be 
 « expected that writers^ however cautious, will maintain a 
 "strict purity. Mr. Marshall deviates occasionally, but 
 <• not grossly," &c. 
 
 The Ciitical Review (for September 1809) in remarks 
 upon Travels through France^ by Col. Vinckncij, says — " He 
 
 "falls into occasional inaccuracies but the instances are 
 
 " rare, and by no means so striking as we have frequent 
 *• occasions of remarking in most Amencan writers.'* 
 
 Tiie same Reviewers (in July 1S07) in speaking of 
 MarshaWs Life of Washington, have the folio v.ing among 
 other remarks on the style of that work — that " it abounds 
 with many of those idioms which prevail on the other side 
 of the Atlantic." 
 
 The Annual Review (for 1808) in speaking of the same 
 w ork, after pointing out several instances of false English 
 (in respect to many of which, however, the Reviewers have 
 been misled by the incorrectness of the English edition of 
 that work, as will be seen in the following Vocabulary,) 
 has the following observations j which, if they had been 
 made in a manner somewhat different, would probably 
 have been more favourably received by those, for whose 
 benefit they seem to be intended : — " We have been more 
 " particular in noticing these faults in Mr. Marshall's lan- 
 ««guage, because we are not at all certain that the Ameii- 
 •< cans do not consider them as beauties ; and because we 
 " wish, if possible, to stem that torrent of barbarous phrase- 
 " ology, with w hich the American w liters threaten to des- 
 " ti'oy the purity of the English language.'* 
 
 The Monthly Reviewers (in May 1808) in their account 
 of a little work, entitled A Political Sketch of America^ cite 
 with approbation, tlie following passage — "The national 
 " language should be sedulously cultivated ; and this is to be
 
 14 
 
 »' ai I'oinplisluMl hy moans of s( liools. Tlii« rirrumstancc; 
 •••K'niaiids paiticiilar atlrntion, lor llic laii!;;uagc o( canvei'- 
 *'S<ilinn is lircom'mj; iiiconvct ; and vwu in America antfiors 
 '•air to lie round, \\ ho make nsr ol' m'W or ohsoletv wnnla, 
 »»\\lii( li no i;<)od writer in tliis country would employ." 
 
 The 1-aIciHc llrvicir (Cor August 1813) in noticing 
 Slx-rtchcs of Louisiana, hij .Major J. Stoddard, makes the 
 follow ing ohsi rvations on the style of thfit author and of our 
 writers in general : " For an American the composition 
 ♦• is tolerahh" ; hiil the Major has a good share of those 
 ••words and phrases, which his literary countrymen must, 
 "however reluctanliY, i'elin(|uish hefoi'e they will rank 
 •• w ith good w riters. The standard is fixed, unless it were 
 «♦ possible to consign to oblivion the assemblage of those 
 *" great authors on w hose account the Americans themselves 
 « are to feel complacency in their language to the latest 
 « ages.'* 
 
 The Edinburgh Reriew (for October 180+) which is the 
 last I shall cite, has the following general observations on 
 this subject : — 
 
 *'If the men of birth and education in that other Eng- 
 "laiid, which they arc building up in the West, will not 
 »< diligenthj study the great authors, who purified and fixed 
 "the language of our common forefathers, we must soon 
 " lose the only badge, that is still worn, of our consanguin- 
 *< ity." 
 
 The same Reviewers, in tlieir remarks on MarshaWs 
 and RammxCs Lives of Washington, say — 
 
 *' In these volumes we have found a great many words 
 ^uuid 7)//m.sr.s which £»j^/j.s/< criticism refuses to acknowl- 
 ** edge. Ameiica has tlirow n off the yoke of the British 
 " nation, but she would do well for some time, to take the 
 *• laws of composition from the Addisons, the Swifts and the 
 " liobertsons of her ancient sovereign These remarks.
 
 15 
 
 "however, arc not dictated by any paltry t'eelings ot'jeal- 
 "ousyor pride. Wc glory in the diffusion of our lan- 
 *' guage over a new world, where we liope it is yet destined 
 « to collect new triumphs ; and in the brilliant perspective 
 *< of American greatness, we see only pleasing images of 
 *« associated prosperity and glory of the land in which we 
 a live." 
 
 Such is the strong language of British scholars on this 
 subject. And shall we at once, without examination, as- 
 cribe it wholly to prejudice ? Should we not by such a has- 
 ty decision expose oui'selves to the like imputation? On the 
 contrary, should not the opinions of such wi'iters stimulate 
 us to inquiry, that we may ascertain whether their ani- 
 madversions are well founded or not ? We see the same 
 critics censure the Scotticisms of theii' northern brethren, the 
 pcculiai'ities of the Irish, and the provincial corruptions 
 of their own English writers. We cannot therefore be so 
 wanting in liberality as to think, that, when deciding upon 
 the literary claims oi Americans, they are governed by pre- 
 judice or jealousy. A suspicion of this sort should be the 
 less readily entertained, as we acknowledge that they some- 
 times do justice to our countrymen. The w ritings of Dr. 
 Franklin, for example, have received the highest praise ; 
 and a few other American authors have been liberally com- 
 mended by them. The opinions of tliese critics too arc 
 supported by those of some distinguished men in our own 
 country. Dr. Franklin censures, without reserve, '» the 
 •* populai' errors several of our own states are continually 
 " falling into," w ith respect to " expressions and pronunci- 
 ** ation."* Dr. Wit] ter spoon, who, by having b*^en educated 
 in Great Britain, and by his subsequcjit long I'esidence in 
 the United States, was peculiarly well qualified to judge on 
 this subject, remarks: — «•! shall also admit, though with 
 
 * See the word Improve in llic following- Vocabulurv.
 
 16 
 
 "some liositalioii. tlial t^cutlonion and srliolars in Great 
 «»Hiit;iiii sixak as miu li witli the vulval" in common cliit 
 "chat, as pei'sons of llie same class do in America; but 
 ♦'there is a remarkable difl'erence in their public and sol- 
 ♦Mtiin discourses. I have heard in this country inthesen- 
 *» ate, at the bar, and from the ])ul])it, and see daily in dis- 
 ♦•sertations from tlie press, errors in e;rammar, impropri- 
 *' eties and vuli;arisms, uliich hardly any person of the 
 *« same class in point of rank and literature would have 
 «* fallen into in Great Britain."* 
 
 "With these o])inions of such distinj^uished writers before 
 OS, shall we entertain tl»c illiberal jealousy that justice is in- 
 tentionally withheld from us by our English brethren i 
 Let us rather imitate the example of the learned and mod- 
 est Camphelh vho. though lie had devoted a great part of 
 a long life to the study of the English language, yet thought 
 it no disgrace to make an apology foi- his stykf in the fol- 
 lowing terms: " Sensible," says he, <'ofthe disadvantages, 
 <• in point of style, which my northern situation lays me 
 "under, I have availed myself of every opportunity ofbet- 
 "ter information, in regard to all those terms and pliras- 
 " es in the version, [of the Gospels] of which I was doubt- 
 «ful. I feel myself under particular obligations on this 
 " account, to one gentleman, my valuable friend and col- 
 " league. Dr. Beattie, who, though similarly situated with 
 '•myself, has with greater success studied the genius and 
 " idiom of our language ; and of whom it is no more than 
 "justice to add, that the acknowleged purity of his own 
 *< diction, is the least of his qualifications as an author. 
 " But if, notwithstanding all the care I have taken, I shall 
 "be found, in many places, to need the indulgence of the 
 
 " English reader, it will not much surprise me The apol- 
 
 " ogy wliich Irenajus, Bishop of Lyons in Gaul, in the 
 
 * Drill (I, Xo. V.
 
 17 
 
 *< second century, makes for his language, in a book he pub- 
 <* lished in defence of religion, appears to me so candid, so 
 « modest, so sensible, at the same time so apposite to my 
 <* own case, that I cannot avoid transcribing and adopt- 
 "ing it: — <Non autem exquires a nobis, qui apud Celtas 
 « commoramur, et in barb arum sermonem plerumque avo- 
 " camur, orationis artem quani non didicimus, neque vim 
 " conscriptoris quam non aifectavimus, neque ornamcntum 
 <« verborum, neque suadelam quam nescimus* "* 
 
 Upon an impartial consideration of the subject, there- 
 fore, it seems impossible to resist the conclusion, that, 
 altliougli the language of the United States has perhaps, 
 changed less than might have been expected, when we 
 consider how many years have elapsed since our ancestors 
 brought it from England ; yet it has in so many instances 
 departed from the English standard, that our scholars 
 should lose no time in endeavouring to restore it to its pu^ 
 rity, and to prevent future corruption. 
 
 This, it is obvious, is to be effected, in the first place, 
 by cai'efully noting every unauthorized word and phrase ; 
 or (as Dr. Franklin many years ago recommended, in his 
 letter to Mr. Webster on this subject,!) by " setting a dis- 
 countenancing mark** upon such of them, as are not render- 
 ed indispensably necessary by the peculiar circumstances 
 of our country ; and, even if we should continue to have 
 a partiality for some of those expressions, and should 
 choose to retain them, it will always be useful to know 
 them. By knowing exactly what peculiar words are in 
 use with us, we should, among other advantages, have it 
 in our power to expose the calumnies of some prejudiced 
 and ignorant writers, who have frequently laid to the 
 charge of our countrymen in general the aflfected words and 
 
 • Campbell's Four Gospels, preface, p. 28. 
 
 ■\ See the word Improve in the following Vocabularji.
 
 18 
 
 l»lnasi's of ;i [\w cuiiccidtl iudiviiliials i — words anil phras- 
 es, \\lii(li arc jiisil> the siil)i(Tl ol" as much ridinile in 
 .'hnrrira, as tliry arr in (rvcal liritain. As a (general rule 
 als(», wr slioiihl uinhniliUMlIy avoid all those words which 
 arc noticed hy Kni:;lish aiilliors of reputation, as expres- 
 sions with wliicli tlicif arc unacquainted; for although we 
 niii::lit produce some Enj^lish authority for sucli words, yet 
 liie very circuuistance of their heiii.s; thus noticed hy well 
 educated Ens^lislmie'iu is a proof that they are not in use 
 at this day in England, and, of course, ought not to he 
 used elsewhere hy those who would speak correct En- 
 glish. 
 
 AVith a view to this inijjortant object I have taken 
 some pains to make a collection of words and phrases, 
 Nvliich 1 oftVr to tUe Academy, not as a perfect list of our 
 real oi" supposed ])eculiarities of language, but merely as 
 the beginning of a work, wliich can be completed oiJy by 
 long and accurate observation, esj)e(ially of intelligent A- 
 niericans, who shall have an o])portunity of residing in En- 
 gland, and of well educated Englishmen who may visit this 
 counti'y. It has long been the wish of our schcdars to see 
 a work of tliis kind; but, though several words have been 
 noticed by Dv. Witberspoon, Dr. Franklin, and some oth- 
 ers, yet no one seems to have been willing to undertake the 
 laboripus task of making a general collection of them. See- 
 ing no jirospect of such a Mork, and observing, with no 
 small degree of solicitude, the corruptions which are grad- 
 ually insinuating themselves into our language, I have 
 taken the liberty to ask the attention of the Academy to this 
 subject, by laying before them the following Vocabulary; 
 a performance, wlii( h I am sensible is not so worthy of 
 their notice, as it niight have been made, had more time 
 and ability been devoted to it. 
 
 In making this Vocabulary, I have resorted to all the
 
 19 
 
 sources of information in my power, and have, under each 
 word, given some autlioiities for and against the use of it. 
 I have also subjoined to some of the words, the criticisms 
 of Dr. Franklin, Dr. Witlierspoon, and other writers, at 
 large, in order that the I'eader may avail himself of their 
 instructive observations, without tlic trouble of searching 
 for them through the numerous volumes of their works ; 
 and in all cases, where any word had been noticed by 
 English or American writers, which I had also myself ob- 
 served, (particularly during my residence in England, where 
 my attention was first directed to this subject,) I have chos- 
 en to give it upon their authority, rather than my own. 
 Many words will be found in the collection, which are not 
 in fact oi' American origin, or peculiar to Americans ; but it 
 appeared to me that it would be useful to insert all words, 
 the legitimacy of which had been questioned, in order that 
 their claim to a place in the language might be discussed 
 and settled. Several of the words have been obtained from 
 British Reviews of American publications ; and I may 
 here remark, how much it is to be regretted, that the re- 
 viewers have not pointed out all the instances, which have 
 come under their notice, of our deviations from the English 
 standard. This would have been doing an essential ser- 
 vice to our litei'ature, and have been tlie most effectual 
 means of accomplishing what those scholars appear to have 
 so much at heart — the preservation of the English language 
 in its purity, wherever it is spoken. 
 
 It has been asserted, that we have discovered a much 
 stronger propensity than the English, to add new words 
 to the language ; and the little animad\ cision, which, till 
 witliin a few yeais, such new-coined words have met with 
 among us, seems to support that opinion. The passion for 
 these senseless novelties, however, has for some time past 
 been declining. Our greatest danger now is, that avc shall
 
 90 
 
 continue to use antiquatod words, which were broiiglit 
 i(» (Ills (dunli y by our loiTfuthors nearly two centuries ago ; 
 (s.iuie (>r which too were at that day provincial words in 
 Knijlaud) ; aiul, that we shall ailix a new signification to 
 words, w hich are still usetl in that country solely in theii* 
 original sense. » ords of these descriptions having long 
 fornu'd a pai-t of tlie language, we are not led to examine 
 critically the authority on which tlieir different significa- 
 tions rest ; but those which are entirely new, like stran- 
 gers on their first appearance, immediately atti-act our 
 attention, and induce us to incpiire into their pretensions | 
 to the rank they claim.* 
 
 But it is not enough for us to note single words; our 
 idiom, it should seem, is in some degree changed, and is in 
 danger of still greater corruptions.! At the same time, there- 
 
 • The reader will not infer from tliese remarks, that our right to 
 make new words is here meant to be denied. We, as members of that 
 great community or family which speaks the English language, have 
 undoubtedly, as well as the other members, a right to make words and 
 to propose them for adoption into our common language. But unless 
 those, who arc tlie final arbiters in the case, that is, the body of the 
 learned and polite of this whole community, wherever they may be, 
 shall sanction such new terms, it will be presumptuous m the authors 
 of them to attempt to force them into general use. We should hardly 
 be willing to adopt all the words and phrases which the people of 
 Scotland, of Ireland, or of the British Settlements in various parts of 
 the world, should propose to make a part of our common language. 
 Our right however in this respect is not contested by the English them- 
 selves : See, for instance, the remark of the British Critic on this sub- 
 ject, under the word Lengthy in the following Vocabulary. 
 
 •f- That a radical change in the language of a people, so remote 
 from tlie source of it, as we are from England, is not an imaginary sup- 
 po!>ition, will be apparent from the alterations which have taken place 
 among the nations of Europe; of which no instance, perhaps, is more 
 striking, tiian the gradual change and final separation of the languages of 
 Spain and Portugal, notwithstanding the vicinity and frequent inter- 
 course of the people of those two countries.
 
 31 
 
 lore, that we are « setting a discoinitcnaiicing mark" upon 
 unauthorized words, wc should assiduously study the lan- 
 guage of the best authors, especially Dryden, Swift, and 
 Addison ; to the last of whom. Dr. Blair, in his Lectures 
 on Rhetoric, justly applies Quintilian's well-known remark 
 upon Cicero — that "to be highly pleased with his man- 
 " ner of writing is the criterion of a good taste in English 
 a style — lUe se profecisse sciat cui Cicero valde placebit ;" 
 and of whom Dr. Johnson emphatically says — " whoever 
 « would attain a good English style, familiar but not 
 « coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his 
 ** days and nights to the volumes of Addison." Dr. Frank- 
 lin, who in his Life informs us that it was one of the great- 
 est objects of his ambition to write English well, formed 
 his style upon that of Mdison ; and Franklin is one of the 
 very few American writers, whose style has satisfied the 
 English critics. This is the discipline to which the most dis- 
 tinguished scholars of Great Britain have submitted, and 
 without which neither they nor the scholars of our own 
 country, can acquire and preserve a pure English style. 
 It is related of IVIr. Fox, that when speaking of his intend- 
 ed History, he said, he would " admit no word into his book 
 '*for which he had not the authority of Dryden,*"^ This 
 determination may perhaps seem, at first view, to have 
 been dictated by too fastidious a taste, or an undue partial- 
 ity for a favourite author ; but unquestionably, a rule of 
 this sort, adopted in the course of our education, and ex- 
 tended to a few of the best authors, would be the most 
 eflfectual method of acquiring a good English style. And 
 surely, if Fox found no necessity for any other words than 
 Dryden had used, those writers have little excuse, who 
 take the liberty, not only of using all the words they can 
 find in the whole body of English authors, ancient and 
 
 * Preface to his Ilhfoni of James the Seeand.
 
 a 9 
 
 luodoDi, l»ut also of niakiii.s; now lorms of tlioir own at 
 liltasiirr. Wild shall iiavc a liijjlil to complain of scairity, 
 will If llial (iistini^uished orator found abundance? Such 
 standard aiitlior,s, therefore, should he made thv foundation 
 of our Kiizlish : hut as our Ianj2;ua2;e, like all others, is 
 constantly thoue,h shn\ly chan^inu;, \ve should also, in or- 
 der to prrfec t our st>I(\ as we adAancc to mature age, 
 study those authois of otir own time, who have made the 
 older writers their models. Every word in the writincjs 
 of Addison, is not now in general use, in England ; and 
 many words have hei ii adopted since his time, and arc now 
 sanctioned hy the best a\ riters of that country. These writ- 
 ers, therefore, as well as their illustrious masters, ought to 
 be diligently irad ; for we shoidd always remember, that 
 in language, as in the fine arts, we can only attain to 
 excellence by an incessant study of the best models. 
 
 Mte to page 12. 
 
 If it should be said that these Reviewers liave here more deference 
 paid to them, tlian is due to anonymous writers, it may (to adopt tlie 
 remarks of a learned English friend) be answered, " 1. that they are not 
 always anonymous ; 2. that like individuals, tliey can, and do, make to 
 themselves a name ; 3. tliat they are so far corporate, tliat if any of 
 their writers habituallj' give dissatisfaction to tlieir readers, they will 
 In general be secretly reproved, and, if necessary, be dismissed ; 4. that 
 British authors themselves stand in some awe of their tribunal ; 5. 
 and lastly, tliat in cases of criticism, in consequence of tlie interference 
 of readers of all descriptions, false judgments are soon put down; so 
 that a veviervhy its very existence has presumptive evidence in its favour 
 as to verbal criticisms. Besides if we reject the authority of respec- 
 table reviews, to what other better tribunal shall wc in general resort ? 
 
 " Ueviewers, however, sometimes err in their o-um language, particu- 
 larly by the introduction of new words ; and iji this respect we may 
 point out the Edinburgh and Annual Reviews as faultv. " Heartless- 
 ness" and many such words occur in one or other of them; but rap- 
 id eloquence has many faults forgiven to it ; and no words perhaps are 
 more frequently invented and admitted, tliout>h sometimes only for the
 
 23 
 
 jTioment, than burning' glowing words. But, in their cooler judgment 
 of tlie phrases of others, Reviewers are commonly desei-ving of res- 
 pect ; as they speak here pursuant to the experience and habits of their 
 whole lives, and often obtain the opinions of others before they publish 
 I'heir own." ^. 
 
 To these remarks I will only add tlie following, from an English 
 review of high rank, wliich had been attacked by an author, whose 
 work it had censured : 
 
 " It is impossible (says the British Critic) not to smile at the cant, 
 which one disappointed poetaster catches from another about Review- 
 ers, whom they affect to represent, and possibly persuade themselves 
 to suppose, a race of beings, with properties and pi'opensities pecu- 
 liar to themselves, and all hostile to literature. In the mean time what 
 tiave reviewers been in trutli ? By turns all the literary men of the 
 age in which they lived : — SmoUet, Francklin, Goldsmith, Johnson, &c. 
 &c. were reviewers in their day ; and in every age wlierein reviews ai'c 
 })ublished, all literary men, who are either friends to the conductors 
 of the work, or not too rich (whicli few such men have ever been) to 
 lend their services for profit, will be occasional reviewers. Whatever 
 Mr. Kniglit may choose to think of the prhicipal conductors of the 
 British Critic (who, however, are neither ashamed nor afraid to avow 
 their names, or appear in competition with much abler men than he is) 
 we are proud to say ,that, besides the persons regularly employed, there 
 are few eminent scholars, friendly in their opinions to us, who have not 
 sometimes conti-ibuted their assistance to tliis review. Even the cen- 
 sure of which Mr. Knight has complained, was not written by a professed 
 reviewer, but by a scholar of great eminence, who kindly gave his pen 
 to the employment. Let such self-sufficient authors, tiierefore, know, 
 tliat wlien they fight the air, and raise such phantoms of reviewers, 
 they are, perhaps, contending with tlie ablest scholars or critics of 
 the age." Review of Knight's I'ros^'Css of Civil Society, in the Brithh 
 Critic, vol. viii.p. 28-.
 
 YOCABULATIY. 
 
 Accomplished. 
 
 Dr. WitUcrspoou thus notices a peculiar use 
 of this word, which he places among his ^'Jlmencan- 
 isms ;" *' He is a man of most accomplished abilities. 
 A man may be said to be of distinguished abilities, or 
 great accomplishments, but accomplished abilities is 
 wholly new." Wither spoon^s Druid, ^o. 7. No A- 
 merican at the present day would make use of this ex- 
 traordinary expression : I have never found any per- 
 son, who has met with it in any of our publications, or 
 heard it in conversation. 
 Accountability. "A being subject to answel^ or ac- 
 count for." Compendious Dictionanj of the English Lan- 
 guage, by JYoah Webster Esq. 
 
 This word is often used by our divines and other 
 writers ; but it is not to be found in the English diction^ 
 aries, nor do I recollect seeing it myself in any En- 
 glish publications, except some modern translations from 
 the French. A learned English friend, however (to whom 
 I am indebted for many valuable obsei'vations) remarks, 
 that " certain diviues and ethical writers among the 
 English have often used this word ; and in some in- 
 stances it has been used by their politicians."* None 
 
 * The remarks distingulslK-d by the signature "A" througliout 
 this Vocabulary are from tlie oblis^Lng correspondent licre quoted.
 
 30 
 
 nl ilii' (inliomirifs, iuiU'ril. had llu' word accounUibLe- 
 ncss, imlil Mason inserted it in his Supplement to John- 
 son's l)i( tiouarv, where it is tijiven upon the iuithority 
 of Duiicdii's Logic. From Mason's Avork it has heeii 
 a«h)pted into the new edition of Johnson, by the Rev. 
 //. J. Todd. I may add, that thouj^h tliis h'arncd 
 edilor lias admitted tlie Avord accounlablencss, he has 
 not inseiled (iccounfabilifif. 
 
 I'o Admihe. To like very much; to be very fond of. 
 This verb is much used in A'<;w England in express- 
 ions like the following : 1 should admire to go to such 
 a place ; I should admire to have such a thing, &c. 
 It is never thus used by the English ; and among us 
 it is conlined to the language of conversation. 
 
 To Advocate. To be an advocate for j to defend j to 
 support. 
 
 Til is AVord has long been used in our legislative 
 bodit s, and is now adopted by most of our writers : 
 " Some are taking unwearied pains to disparage the 
 motives of those federalists who advocate the equal sup- 
 port of," &c. Letter from Alexander Hamilton concerning 
 lite public conduct and character of John Mams Esq. p. 1. 
 •• 1 shall on a future occasion examine impartiall} , and 
 endeavour to ascertain precisely the true value of this o- 
 pinion, whicli is so \\ ai'mly advocated by all the great or- 
 ators of autir[uity. Lectures on Rhetonc and Oratory ;, by 
 the Hon. John ^. Jidams ; \o\. i. p. 38. <« This seems to 
 be a foreign and local dialect, and cannot be advocated by 
 any person that understands correct English." IVcb- 
 stcfs Dissertations on the English Language, p. 111. 
 
 In the former edition of this Vocabulary I consid- 
 ered tlie ^erb to advocate as a word of American oi'i- 
 gin ; and remark'^d, that, altliough it was used by 
 Scottish and Irish writers, I had never met with any
 
 27 
 
 English authority for it. Until very recently it has 
 certainly been ranked among dmerkamsmSf botli by the 
 English and our own writers. In the Preface to the 
 English edition of one of our works (Dr. Ramsay's 
 History of the Revolution) which was printed in the 
 year 1793, it is classed by the London editor among 
 those "t^niencau" words, which the English "have 
 altogether declined to countenance," as verbs " invent- 
 ed without any apparent reason ;" and our countryman. 
 Dr. Franklin, several yeai's ago pointedly condemned 
 tliis, among other <* new" words, which had been intro- 
 duced into onr parliamentary language during his 
 [then] late absence in France.* It has however, been 
 discovered (as will be seen in the following extract 
 from the new edition of Johnson's Dictionary, by the 
 Rev. H. J. Todd) that this verb was used by Milton ; 
 and it has been sanctioned in modern times by the 
 authority of Burke ; to which we may now add, that 
 of Mr. Todd. As his work is at present rare in this 
 country, I iiave thought it would be interesting to 
 most readers to see his remarks on this word at 
 
 large : 
 
 *• To Advocate, r. a. [Lat. advoco, Fr. avocas- 
 scr.] To plead ; to support ; to defend. Mr. Bou- 
 cher has remarked, that thougli this verb has been 
 said to be an improvement on the English language, 
 whicli has been discovered by the United States of 
 North America, since their separation from Great 
 Britain, it is a very common and old Scottish word ; 
 M hich indeed it is bntli as an active and neuter verb. 
 But Mr. Bouclter has been misled in this literary 
 concession which he has made to the Americans; 
 for it is also an old English word, employed by one 
 
 * Letter to Mr. Webster, Doc. 26, 1789.
 
 of our linost ami mosf manly writers ; and if the 
 Aniri-i( aiis aflt'ct <o ijliiinc tluMiisclves on tJiis pre- 
 ttiulctl iinivox'cninit of our l<nignagef let them as well 
 as their abettors >\i<li(lra\v the niilomulnl claim to 
 disrovery, in turnini:; to the |)rose-\\ritini;s of Mil- 
 ton. In the dictionarits of the sixteenth and seven- 
 teenth renturies, however, as in the Latin of Thomas, 
 the Sj)auish of Minshen, the Italian of Florio, and the 
 1^'reiich of Cotgrave, ailvoco, iidrogar, axocare, and 
 advocasser, ai"c rendered not to advocate^ but < to play 
 tlie advocate.^ < Whether this reflect not with a con- 
 tumely upon the ])arlianient itself, which thought this 
 petition worthy, not only of receiving, but of voting to 
 a commitment, after it had been advocatedf and moved 
 for by some honourable and learned gentlemen of the 
 house, to be called a combination of libelling separa- 
 tists, and the advocates thereof to be branded for 
 incendiaries; whether this appeach not the judgment 
 and approbation of the parliament I leave to equal 
 arbiters.' Milton^ Animadversions,^!. * This is the 
 only thing distinct and sensible that has been adro- 
 cated.* Burke, Speech on the Reform of Representation." 
 Though this verb is to be found in Milton, yet it 
 does not appear to have been in common use in En- 
 gland either at the time when he WTote, or since that 
 period. Burke, however, it seems, employed it in one 
 of his speeches (the one above quoted by Mr. Todd, 
 whi( h was in the year 1782) and possibly on other oc- 
 casions ; but I do not recollect seeing it in any of his 
 tuter writings. It has been very recently adopted by 
 a few other writers, and seems now to be getting into 
 use in England : <' But fi'om his want of sober-mind- 
 edness we cannot alwa}s prove Ids earnestness in the 
 caise lie advocated" D^JsraelVs Quarrels of Jiuthors,
 
 29 
 
 vol. i. p. 12, not. Amtr. edit. *<It has indeed frcr 
 quently fallen to his lot to advocate the cause of wisdom." 
 ParHamentary Portraits ^ p. 95 ; and again at pp. 116 
 and 144 ; London edit. 1815. A friend has also given 
 nie the following instance of it in the title of an En- 
 glish publication: *' Christian Liberty adrocafed;" a 
 Discourse by Henry H. Piper ^ London 1808; reviewed 
 in the Monthly Review, vol. lix. p. 335. It is to be 
 found occasionally in tlie debates of the British Par- 
 liament (more particularly in the speeches of the Irish 
 members) as they are reported in tlie newspapers : 
 *'It was incumbent on them to prove that no selfish 
 view to our own colonial interest had actuated us^ 
 while advocating the cause of humanity." Speech of 
 Lord Castlermghy in the Courier of March 20, 1815. 
 But in parliamentary language the English have hith- 
 erto commonly used the verb to support : <• Mr. W. 
 shortly opposed the motion ', Mr. S. supported it." 
 Debates, May 4, 1813. The verb to advocate is also in 
 use with the Scottish reviewers (see, for instance, tlic 
 Edinburgh Review, vol. xiii. p. 77.) and I liave very 
 lately met with it hi an English review* : *' Dis- 
 tinct from all considerations of the system of leligious 
 doctrine which he advocated,*^ &c. Monthly Review, 
 vol. Ixxii. p. 129. 
 
 But to return to the extract from Mr. Todd's 
 ■work. It is there said, that to advocate is a very com- 
 mon and old Scottish word. The word itself has un- 
 doubtedly been long used in Scotland, but it has been 
 used in the technical sense which it has in their law; 
 and this, it need hardly be observed, is very different 
 from the signification in question, as will be evident 
 from the authorities cited by Mr. Boucher in the work 
 alluded to by Mr. Todd.* 
 * As Mr. JBoucher^s work i^ seldom to be met with m this countr}«
 
 30 
 
 I shall add but one or hvo rrmavks more on (liis ai- 
 tirle. Ml". 'I'odd seeins to suppose that the Americans 
 "uflect to plume themselves on this pretended improve- 
 ment of our lansjuai^e;" and he then, in a tone, which 
 the occasion seemed hardly to require, calls upon them 
 as well as their *" a'oettorsy'* to «« withdraw their mi- 
 lounded claim to discovery in turning to the prose- 
 wriliiic^s ol" Milton.*' I w *s not aware tliat the 
 Americans did '• plume themselves" upon this word. 
 "We did, indeed, believe it to be a word iwt in use 
 among Englishmen, because they themselves have 
 considered it as a word invented by us, and have 
 censured it as oiu' of tlie faults of our writers. The 
 truth is, too, that although most Americans have 
 adopted it, yet some of our writers, who have been 
 pai-ticularly attentive to their style, have (whether 
 tiiere has been any merit in this or not, let scholars 
 judge,) avoided using it. Nor would they probably 
 have felt themsflves warranted in employing this, 
 any more than they w ould many other ancient w'ords 
 
 I here subjoin his authorities at large; with references to one or t\\o 
 in another work : 
 
 "The members of the college of justice have this privilege, that 
 they cannot be pursued before any inferiour judge; and if they be, the 
 lords will advocate the cause to themselves. Sir George Mackenzie's 
 T:istitutio7is of Lutd, p. 16. See also Historical Law Tracts, vol. i. p, 
 J98, where it is said to ha\e been ordained by an act, ' that causes be 
 not advocated hy the lords from the judge ordinary, except for deadly 
 feud, or where the judge is a party, or the causes of the lords of ses- 
 sion, their advocates, scribes and members.' See also a message from 
 Pope Boniface the 8th in 1300, claiming [the kingdom of Scotland to 
 the See of Rome; in which he says, I advocate the cause, i.e. I will 
 determine between j ou and myself Lord Haile'a Amuils of Scotland 
 vol. i. p. 267." 
 
 See also Rees'f C;/clop,ediu, articles, Advocatiox, JBill of, and Advo- 
 c*,Tioy, Letters of; where this verb is used in the same technical sense.
 
 31 
 
 (the word freshet^ for example, which see) because 
 it was to be found in Milton or in BurkCf unless it 
 were also in general use at the present day among En- 
 glishmen. 
 Alienism. Alienage. 
 
 The following is tlie only instance, in which I 
 have ever met with this word in an American work : 
 «• The prisoner was convicted of murder ; on his ar- 
 raignment he suggested his alienisuh which was admit- 
 ted." 2 Jahnson''s JVew York Reports, 381. 
 
 The term alienage is common in professional books, 
 though it is not in the English dictionaries: ">yhere 
 he sues as executor k.c. the plaintift's aUeimge is no 
 plea." Lawes* Pleading in Assmnpsitf p. 687 ; et 
 passim. 
 
 To AxLOT (with the preposition upon.^ Ex. I allot upon 
 going to such a place. 
 
 This verb is used only in conversation, and that, 
 cliieliy in the interior of New England. But it is 
 never heard among people of education. Some use 
 the verb to count upon in the same manner, 
 
 ^0N£. 
 
 This is often heard from our pulpits in express- 
 ions like the following : Tiie alone God ; the alone 
 motive, k.c. Tins use of the term, however, is not 
 exclusively American. It is to be found in some old 
 English writers, but is now almost wliolly obsolete. 
 Dr. Johnson cites the following instance from Bent- 
 ley : "God by whose alone power and conversation 
 We all live and move and have our being." I haA'^o 
 also met with an instance of it in a modern English 
 pamphlet cited in one of the reviews (which, by the 
 way* speaks contemptuously of the work) and the 
 word in question is put in Italics by the reviewers :
 
 •<Tlir liOivislafurc never ])reteu(le(l to oiniiipotence ; 
 tli;vt is (he alone attribute of tlie people." Sec Brit, 
 Ciit. for March 1797 ; vol. ix. p. 32i.. 
 Americ.vxism. «A love of America and preference of 
 hei- interest." Wchsi. Diet. 
 
 This ^vor(l sometimes occurs, in this sense, in our 
 newsprt])ers as moII as in conversation. But it was 
 coined by Dr. AVitherspoon (as he says) many years 
 as^o, to denote " an use of phrases or terms, or a con- 
 stiurticm of sentences, even anions? persons of rank and 
 education [in America] different from the use of the 
 same terms or phrases, or the construction of similar 
 sentences in Great Britain." In this sense it is, as he 
 justly observes, "similar in its formation and signifi- 
 cation to the word Scotticism ;" and it has accordingly 
 heen generally so used in America, as well as in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 To Americanize. *< To render American." JVebst, 
 Did. I have never met with this verb in any American 
 work, nor in conversation. 
 
 Annulment. Ex. " The annulment of the belligerent 
 edicts." Correspondence of the Secretary of State (Mr. 
 Smith J and Mr. Pinkneif ; July 5, 1810. 
 
 This substantiA e was not to be found in any of the 
 Englisli dictionaries, till it was admitted into Mr. 
 Todd's new edition of Johnson ; where it is noted, as 
 one of the editor's additions, and is given, without any 
 authority, as follows : " Annulment, n. s. [Fr. annnl- 
 lement.'] the act of annulling." 
 
 Answer. 
 
 This term is always used by Us to signify tlic 
 Reply of the Senate or House of Representatives to tlio 
 Speech of the President (or of the Governor of a state,) 
 at the opening of a session of the Lc^gislatufe. In Eu-
 
 as 
 
 gland this is always called, in parliamentarif iaugiiagcv 
 the Address. This signification of the term address 
 was not noticed by Dr. Johnsoiu but it has been addetl 
 to the new edition of his Dictionary by the Rev. Mr, 
 Todd. 
 An't ; for am not^ are not, and sometimes for is not. 
 
 " I have been surprised (says Dr. Witherspoon) to 
 see some persons of education and character introduce 
 the mere vulgarisms of discoui'se in the pulpit, or at the 
 bar ; such as, I anH, I cunHt I s/ta/i'/." Lectures oil 
 Eloquence; lect. 3. 
 
 These " vulgarisms '* are much less common tlian 
 they were when Dr. Withers poon wrote ; and if our 
 clergymen and lawyers sometimes employ them in 
 speaking, they always avoid them in their printed 
 works. 
 Antagonizing. Conflicting, opposing. 
 
 This word has been censured, by an American crit- 
 ic, in the following passage of a well known Amer- 
 ican publication. — "Nor can I forbear to remai'k 
 the tendency of such antagonizing appeals." Letter 
 of the Hon. J. Q. Adams to the Hon. H. G. Otis. 
 This is the only instance in which I have known 
 it to be used in this country. Johnson has the 
 verb to antagonize; but his authority is the Dic- 
 tionanes ; and he says in his preface, that such 
 words in his work "are to be considered as resting 
 only upon the credit of those dictionaries." Mr. We6- 
 ster has not inserted it in his dictionary. 
 
 ANTirEDERAXIST. 
 
 This word was formed about the year 1788, to 
 denote a person of the political party, that opposed 
 the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, 
 wliich was then always spoken of by the naine of the 
 
 5
 
 34 
 
 Ffdcml Constitution. The word is not now nnicli 
 jisid : lia\iii,si; been superseded by vai'ious other names, 
 wiiidi have been successively given to the same par- 
 ty* See Federalist. 
 Kjhy manner of means. 
 
 A friend, \\\m has resided in Connecticut, inforr.-S 
 me, that this expression (among otliers) used to be 
 the subject of animadversion, with the instructoi's of 
 the college there, as a very common fault in the lan- 
 £!;uagc of the Bar of that state. 
 
 AXXIETUDE. 
 
 I never saw this word but once in any of our 
 publications ; and that was only in a newspaper. 
 Appellate. Relating to appeals: "In all cases affect- 
 ing ambassadors, k-c. the Supreme Court shall have 
 or/g-iua/ jurisdiction : In all the other cases before men- 
 tioned the Supreme Court shall have appeUate juris- 
 diction.'* Coiistitut. of U. SiateSf art. 3. 
 
 This is criticised as an Avitrkan word in an Eng- 
 lish review of MarshaWs Life of Washington. The 
 i-cviewer's remai'k is, that Judge Marshall uses "ap- 
 pellate court for court of appeals; appellate being the 
 term applicable to llie person against whom the appeal 
 is made." Annual Rev. for 1808, p. 241. The re- 
 viewer probably consulted Johnson, who cites from 
 Ayliffe's Parergon [of the Canon law] the following 
 expression — ♦* the name of the party ajjpellate, or pei'son 
 against whom the appeal is made." But Mason, in 
 his Sup])Iement, makes the following remark upon this 
 (itation: "Joliiison gives this word for a substantive, 
 and produces an authority from Ayliflfe proving it to 
 be an adjective. The sense there is, appealed against; 
 but it is also used for created on appeal : < The king ol' 
 France is not the fountain of justice ; the judges- nei- 
 ther the original nor the appellate are of his nomina-
 
 35 
 
 tion.' BurkeJ^ Refections on the Revolution in France 
 &c. p. 216. of vol. 3. of his Works^ Boston edit. The 
 word is here used by Burke as it is in America. 
 Blackstone, I think, never uses the word appellate, 
 but adopts a circumlocution : " The next court that 
 I shall mention is one that hath no on^iwaf jurisdiction, 
 but is only a court of appea'.*^ 3. Black. Com. 31. 
 *'The house of peers having at present no original 
 jurisdiction over causes, but only nj^on appeals.'* p. 56. 
 It has however been used by some later writers in 
 Great Britain : *• An appeal presupposes, in order to 
 be effectual, a decided superiority in the court of 
 appellate jurisdiction." Edinb. Rev. vol. xxi. p. 110; 
 and again at p. 120. ** Consent cannot give original 
 jurisdiction to a court that has only an apjiellate juris- 
 diction." Hawkins* Fleas of the Crown by Leach, 
 B. i. c. 76. § 132; where the editor cites 2 Burrow*s 
 Reports 746. But the word apjiellate is here the lan- 
 guage of the editor, and is not used in the case refer- 
 ed to. A correspondent has favoured me witli the fol- 
 lowing remarks upon the word : <* If appellate, in the 
 sense in which it is employed in the Constitution of 
 the United States, has not found its way into English 
 dictionaries, it has found its way into English minds. 
 An Englishman would contest its use by others nei- 
 ther in speaking nor in writing ; even if he had not 
 adopted it in his own phraseology. Burke's use of it 
 is perfectly justifiable; and as the word is intelligible 
 to every scholar, and is pointed, useful and sonorous; 
 it may be considered much more as English in Bnrke^s 
 sense of it, tlian it is in Jlyllffe's; with whom it is 
 merely " technicid." Ji. 
 
 The word has at length " found its way" into an 
 English dictionary; being adopted, from Mason's 
 work, by the Rev. Mr. Todd^ in his edition of Johnson*
 
 .JO 
 
 \rrT.Tf iNT. A (lilii;'ont studnit. 
 
 riiis Nvord liiis bvvu iimk h usrd al our rollegcs. ^ 
 Tlic l'.in;Iisli liavr tli(> vci-l) to (ipphj, but the noun 
 ajiplictint, in this sense, does not appear to be in use 
 ainou;::: tlnni. The only dictionary in which I have 
 fomid it \\itli this nieaninc; is Kntick^s^ in Avhich it is 
 cfiven under Hie Mord Jlpplicr. Mr. Todd has the 
 term appliratit, l)ut it is only in the sense of "he who 
 applies lor any thin.s;." An American reviewer, in 
 his remarks on IVIr. ff'cbster*s Dictionary, takes notice 
 of the word, observing, that it "is a mean word;" 
 and then a(hls, tliat " Mr. Webster lias not explain- 
 ed it in the most covimon sense, a hard student," 
 Mwt/ihj Jnthologiif vol. vii. p. 263. A coiTcspondent 
 obsenes — "The utmost that ran be said of this word 
 among the English is, that perhaps it is occasion- 
 ally used in convei-sation ; at least, to signify one 
 who asks (or applies) for something." J. 
 
 To Appreciate, v. nent. To rise in value. 
 
 The reviewer quoted in the preceding article makes 
 the following remark on tins word : " He [Mr. Web- 
 ster] gives * ajjpreciate v. to value, estimate, rise inral- 
 ve:* yet this third signification, being neuter or intran- 
 sitive, is not. we believe, found in a single English 
 author ; and in the United States is only admitted into 
 genteel company by inadvertence." Month. Jintliol. 
 vol. vii. p. 2(53. See also Depreciate. 
 
 VrpRECiATiox. "A rii-ing in value." Webst. Did. 
 The remarks on our use of the rerft appreciate are 
 equally applicable to this n&im. 
 
 To Approkate. 
 
 Ibis \\i\H formerly niuih used at our colleges 
 instead of the old English verb approre. The stu- 
 dents used to speak of having their performances
 
 37 
 
 approbated by the instructoi's. It is also now in common 
 use with our clergy as a sort of technical term, to 
 tlenote a person who is licensed to preach; they 
 would say, such a one is approbated^ that is, li- 
 censed to preach. It is also common in A^cw England 
 to say of a person, who is licensed by the county 
 courts to sell spirituous liquors, or to keep a public 
 house, that he is approbated ; and the term is adopted 
 in the law of Massachusetts on this subject. It is not 
 now in the English dictionaries; but Mr. Todd (un- 
 der the obsolete adjective approbate) says — " Cock- 
 eram's old vocabulary, notices the verb * apjjrobate, to 
 allow, to like." Todd*s Johnson. 
 
 To Arrive. 
 
 It is remarked by Englishmen, that we in many 
 cases employ the auxiliary verb to have with this 
 and some other verbs of a similar nature, witli 
 which the English more commonly use the auxiliary 
 to be. We generally say, for example, the ship lias 
 arrived ; when he had arrived, &c. The English would 
 in such cases use to be, as in the following examples : 
 *' We are now arrived at the end of a laborious task," 
 &c. Brit. Crit. vol. viii. p. 606. « Because tlie art of 
 engraving and the manner of colouring such figures 
 ivas not arrived, in his earlier days, to the degree of 
 perfection in A\hich \\g now see it." Brit. Crit. vol. 
 iv. p. 255. And we find the rule laid down by t!ie 
 grammarians accordingly. See Lowth'^s Grammar ^ 
 chap, on the Verb ; and Murray^ fwho adopts Lowth*s 
 rule J on Verbs^ sect. 8. and on Syntax^ Rule xi. 
 
 Association. *<A convention of clergymen. JVew En- 
 gland.*' Webst. Diet. Sec Consociation. 
 
 Associational. (From the preceding nonn. J 
 
 "In order to obtain a license, and afterwards, t(i
 
 38 
 
 ho admitttMl io orilination, Ihry [students in divinity] 
 must in each case j)a.ss through the Jssociational or 
 Frcsbyterial examination, mentioned above." Remarks 
 on the Review oJInchiqum?s Letters -published in the qiiar- 
 fcrlji Review : p. 50, Boston 1815. 
 
 This adjet live is seldom to be met with. I have 
 never seen it in any other instance. 
 At for By. Used in this expression : " Sales at auction." 
 
 The English say — " Sales by auction j" and this 
 is in analogy with the expressions — Sales by inch of 
 candle ; sales by private contract. Accordingly Dr. 
 Johnson, under the words Auction and To Auction^ has 
 these expressions — *<thc things sold by auction — to 
 sell by auction." 
 
 The term auction is defined by Johnson, *' a man- 
 ver of sale ;" and this signification seems to require 
 the preposition by. But English wTiters sometimes 
 use it (with the article, however) as we do, for tlie 
 sale merely : " Those execrable wTetches, who could 
 become purchasers at thl' auctitm of their innocent fel- 
 low-citizens." Burke's Reflections, p. 253. Boston edit. 
 *• But when the leaders choose to make themselves 
 bidders at an auction of popularity," &c. ib. p. 263. 
 Burke sometimes also makes use of to, where we 
 sliould use at, with this word: <*To put up their 
 properties to auction." ib. p. 200. 
 Attack'd-ed. 
 
 Dr. ^Vitllel'spoon notices this among his " Vulgar- 
 isms in America,'* and gives the following example : 
 *» Tliis is the weapon with which he defends himself 
 when he is aitackted, for attacked; or, according to 
 the abbreviation, attack'd." Druid, No. 6. 
 
 This corruptifm at the present day is, in our sect* 
 port towns, confined to the most illiterate people.
 
 39 
 
 But I have understood, that in the interior, it is some- 
 times heard amoni^ persons of a somewhat higher class. 
 It should be remarked, tliat it is used by the vulgar in 
 London, as well as in this country. 
 
 To Attain. 
 
 The use of this verb, witliout the preposition to, 
 has been said to be peculiar to American writers; but 
 this is not the case. Dr. Campbell fPhilos. of Rhet, 
 B. ii. ch. 2. p. 206. Boston ed.J ranks tliis verb among 
 those " which are used either with or without a prepo- 
 sition indiscriminately." 
 
 So far as my own observation extends, the English 
 writers generally omit the preposition, when the verb 
 governs a relative pronoun : *< They have advantages 
 which, among the ordinary classes of writers, analy- 
 sis and system rarely attain.^* Dr, Parr^s review of 
 Combe's Horace, in the Brit. Crit. vol. iii. p. 49. 
 "That plainness and clearness which Dr. Priestley 
 seldom fails to attain." B. Cnt. vol. vi. p. 175. 
 
 AtJCTioiv. See remarks on the word At. 
 
 Authoress. «A female author, a female writer.'* 
 Wehst. Diet. 
 
 This word has, with us, been in as common use as 
 author. But its admission into the language has been 
 contested in England. It is not in Johnson^s dictionary ; 
 and Ash says (but this was forty years ago) it is a 
 word <* not much used." The Bntish Cntic, in tho 
 year 1793, says of it — "We do not acknowledge this 
 word." vol. ii. p. 277. Since that time, however, it 
 has been occasionally used in that review — See, for 
 instance, vol. xxi. p. 108; for the year 1803; and 
 vol. xlii. p. 374 and 381, for the year 1814. But the 
 word author is more commonly applied, in that work, 
 to female wTiters. Authoress is used in the Edinburgh- 
 Review. See, for instance, vol. ii. p. 212.
 
 40 
 
 Mr. Tinld luis admitted aiUhoress into his edition of 
 Joluuion ; not, however, in the signification in ques- 
 tion, but only in Johnson's second, or more general 
 sense of the word author; that is "the efficient; he 
 that effects or produces any thing;" and Mr. Todd 
 accordingly defines it — " a female efficient.'* 
 Authority. " In Connecticid, the Magistracy, or body 
 of Justices." W^ebst. Did. 
 
 This term has also been used in some other States. 
 It occurs in the ancient laws of Massachusetts: See 
 Mass. Colony Laws, p. 28. edit, of 1672. A friend has 
 also given me the following instance of it in a well 
 known \M'iter of the present day. "The autlwriiy 
 required liim to give bonds for his good behaviour." 
 History of JS^ew -England f by Miss Hannah Adams , p. 64. 
 It is also used in some of the States, in speaking col- 
 lectively of the professors &c. of our coUeges, to whom 
 the government of those institutions is entrusted. 
 
 AvAtLED. 
 
 Dr. AVitherspoon thus notices, among his « Ameri- 
 ca7iisms" a mode of using this participle : " The mem- 
 bers of a popular government should be availed of the 
 situation and condition of every part." — »• The authoi- 
 of this did not know," he adds, '• that avail is neither 
 an actiA e nor passive, but a reciprocal verb ; a man is 
 said to avail himself oi any thing, but not to avail oth- 
 ers, or be availed by them.** Druid, No. 7. I have 
 observed this idiom in one or tvvo instances in conver- 
 sation ; but no American would, at this day, use it in 
 writing. 
 Avails. •- Proceeds of properly sold, produce. Connec- 
 ticut." Webst. Diet. 
 
 The English reviewers notice this word in a late 
 American work, by putting it in Italics : *•' Expecting
 
 41 
 
 i0 subsist on tlie bounty of govermnpnt, rather than On 
 the avails of their ow n industry.' " Stoddard^s Sketch- 
 es of Louisiana^ as cited in the Eclectic Review for August 
 1813, p. 118. In England^ (says a correspondent) «it 
 is a word now antiquated." Jl. 
 
 2b AVERAGK. 
 
 Tlic use of this as a neuter verb is not, as some per- 
 sons have supposed, peculiar to us ; as will appear from 
 the following example : " The fall [of snow] averaged 
 full twenty inches, which unusual depth was formed m 
 little more than six hours." London Star, of January 
 27, 1811, in a Piijmouth article. It is not to be found 
 in the dictionaries an a verb neuter ; but hi its active 
 sense, that is, to proportion^ or to reduce to a mean, it has 
 been admitted into Mr. Todd*s edition of Johnson. 
 Averse. 
 
 American writers, till within some years past, gener- 
 ally employed tlie preposition to instead oifroTii with this 
 adjective. Dr. TFitherspoon thinks, that " as averse pro- 
 perly signifies turned away, it seems an evident im- 
 provement, to say averse from ;" f Lectures on Elo- 
 quence, J^ct. 3,J and the Scottish waiters generally 
 seem to have preferred tliis. Dr. Campbell, however, 
 observes, that" the words averse and aversion are more 
 properly constinied with to than with from. The exam- 
 ples in favour of the latter preposition, are beyond com- 
 parisoii outnumbered by those in favour of the former. 
 The argument from etymology is here of no value, be- 
 ing taken from the use of another language. If by the 
 same rule we were to regulate all nouns and verbs of 
 Latin original, our present syntax would be overturn- 
 ed." Camjyh. Rhet. B. ii. ch. 2. § 1. not. Mr. 
 Todd has the following remarks upon it : <* Very fi-e- 
 quentlv, but improperlv [used with] to. Dr. Johnson 
 
 6
 
 says ; luiU .'US I ampbcll in liis I'hilosophy of Rhetoric, 
 ohsrrvcs, //•(>»« is the Latin idiom ; and fo is more a- 
 i^rt'rabli' lo llic analo.i;}- of our lanejuagc ; dislike and 
 hatred, words synonvmons witli avcrseness and axer- 
 sioiu bi'ini; so fonstrued. Perhaps a number of exam- 
 ples with from to averse and aversion^ before Claren- 
 don, miefht be bront^ht to shew its prevalence then over 
 the u.sa,s;(> of lo. But the latter seems now to prevail.'* 
 Toild'a Jo/in.snn. 
 Awful. Disagreeable, ugly. JS''e7V England. 
 
 In New Englaiul many pc^ople would call a disa- 
 greeable medicine, airfiil ; an ugly woman, an awjul- 
 looking woman : a perverse, ill-natured cliild,that diso- 
 beys his pai'cnts, would be said to behave awjidly; &c. 
 This word, liowever, is never used except in conversation, 
 and is far from being so common in the &6a-;;or/s now, as 
 it was some years ago. A late English travellei* has the 
 following remarks upon tiiis, among other words : <» I 
 found in several instances that tlie co»?i/n/-])eople of 
 Vermont and other New England states make use of 
 many curious phrases and quaint expressions in their 
 conversation, whicii arc i*endered more remai'kable by 
 a sort of naaal twang which they have in speaking.* 
 
 • This nasal tiuang, as Mr. Lam'oert oljsei'ves, is very common in 
 N'ew En^^lind, among the " coM«<rj/-peoplc.*' In the sea-port towns 
 also, people of all classes undoubtedly have a slower and more delib- 
 erate manner of speaking than the English ; and, in some instances, 
 tliey fall in'.o a dra-.vliitg pronunciation. An American, however, is 
 tiot likely to be sensible of this, unless he has been absent from his 
 countrv for some time, and liis ear has been familiarized to the pronun- 
 ciation of Englishmen. Our peculiarities in pronvnciation (as well as 
 in expregaions) would afford a subject for many remarks ; but it is not 
 witiiin ti»e plan of the present work to notice them. Indeed, this is 
 becoming the less necessary every day ; as there is a general and in- 
 creasing disposition to regulate our pronunciation by that of JValher.
 
 43 
 
 Every thing that creates surprise is aYf^/tf/ with them ; <what 
 an awfid wind ! awful hole ! awful bill ! awful mouth ! aw- 
 ful nose !* "* &c. Travels thrmigh Canada and the United 
 States, by John Lambert, London 181 i ; vol. ii. p. 505. 
 
 Back and forth. Backwards and forwai'ds. Ex. He 
 was walking back and forth. 
 
 Tills is a very common expression in JS^cw England; 
 but it is used only in conversation. 
 
 Backwoodsmen. 
 
 A name given by the people of the commercial towns 
 in the United States, to those who inhabit the territory 
 westward of the Allegany mountains. '• The project of 
 transmuting the classes of American citizens and con- 
 Terting sailors into backwoodsmen, is not too monstrous 
 for speculatists to conceive and desire." Works of Fisher 
 Ames, p. 1M<. 
 
 This word is commonly used as a term of reproach 
 (and that, only in the familiar style,) to designate those 
 people, who, being at a distance from the sea and entire- 
 ly agricultural, are considered as either hostile or indifter- 
 ent to the interests of the commercial states. 
 
 Balance. 
 
 This mercantile word is much used by the people of 
 the Southern States in conversation, as a general term 
 signifying the remainder of any thing. Ex. I spent a 
 part of the evening at a friend's house, and the balance 
 at home : A quaiiier part of the army were killed and 
 the balance taken prisoners, kc. Tho w ord is also olten 
 used in the debates of Congress, as I am informed (but 
 only by the Southern members) in the following manner : 
 A member moves, that the first section of a hill sliould 
 be amended, and the balance of the bill struck out. 
 
 ' It Is applied, not to what creates narprisc, but diililce, or dis^'u-^l.
 
 44 
 
 Banditti, 
 
 Tilt' use of this word, as a noun of the singular niim 
 bcr, in Judge MnnhnWs Life of Washington, is censured 
 in <he dnnual Itexiciv (vol. vii. p. 2i.l.) as one of the 
 faults in the language of that work. The pjissage allu- 
 ded to hy the reviewera is this: "The expulsion or sup- 
 pression of a banditti of tories collecting on Long IsU 
 and." Life of H'as/i. vcd. ii. p. 285. Judge Marshall 
 more couimonly uses it as a pleural noun : " The perpetra- 
 toi-sof the late murdei-s vvurcbamlitH composed of Creeks 
 and Cherokees." v(d. v. p. 281. But it is sometimes used 
 as a singular noun hy the writers of Great Britain : " On 
 Jiis return from Rcnne, knowing that he was way-laid 
 by a banditti," bcc. Jndreivs's History of G. Britain^ aoI. 
 i. p. 22!) ,• as Cited in B. Crif. iv. p. 515. And the fol- 
 lowing instance is from a distinguished English review : 
 <' It was indeed a noble triumph of a ferocious banditti 
 in arms over helpless women," &c. Brit. Crit. vol. ii.p. 245, 
 BiNK-Biut. A bank-note. 
 
 It is remarkable that neither Dr. Johnson, nor thf 
 other lexicographers have the term bank-7ioie, though 
 they all have ha.\\k-bill, which Johnson defines — " a note 
 for money laid up in a bank, at the sight of which the 
 money is paid." His authority is a passage from SwifVs 
 V ill — « Let three hundred pounds be paid her out of my 
 ready money or bank-bills." The same phraseology 
 occurs in another pai't of the will ; but it is not certain 
 that Sivift (or the scrivener who drew his will) intended 
 by bank-bills what arc now called bank-notes in England, 
 as \\ ill piTscntly appeal' ; if he did, however, the term 
 bank-note was then also in use; and, at the present day, 
 is the only name given to what are called bank-&i//s in 
 *9merica. See Rees^s Cyclopedia, aHicle bank of eiv- 
 GLAXD. In the American additions to that work, however, 
 Bank-6iW is generally used.
 
 45 
 
 The term hank-hill seems to have been used formerly 
 h\ England to denote a bank security, which differed in 
 some respects from common bank-notes. From a case 
 before Lord Holt in the year 1698 (just after the bank of 
 England was incorporated) it seems, that the hunk-bills 
 were issued in the real names of the original holders, and 
 were renewed, on request, in tl*e names of the subsequent 
 owners. See 1 Lord Raymond^ s Beports, 738. It will 
 appear also from the following authority, that there was 
 another difference between bills and notes : — " Upon this 
 the credit of the bank [of England] recovered immediate- 
 ly, until in a few weeks their 7iotes, w liich bore no interest, 
 Avere equal with money ; and their hills, that bore interest, 
 better than money." Tindal*s Continuation of Rapin*s 
 Hist, of Engl. vol. iii. p. 335, folio edit. The English 
 statutes for preventing forgeries of the bank-securities 
 also use both the terms ; and, apparently, to signify two 
 different things. 
 
 An English friend has given me the following re- 
 marks on this subject : " The practice of the Bank of 
 England has possibly varied at different periods. For 
 many years past their current paper has been payable to 
 the bearer of it, and called Bank-notes. But bills are 
 occasionally issued by this bank to accommodate spe- 
 cific individuals, who wish to send a form of bank-paper 
 by post, which requires endorsement; and these are 
 called Bank post-bills. There is but one incorporated 
 banking institution for England and Wales; and the 
 banks of associated individuals in these two countries 
 (which in no case can have moie than six partners) 
 issue paper bearing different names, according to the 
 objects of it. Various departments of the English gov- 
 ernment issue paper bearing the nixma of hills ; as Ex- 
 chequer bills, Mivij bills, kc.'' JL
 
 46 
 
 Barbrc ur. T\'icd in the SoulluTii slatoi. 
 
 T\w f»)ll<)winc; cxtrart from the work of an Eugli 
 travtlltr in Anu lie a will explain the meaning of thLi| 
 trnn, and at llio sanu' timo vindiratc Iho pcopif of Vi 
 e;inia Ironi tin" caliiiniru's of prejudiced foreigncn 
 ♦' Moms, de >N illd, in his French translation of the^ 
 travels, makes the f()lIo\vinj^ obsci'vation upon the woi 
 hnrhacne : — ' Cet amusement l)arbarc consistr a foucttei 
 les pons Jusqu' a la mort ])our en rendre la chair ])lu8 
 delicate. J<' lie sache pas que les cannibales memes le 
 pratiquent.'* In Justice to the inhabitants of Virginia, 
 I nmst beg leave to observe, that such a cruel and inhu- 
 man act was never, to my knowledge at least, practised 
 in that country. A barbaciie is nothing more than a 
 porket killed in tlie usual way, stuffed with spices and 
 other rich ingredients, and basted with Madeira wine. 
 It is esteemed a very great delicacy, and is, I believe, a 
 costly dish.'* Buruabifs Travels in J^orth Jlmerka^ 3d 
 edit. 4to, liondon 1798, p. 29. This term, however, is 
 not pccidiar to the United States ; it is used in the 
 Jf'est Inilies also. See Johmon^s Dictionary. 
 To Base. To found, to build upim as a basis. 
 
 A f<'w of our writers have adopted this Gallicism ; 
 but it is not in common use. The English verb to base 
 (according to Dr. Johnson) signifies "to make less valu- 
 able by admixture of meaner metals ; figuratively, to 
 degrade." But it is obsolete. 
 Be. 
 
 This was formerly much used in JVew England in- 
 stead of am and «re, in plu'ases of this kind : Be you 
 ready ? Be you going ? 1 be, &c. It w as also common in 
 
 • Trannlation. This barbarovis amusement is, whipping' hogs to 
 deatli, in order to make their flesh the more delicate. I do not know tliat 
 even cannibiils practise it.
 
 47 
 
 .J^gland, as long ago as when our ancestors left that 
 country ; and is often used in the Bihle : " They that he 
 with us are more than they that be with them." 2 Kings, 
 yi. 16 ; and in various other places. It is still used in 
 some of the provincial dialects of England. A writer in 
 •the Monthly Magazine (for Sept. 1814, p. 126) observes, 
 /that the people of Somersetshire " make use of the word 
 be nearly through the whole of the present tense of the 
 Terb to be ; as I he, tliou beest, (pronounced bist,) he is ; 
 .we, you, they 6e." And Mr. Marshall says, that " be is 
 generally used for is in Gloucestershire." See his Ru- 
 ral Eco7iom,y of Gloucestershire. The use of be is not so 
 common in JV*ew England at tlie present day, as it was 
 jBome years ago ; it is seldom heard now, except in the 
 interior towns or among the vulgar. The vulgar, in- 
 deed, also frequently employ it instead of the auxiliary 
 to have ; as, be you got it, for have you got it. 
 
 Dr. Witherspoon notices also, as an Americanism, the 
 omission of this verb in expressions like the following : 
 " These things were ordered delivered to tlie army," for 
 ordered to be delivered, &c. He then adds — " I am not 
 certain whether this is a local expression, or general, in 
 America." Druid, No. 5. This omission of to he is, 
 I tliink, rare at the present day. 
 EAKER. A tumbler. 
 
 Not many years ago this word was in common use 
 in J\'ew England, and, I believe, in some otlier parts of 
 the United States ; but it is now seldom heard except 
 among old people. It is in the dictionaries, but I lu'ver 
 heard it in England. A correspondent, however, ob- 
 serves, that "it has been occasionally used in some parl» 
 of England so low dowii as within half a century." Jl. 
 
 Bailey defines it simply " a drinking-cup," and gives 
 the etymology of it as follo\v s : '• Probably of Bcker,
 
 48 
 
 Jhilch ; Hi'< k(>i', (ievm.; Baker, iVHY.; wlieiicc liacrio, 
 Uitr Soo the folio edit, of Bailey, of 1736. But Dr. 
 Johnson derives it from hcak^ and defines it» «* a cup with 
 a siM)ut in the form of a hird's heak." Mr. Todd how- 
 ever observes, that '' both his etymolo,^ and definition 
 are incorrect. Our word is the Genu. hecheVf a cup; 
 Ital. bicchiere ; low Lat. haccharium, fancifidly derived 
 from Bacchus. V. Du Gauge. J3icfeer in the Northumb. 
 dialect, is a quart vessel, about two inches and a half 
 de^p, made with small staves or hoops." Todd's Johnson. 
 Every traveller in Holland must have observed, that the 
 Mord beker is a common name there for a iumblerf or 
 dri)iking cup. 
 
 To Belittle. 
 
 A well-known Englisli Review, in enumerating the 
 faults of our writers, tluis mentions tliis, among other 
 words : " President Jefferson [talks] of belittling the 
 l)roductions of nature." ^uart. Rev. vol. x. p. 528. 
 Tiie passage here alluded to, is in Mr. Jefferson's JVotes 
 on Virginia, ^uery 6th. The word is sometimes heard 
 here in conversation ; but in writingf it is, I believe, pecu- 
 liar to that gentleman. 
 
 liFSTowMENT. " The art of conferring." JTebst. Diet. 
 
 This word is often heard from the pulpit, and has 
 sometimes appeared in print. It has been noticed by 
 one of our rcviewei's, as a word " used without any au- 
 thority," in a work published a few years ago. See a 
 review of Discourses on Public Occasions illustrating the 
 principles, ^'c. of Free Masonry, by Thaddeus Jlf. Harris s 
 in the New York American Itevicw, vol. i. p. 349. 
 
 I do not find the word in any of the dictionaries, 
 except the English part of Ainsworth's. Mr. Todd, in 
 his edition of Johnson, has bestowal, (for which, however, 
 he cites no authority.) but not bistoxvment.
 
 49 
 
 Bkttekmexts. (Generally used in the plural number.) 
 The improvements made on new lands, by cultivation, 
 and the erection of buildings, &c. 
 
 This term was first used, as I have understood, in 
 the State of Vermont ; but it has for a long time been 
 common in the State of J\"tw Hampshire : And it has 
 been getting into use in some parts of JUassadmseitSf 
 since the passing of the late law, similar to the Better- 
 ment Ads (as they are called) of the states abovemeu- 
 tioned. It is not to be found in Mr ff^ebstefSf nor in 
 any of the English dictionaries that I have seen, except 
 Ash*s ; and there it is called " a bad word." It is thus 
 noticed by an English traveller in this country, in speak- 
 ing of those people w ho enter upon new lands without any 
 right and proceed to cultivate them : « These men de- 
 mand either to be left owners of the soil or paid for their 
 betterments^ that is, for what they have done towards 
 clearing the ground." Travels in the United States, by 
 E. A, Kendall, vol. iii. p. 160. 
 
 BlUFF. 
 
 This is noticed by a late English traveller as an 
 Americanism: *< The town of Savannah is budt upon an 
 open sandy plain, which forms a cliff, or, as the Ameri- 
 cans term it, a bluff, by the shore, about fifty feet above 
 the level of the river." Travels in Canada and the 
 United Slates, by John Lambert, vol. ii. p. 263. London, 
 181i. The term is not in the dictionaries. 
 
 This is, however, a well-known nautical terra among 
 i\\c English: "Bluff; a bluff or high land." Vocabulary 
 of Sea Phrases ^-c. by a Captain of the British JSliivy. 
 London, 1799. The dictionaries all have bluff as an ad- 
 jective. 
 
 BoATABLE. "Navigal)le with boats." fVebst Diet. Ex. 
 *« The Seneca Indians sav, they can walk four times a 
 
 7
 
 .')() 
 
 « 
 
 day from llic InniUililc walors of tlif Alli'i^aiiy to those 
 ol" tlu' 'i'yoga." M^'sc's Jmerican Geogriiphij. 
 
 This word is raroly used hy Americans, and never 
 by Hii^lislimen^ in icriting. A correspondent, however, 
 remarks, that ** in very laiuiliar discourse, it is perhaps 
 used ainoue; fwune of the English ; but it lias scarcely a 
 riqht to be ( aUed a classical word." Jl. It is not in 
 <he dictionai'ies. 
 Boating. '* Conveyinj;, or the practice of transporting in 
 ' boats." Jf'ebst, Did. 
 
 This, as ^ell as the preceding word, seems to be a 
 part of the technical language of boatmen, as carting is 
 of carters, kc. I do not find it noticed by any of the 
 English lexicographers except ^sh. 
 jBook-store. 
 
 The Edinhurgh Revinv notices the use of this term as 
 one of our ])eculiarities : « Tlicir booksellers* shops pass- 
 ing under the name of bonk-storesJ* Ed. Rev. vol. wii, 
 p. i2l. It is common throughout the United States. 
 To Bottom, r. act. 
 
 This verb has been nmch used in the United States, 
 in the debates of our legislative bodies, and has been sup- 
 posed b}' some j)ersons to be an Americanism ; but tliis is 
 not the case. It docs not, however, seem to be much used 
 hy English writers of tlie present day. Dr. Johnson*s 
 autliorities are. Hale, Collins, Atterburyt and Loche ; the 
 last of whom uses it also as a neuter vei-b, in the following 
 senter.cc quoted by Johnson : " Find out upon what 
 foundation any proposition advanced, 6of/onis." [llioughts 
 concertiing Reading and Study.] Burke also uses it both as 
 an active and a neuter verb — <''But an absurd opinion 
 concerning the king's hereditary right to the crown does 
 not prejudice one that is rational and bottomed upon solid 
 principles of law and policy." Burke's Reflections ; vol.
 
 54 
 
 iii. p. 43, of his Works^ Boston edit. "Ail the oblique 
 insinuations concerning election, bottom in this proposi- 
 tion," &c. ibid. p. 33. I have also met with an instance 
 of it in a well-known English review : « Most of our 
 Laws respecting personal rights are bottomed upon it, 
 [i. e. the Roman Law.] Brit. Crit. vol. xxi. p. 17. 
 
 Yet the use of this verb seems to be considered as one 
 of our peculiarities by an English writer, whose " advice 
 to the Americans" (says the Monthly Review') " merits 
 attentive consideration on their part." An English 
 friend, however, observes, that, " notwithstanding the 
 opinion of this writer, bottomed is a sound English word^ 
 if used as in the citation from Burke." A.'^ 
 
 Bottom-lands. 
 
 In Pennsylvania and some other States this name is 
 given to the rich flat land on the banks of rivers, whicli 
 in Mw England is generally called interval-land, or 
 simply interval. A friend observes, that it is " not En- 
 glish ; but colloquially bottoms may be used as a sub- 
 stantive." J. One of Johnson's explanations of Bottom 
 is, " a dale, a valley, a low ground." 
 
 Bii.iCK. ** A breach, a broken part." Johnson. 
 
 This old English word is still used colloqnirdly in 
 many paits of JS^ew England, where it is commonly ap- 
 ])lied to a breach or flaw in a piece of cloth. In England 
 t is provincial at the present day. Home Tooke says of 
 it — « Though Brack, as a noun, is not nmch in fashion at 
 present, it was formerly in good aud common us? : — 
 
 * Tliis and several other wortls are tlms riillculed by the iuitlior 
 quoted in the Montldy Review : " Were it not for my destitution of leis- 
 ure, which oblifjes nie to hasten to tlie occlimion of these p;iges, as 1 fn-o- 
 gresn I sliould bottom my assertion on instances fiom autliors of tlic 
 first grade ; but were I to render my sketcli lengthy, I sliould iUy answer 
 the purpose which I have in view." A Foliticul Sketch of Amevica, cited 
 in the JMonthly lievicw, vol. hi. p. 104.
 
 53 
 
 • Let iiyl a nnitK i' lli'stiifl, or licic and there 
 *Tlic fadlnjj gloss, a jj^L'ucral loss uppcar.* 
 
 7T. (Did Flcfclwr, EpiUi^uc to Vakntinian.^* JJiversions ///' 
 Purlcij, part Z. Tlic London ^Munt/ily Jfagazinc noti( <s 
 it as a proviiirialism of Essex and Somersetshire. 'S; • 
 vols, xxxvii. p. 498, and xxxviii. p. 12(5. 
 
 Brash, lirittle. 
 
 This term is used in some parts of New Eni^land, in 
 speaking ol'ycood, or timljer^ that is brittle. Ex. Tliis piece 
 of timber is very hras/i. 1 do not find brash (in this sense) 
 in any of the dictionaries or glossaiies. Sec Frough. 
 
 Bbeachy. 
 
 This is a common word among the farmers of Mw 
 England, in s{)eaking of oxen, &c. that arc unruly, and 
 apt to break througli their enclosuiTs. 1 do not find it in 
 the dictionaries or glossaries. 
 
 Bread-stuff. Bread-corn, meal, bread. 
 
 *• One groat objcctiim to the condu( t of Britain wa« 
 her prf)liihitory duty on the inij)ortation of bread-stn^', i 
 &:c. ^^larshaU's Life of ff'asliington, vol. v, p. 51I>. 
 
 The Jlnmial Review (vol. vii. p. 2i-i.) points out this 
 as one of the Americanisms of Judge Marshairs work. 
 'Jhe term was first used, I believe, in some of the official 
 papers of our Government, soon alter the adoption of 
 
 the present Constitution : <' The articcs of exports, aic 
 
 bread-stuffs,, that is to say, bread-grains, meals, and 
 bread." Report of the Secretary of State (Mr. Jefferson) 
 on Commercial Restrictions, kc. Dec. 16, 1793. It has 
 probably been the more readily allowed among us, be- 
 f ause we do not, like the English, use the word corn as 
 a general name for all sorts of grain, but apply it almost 
 exclusively to Indian corn, or maize. A friend has fa^ 
 voured me with the following remarks on it: *' Bread- 
 duff' is American. In Jamaica, they have a term foi'
 
 53 
 
 the esculent roots, kc, substituted for bi^ad 5 viz. Bread- 
 kind. Some geiieric term is wanting here in these cases, 
 analogous to lumber, which is the term used for the 
 whole class of rough wooden matenals.*'' Jl. See Corn. 
 To Bridge. 
 
 A peculiar use of this verb in the state of Cmnedi- 
 oit is thus noticed by an English traveller : '• Here a 
 sufficient, though not very agreeable road, is formed by 
 causeys of logs ; or, in the language of the country, it is 
 bridged. R'eiuM^s Travels, vol. i. p. 235. 
 Brief. Prevalent, common, rife. 
 
 This is much used in JS''etv England by the illiterate, 
 in speaking of a rumour or report, as well as of epidemic- 
 al diseases. But as a friend observes, «r//e is oftener 
 used than brief in the case of diseases;** anil I think, 
 brief is not so common in the sea-port towns, as it is in 
 the country. I have not found brief in any of the diction- 
 aries except 5oi/fj/'s; in wiiich it is defined, "common 
 or rife ;'* and is not noted as eitlier an anticpiated or a pro- 
 vincial word. But Grose ranks it among the ;;7'ori«cia^/s}»,N 
 of the ^^orth of England, and remarks, that it is tliere 
 *' spoken of a contagious distemper.'* See the Supjde- 
 ment to his Provincial (jHossanj. A correspondent in- 
 forms me, that britfin used by the illiterate in Virginia, 
 as well as in the JS})rthcrn States ; but oidy in speaking 
 of diseases. It has been generally considered as a mere 
 cori'U]>tion of rfe. 
 Brush. Brushwood; '- loj)ped bramhes of trees." JFcbst. 
 Diet. 
 
 The word brush, in this sense, is not noticed, I believe, 
 by any of the English lexicographeis except Bailcij, wIkssc 
 explanation of it is — *' A bundle of small sticks to liglit a 
 fire." Baileifs Dict.fol. edit. 173(5. In the octavo editions 
 of the Same work, however^ the word is not given in this
 
 54 
 
 sonso ; but llic author hiinsell" usos it under the word 
 bnishment, vhich he defines — ** bnish, or small wood." 
 Urush is, probably, obsolete in England, as applied to 
 siuiill wood, offer it is cut foi" fuel ; but it is still used 
 tliere in speaking of small wood Utat is growing. See 
 Jkcs*s Cyclop, art. Brush. 
 
 To Calcuxate. To expect ; suppose ; think. Ex. I cal- 
 culate he w ill do sucli a thing ; I calculate to leave town 
 tomorrow. 
 
 The use of this, and some other words, in the *' coun- 
 frij towns'* of New England, is thus ridiculed by a late 
 English traveller : " Tlie crops are progressing, says 
 jNathan, though I calculate as how this is a propitious* 
 weedy soil." Lambert" s Travels, vol. ii. p. 506. 
 
 Cax't. See remarks on Jn't. 
 
 To Captivate. " To take prisoner ; to bring into bon- 
 dage." Johnson. 
 
 The use of this word is noticed by the Edinburgh 
 FeriewerSf in their review of the American Mineralogical 
 Journal, published at New York in the year 1810. After 
 mentioning some otlier words, (which will be found in this 
 Vocabulaiy,) they say : " Other examples, proving the 
 alteration to w hich our language has been exposed, chiefly 
 by the introduction of Gallicisms, may be noticed in the 
 rest of the Journal ; resembling expressions found in 
 American newspapers, where for ' a ship taken,'' we 
 read of ' a ship captirated.* The word (in tliis sense) 
 w as so new to me, that in the former edition of this work, 
 I remarked, that I presumed the reviewers were not se- 
 rious in giving this as a real specimen of our style, but 
 intended it (if the expression might be allowed) merely 
 
 • what this word prnpitioua means here, I am at loss to imagine : I 
 iiever heard it used in any expression like tlie one here quoted. I presume 
 'Jiere is an error of the press, and that possibly it should be prodigious.
 
 55 
 
 as a caricature ; and I added, that I had never seen it 
 thus used, even in our new spapers. I have not yet, in- 
 deed, met with it in any of our newspapers ; but, to my 
 great surprise, I have lately found it in the works of two 
 or three of our authors : " Twenty three people were 
 killed in this surprisal, and twenty nine were captivated^' 
 Belknap^s Historij of JVew Hampshire^ vol. i. ch. 10. It 
 has also been used by Dr. Ramsay : " The singularly 
 interesting event of captivating a second royal army 
 [Lord Cornwallis's] produced strong emotions,'* &.c. 
 History of the American Revolution, \i)\. ii. p. 271<. Philad. 
 edit. ±789. From Dr. Ramsay^s histor} , tlie word has 
 been adopted (as a friend first remarked to me) by an 
 estimable writer, whose great modesty has sometimes 
 led her to employ the language of otlier authors in prefer- 
 ence to her own.* But the word is not in general use 
 by American authors. 
 
 The verb to captivate , however, is in the dictionaries in 
 this sense ; and Dr. Johnson gives as authorities, Shaks- 
 peare, King Charles^ and Locke. But, notwithstanding 
 these authorities, American writers would hardly be able 
 to justify the use of it at this day, any more than the 
 well-known Scottish writer. Dr. Geddcs, could the use of 
 the verb to captive, which was justly objected to by the 
 English reviewers. See Brit. Critic, vol. iv. p. 153. 
 Caucus. 
 
 This noun is used througliout the United States, as a 
 cant term for those meetings, which are held by the dii- 
 i'erent political parties, for the purpose of agreeing upon 
 candidates for office, or concerting any measure, which 
 tliey intend to carry at the subsequent p-nhlic, or iou-n- 
 meetings. The earliest account I have seen of this ex- 
 traordinary word is the following, from Gordon*s History 
 
 * Miss Hannali Adams. See her History of New Eng-land, 8vo. edit. 
 p. 471.
 
 30 
 
 of tJif ^hiurican llcvolution, published lit Loudon in the 
 year 1788. 
 
 " 'I'hr word caucus (says the iuithor) and its deriva 
 live cuiicitsiiig, arc often used in liosloti, Tiic last an- 
 swers much to what we style parlianu'iiteering, or el»M - 
 Pioneering. All my repeated ajjplications to different 
 ju;entlenu'n have not i'urnislied nic with a satisfactory ac- 
 count of caucus/ It seems to mean a number of persons, 
 whether more or less, met together to consult upon adopt- 
 ing and prosecuting some scheme of ])olicy for carrying 
 a favoinite ])oint. The word is not (»f novel inveution. 
 More tiian lifty years ago, Mr. Samuel Adams's father 
 and twenty others, one or two from the north end of the 
 town, where all the ship-business is carried on, used to 
 meet, make a Caucus, and lay their plan for introducing 
 ceKain persons into jdaces of trust and power. AVhcn 
 they had settled it, they separated, and used each theii' 
 paiticular influence \vithin his own circle. He and his 
 friends would furnisii themselves with hallots, including 
 the names of the parties fixed upon, which they distri- 
 buted on the days of election. By acting in concert, to- I 
 gether with a careful and extensive distribution of ballots, 
 they generally carried the elections to their own mind. 
 In like manner it was, that Mr. Samuel Adams first be- 
 came a representative for Boston.'* Gordon*s Hist. vol. 
 i. p. 2V0, note. 
 
 An Englisli traveller, (Mr. Kendall) who lias taken 
 notice of many American words, seems to think that this 
 ^'felicitous term^' (as lie ironically calls it) is applied on- 
 ly to party meetings, or consultations, of the members of 
 fhc legislatures in the different states ; but this is not the 
 case. All meetings of parties, for the purpose of con- 
 certing any measures, are called by this name. 
 
 From the above remarks of Dr. Gordan, it shoidd
 
 57 
 
 seem that these meetings were first held in a part of 
 Boston wliere " all the ship-business was carried on ;'* 
 and I had therefore thought it not improhable that Cau- 
 cus might be a corruption of Caulkers, the word meetings 
 being understood. I was afterwards informed by a friend 
 in Salenif that the late Judge Oliver often mention- 
 ed this as the origin of the word ; and upon further in- 
 quiry I find other gentlemen have heard the same in Bos- 
 ton, where the word was first used. I think I have 
 sometimes heard the expression, a caucus meeting, [i. e. 
 
 I caulkers^ meeting.] It need hardly be remarked, that this 
 cant word and its derivatives are never used i n good writing. 
 
 Census. The enumeration of the inhabitants of the United 
 States. 
 
 This term is used by us to denote merely the enumer^ 
 ation of our inhabitants ; which is a departure from the 
 signification of the word in the Latin language, from 
 which we have boiTowed it. In England they still use 
 the old word enumeration, except when speaking of this 
 country. As a technical term, however, Census may be 
 found useful. 
 
 Cent, " A copper coin of the United States, value one 
 hundredth part of a dollar." Webst. Diet. 
 
 Certain. 
 
 Dr. Witherspoon thus censures a mode of using this 
 adjective in America : *' A certain Thomas Benson. 
 The word certain, as used in English, is an indefinite ; the 
 name fixes it precisely, so that there is a kind of con- 
 tradiction in the expression. In England they would 
 gay, a certain person, called or supposed to be Thomas 
 Benson." Druid, No. 5. An English friend, however, 
 observes, that " a phrase like this, * a certain Thomas 
 Benson,' stands well in common talk among the English ; 
 and may pass occasionally into books." A, 
 8
 
 5» 
 
 CllAlR. 
 
 In the Southern States this name is given to thatkini 
 of one-horse pleasure-carriage, which in the JVortlwri 
 States is generally called hy the old English name, chaise. 
 A iViend has remarked to me, that " Chair is a wel 
 known term in England lor a carriage in use with souk 
 of the English gently, having no top and oidy t\\( 
 wheels.'* Jl. 
 Checkers or CiiEquERs. The common name in tlie JVortli- 
 ern (and perhaps some other) States, for the game, whi( I 
 in England is called Draughts. 
 
 Jlsh has the ancient word " Checkerc''' for the chess 
 hoard, (for which he cites Chancer,) hut marks it as obso- 
 lete. The board is also called a c/iecfcer-board in those 
 parts of this country where the game is called checkers. 
 " In England (as a friend remarks) this is commonly 
 called a Draught-hoard ; and when applied to the play^ 
 ing of chess it is called a Chess-board.** .9. 
 Chirk, adj. " In a comfortable state, cheerful. JVew Eng- 
 land." Wehst. Did. 
 
 Mr. Webster (in another of his works) after observ- 
 ing upon the corrupt change of a final p into k in anoth- 
 er word, makes the following remark upon the word 
 chirk — " By a similar change of tlie last consonant, chirk 
 is used for chirj), to make a cheerful noise. This word is 
 wholly lost except in New England. It is there used for 
 comfortably, bravely, cheerful ; as when one inquires about 
 a sick person, it is said, he is chirk. Chirp is still used 
 to express the singing of birds, but the chirk of New 
 F'ngland is not undei-stood, and therefore derided. Four 
 hundred years ago it was a polite term : 
 
 ' And klsseth hire swete, and chirketh as a sparwe 
 ' Witli his lippes.'— C/joj/c. Somp. Tale, 7386." 
 
 Webster's Dissertations on the English Language^ p. 387.
 
 59 
 
 The verb chirk is not noticed, I believe, by any of the 
 ■ I British lexicographers except Bailey, (who also cites Chau- 
 cer as his autliority for it,) and ^sh. They, however, have 
 to chirp, in the sense of to make cheerful ; and some of them, 
 in the sense of to become cheerful. 
 R It should be remarked, that the adjective chirk is us- 
 
 ed only in the interior of New England ; and even there, 
 I think, only by the illiterate. It is never heard in the 
 sea-port towns. 
 I Chore. << A small job, domestic work." Webst. Diet. 
 
 Mr. Webster remarks, that " Chore, a corruption of 
 char, is an Englisli word, still used in many parts of Eng- 
 land, as a char-man, a char-woman ; but in America, it 
 is perhaps confined to J^ew England. It signifies small 
 domestic jobs of work, and its place cannot be supplied 
 by any other single word in the language." Dissertations 
 en the English Language, p. 112. 
 
 Char, both as a verb and a nonn, is in all the English 
 dictionaries, and is not mentioned as either out of use, or 
 provincial. But Gi^ose has it in his Glossary, as one of the 
 provincialisms of the JVbrth of England. "Char^ a 
 particular business or task. That char is charred, that 
 job is dons ; I luive a little char for you. Hence char- 
 woman, and going out charing." He adds, that it is 
 *< pronounced in Wilts, a cheure,** which apjn'oachcs to 
 our word chore. Walker says of it, " In Ireland they 
 seem to have retained the genuine pronunciation of this, 
 as well as many other old English words ; I mean that 
 which is agreeable to the orthography, and rhyming w ith 
 tar. In English it is generally heard like chair to sit on, 
 I and its compound char-woman like chair-woman.*' See 
 
 also Diversions of Purley. 
 Christianization. 
 
 This substantive (as an obliging friend first remarked
 
 60 
 
 to mo) is to br found orrasionally in our religious publica- 
 tions. T\w verb to christianize, which is in the dictiona- 
 rios, is in use among the English writei's; butthiss»6-! 
 stantive, I believe, is never employed by them 
 Chunk. 
 
 Dr. Witherspoon thus notices this word : " Chunks, 
 that is brands, half- burnt wood. This is customary in 
 tlie Middle Colonies.'* Lriddf No. 7. It is also used in 
 the JVbrthern States, to signify a thick, short block or bit 
 of wood. In England it is provincial : « Chuck ; a girat 
 chip. Sussex. In other counties they call it a Chunk.'* 
 Raifs South and East Country TFords. Grose says it is 
 also called in some counties a junk. See his Prov. Gloss, 
 The vulgar in this country also (by whom these words 
 are chiefly used) say junk and chunk; and from this last 
 substantive they have formed the adjective chunky^ which 
 they often apply to the stature of a person ; as, he is a 
 short, chunky man. The English dictionaries have nei- 
 ther c/ihti/c nor junk; but all of them have c/t?<mp, in the 
 sense in question. 
 Church. 
 
 This word in .Tohnson*s third signification (that is, a 
 place of worship) is generally used in Mw- England, to 
 denote the places of worship of the Episcopalians, as they 
 are here called. The places of worship of the other de- 
 nominations of Christians are called Meeting-houses. In 
 the Southern States, I believe, the word Church is used by 
 Christians of all denominations. 
 
 A Church, as a body of persons (to adopt the remarks 
 of a correspondent) " is distinguished in New England 
 fi'om a Congregation, by the privileges which the former 
 in general reserve to themselves of receiving exclusively 
 in that church the sacrament and baptism ; in conse- 
 rpience of their having publicly declared their assent to
 
 61 , 
 
 the creed which that church maintains. Marriage, bu- 
 rial, and public worship, are open to the members of the 
 congregation at large, according to the forms and meth- 
 ods employed in each church ; as are also catechizing 
 for children and visits to the sick." .^. See Member of 
 the Church. 
 
 CiTESS. 
 
 This word, as well as citizenness, was used in Amer- 
 ica during the first years of the French Revolution, as a 
 translation of the Revolutionary title Citoijenne ; but 
 it has for several years been wholly disused. It has been 
 considered by some of the English reviewers as a word 
 of American origin : The British Critic, after entering its 
 " protest against the new fangled term of Citixienness,^* 
 (which was used by an English translator of Madame 
 Roland's Jppeal,') says : " The Americans have coined 
 the term CitesSf which is better. See our account of the 
 Bone to gnaw. But we hope not to see any jargon of 
 the kind adopted." B. Cnt. vol. vii. p. 267 ; for Aprils 
 iroi. Citess, however, in the sense of " a city woman," 
 is in Johnson's and the other English dictionaries : But it 
 is there said to be " peculiar to Uryden." 
 
 Civ ISM. Patriotism, attachment to the public welfare." 
 Webst. Diet. 
 
 This, like the preceding word, is one of the produc- 
 tions of the Frencli Revolution; and, though frequently 
 used several years ago, is now obsolete here as well as in 
 France. I think it was not more used by Jlmencan tlian 
 by English writers. None of the lexicographers, I be- 
 lieve, except Mr. Webster, have noticed it. Sec Inciv- 
 ism. 
 
 CiAPBOARD. " A narrow board used to cover huildings." 
 Webst. Diet. 
 
 In England a clapboard is a " board foimed ready
 
 62 
 
 toj- the coopn\$ use, in ordor to make casks or vessels." 
 See liailcifs Dictionary ^ and Iiccs*s CydopadiUf articles 
 
 H0 4KI) and CLAFBOARD. 
 C'l.KVKK. 
 
 I'll is word is in constant use throughout New Eni; 
 land, in a sense very difl'eient from the English. Tlio 
 follow ijii; remarks of Dr. M'itlierspoon will explain the 
 ^imerican and tlie English significations : 
 
 ** He is a very clever man. She is quite a clever wo- 
 man. How often are these phrases to be heard in con- 
 vei*sation ? Their meaning, however, would certainly 
 be mistaken A\hen heai'd for the first time by one born in 
 Britain. In these cases Americans generally mean by 
 clever, only goodness of disposition, worthiness, integrity, 
 V ithout the least irgard to capacity ; nay, if I am not 
 mistaken, it is frequently applied where there is an ac- 
 knowledged simplicity or mediocrity of capacity. But 
 in Britain^ clever always means capacity, and may be 
 joined either to a good or bad disposition. We say of 
 a man, he is a clever man, a clever tradesman, a clever 
 fellow, \\ithout any reflections upon his moral character, 
 yet at the same time it carries no approbation of it. It 
 is exceeding good English, and very common to say, Ho 
 is a clever fellow, but I am sorry to say it, lie is also a 
 great rogue. AV'hen cleverness is applied primarily to 
 conduct and not to the pei-son, it generally carries in it 
 the idea of art or chicanery not very honourable ; for 
 example — Such a plan I conless was very clever, i. e. 
 sly, artful, well conti-ived, but not Acry fair," Druid, 
 M. 5. 
 
 In speaking of any thing but man we use the word 
 much as the English do. We say a clever horse, 6cc.; 
 and it is not uncommon to see in the London news-papers, 
 advertisements in tliis form — «' To be sold a clever grey
 
 68 
 
 gelding," &c. Dr. Jolinson observes, tliat it « is a low 
 word, scarcely ever used but in burlesque or conversa- 
 tion, and applied to any thing a man likes, without a 
 settled meaning." 
 
 €leverlt. 
 
 This is much used in some parts of A'*ew England 
 instead of well or very well. In answer to the common 
 salutation. How do ymi do, we often hear, I am cleverly. 
 It is also applied (as a correspondent observes) to other 
 things, as well as to health ; and " means either adroitly 
 or exactly ; according to the case." .^. Tliis latter use 
 of the word, however, I think is not peculiar to Amer- 
 icans. 
 
 Clitcht. Clammy, sticky, glutinous. 
 
 I have heard this word used in a few instances by old 
 people in New England ; but it is very rarely heard. In 
 Devonshire, in England, tliey have the provincial word 
 clatchy, in this sense ; and it is doubtless the same word, 
 a little varied in the pronunciation. See London Month- 
 ly Magazine, for Jan. 1809, p. 545. 
 
 Closure. A shutting up ; a closing. 
 
 I have never seen this word but once in any Jlmerican 
 publication — ^'^Very soon after the closure of our ports, I 
 did submit to the consideration of the senate a proposition," 
 &.C. Letter to the Hon. H. G. Otis, by the Hon. J. Q. Adams, 
 Boston, 1808. The use of the word was objected to by 
 one of our own critics, in *' Remarks and Criticisms** ou 
 this Letter, (published in the New York Evening Post) 
 in the following terms : " We object, too, to his new word, 
 closure, as it is at best a superfluous word, and has no 
 support in analogy." Dr. Johnson has the word closure, 
 upon the authority of /?o?//e; but it seems to be rarely, 
 if ever, used by the writers of the present day.
 
 04 
 
 ClothiiuK. a i'ullor ; ♦• one who fulls and scours clotlia ; 
 in EngUind, a maker of cloths.'* TVehst. Diet. 
 
 Dr. Jolmson's quotatiim from Shakspeare shews that 
 the sij;iiirnati()us of clothier aii(l/it//t'r, in England, were 
 at tliat time the same as they arc there at the present 
 day: 
 
 "The clothiers all, not able to maintain 
 The many to them 'longing, have put off 
 The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers." 
 
 It is to be observed, that altliough we use clothier for ful- 
 Icr, yet the place, where the cloth is cleansed and dressed, Jl 
 is called a/u//i«5--mill. ** 
 
 To Come. See remarks on the verb To Arrive. 
 
 Companioning. Used in the following passage of an Amer- 
 ican poem : 
 
 " Azora's voice, 
 
 Compamoning, far sweeter than its own." 
 
 Upon which one of our own writers makes this remark : 
 *' Companioning is a word invented without taste, low 
 and unpoetical." Review of Linn*s Valerian, a narrative 
 poem, in the Monthly Anthologij for 1807, p. 321. The 
 word was never used in this country, I presume, by any 
 body but the inventor. 
 
 CoMPosuisT. A writer, composer. 
 
 TMs extraordinary word has been much used at some 
 of our colleges, but very seldom elsewhere. It is now 
 rarely heard among us. A correspondent observes, that | 
 " it is used in England among musicians.'* Ji. I have 
 never met with it in any English publications upon the 
 subject of music. 
 
 To CoMPROMiT. To commit, expose, hazard. Ex. The 
 government comp'omitted itself: The minister compro- 
 mitted the welfare of his country, &c. 
 
 This word has been frequently used in the oflScial leti
 
 65 
 
 tcP3, which have been published by oiir Government j 
 and it has probably (like the French verb compromettref 
 from which we derive it) be.en considered as an author- 
 ized diplomatic term. In the former edition of this Vo- 
 cobulary I remarked, that it was sometimes used by Eng- 
 lish writers. But a correspondent says, << Compromitf 
 twenty years ago, was never used in England ; and per- 
 haps it stands equally rejected there at the present mo- 
 ment in conversation ; as it certainly does with regard to 
 authors." He adds, that the verb <• compromise is used 
 in the best English society." J. This last verb often 
 occurs in the Debates of Parliament : " He denied that 
 the good faith of Great Bi'itain had been compromised by 
 any of the territorial cessions which had taken place.'* 
 Speech of Lord Castlereagh March 20, 1815. Th« Eng- 
 lish, until lately, used the verb to commit, which, however^ 
 is not in any of the dictionaries (in this sense) except 
 Walker's; and there it is said to have been "first used 
 in Junius's letters." 
 
 To Concur. 
 
 A corresjwndent has reminded me of a peculiar use 
 of this verb, which is not uncommon in some of the North- 
 ern States. Ex. " The house of Representatives has 
 passed a Resolve or liill ; it will not be concurred by the 
 Senate :" i. e. The Senate will not concur with the House 
 in passing it. 
 
 To Conduct. 
 
 This verb is much used in New P^ngland, in conver- 
 sation, without the reciprocal pronoun : Ex. He con- 
 ducts well, instead of, he conducts himself well. It is fre- 
 quently used in this manner also by our writers : " There 
 were times when he was obliged to exert all his fortitude, 
 prudence and candour, to conduct so as not to give of- 
 fence." ElioVs JVew England Biographical Dictionaryf 
 9
 
 1)0 
 
 p. '29. But this <• coriMjpt idiom" (as an Ent^lisli travel- 
 lir Justly rails if) is not so firmly ostablislicd here, as 
 to have entirely excluded the correct English idiom. " You 
 will conduct yonrficlf in the oflicc of an attorney," &c. 
 Momeifs oath, in JMassdchusctts Slat, of 1785, c. 23. And 
 in the valuahle work of Dr. K. just cited, the verh is 
 sometimes used ycilli, as ■well as without, the pronoun : 
 »• No man could have conducted himself in tins office bet- 
 ter." p. li. It is also constantly used with the pronoun 
 in a late work, of a New England scliolar, of giTat pu- 
 rity of style : " In every thing which is innocent or indif- 
 fv-rent they should permit him to conduct himself by his 
 own discretion." Sermons on particular occasions, Boston, 
 1S12, p. ±\. The writers of G. Britain invariably nsc 
 it in this manner. " But in what manner will the House 
 co'iiduct itself?" Fox's Hist. James II. p. 3. " They took 
 and pillaged several cities, conducting themselves all tho 
 while, in such a maimer," &c. Robertson*s Charles V. 
 vol. ii. p. 359. Philad. ed. Dr. Johnson also defines the 
 verb behave, in these words — " to conduct one's selff* and 
 be further remarks, that the verb behave also is « used 
 almost alwa} s with the reciprocal pronoun." 
 2b Conflagrate. Ex. " With the exception of conflagra- 
 ting the navy -yard." 
 
 On this, and some other words, an English friend 
 remarks — " They are so obviously uncouth and ridicu- 
 lous, that I think they will do little injury, and must be 
 considered as peculiar to the quaintness or ignorance of 
 the single writer that we first obsene them in." This 
 word is very rarely to be found in American publica- 
 tions : I have never met with it except in the instance 
 above quoted, which was in a newspaper. It is not in 
 the dictionaries.
 
 67 
 
 Congress. 
 
 This word, originally a common name, and still so us- 
 ed in England, has w ith us become a proper name. We, 
 of course, use it without the article ; hut English MTiters, 
 in speaking of Ameiican affairs, generally use it -with 
 the article. 
 
 Congressional. Ex, " The conflict between Congressional 
 and State authority originated with the creation of those 
 authorities." Marshall's Life of Tf'ashington, vol. v. p. 35i. 
 An American writer calls this one of the " barbar- 
 isms in common use with us." See Monthly Jlnthologijf 
 vol. vii. p. 263. An English correspondent, however, 
 observes — " The term Congress belonging to America, 
 the Americans may employ its derivatives, without wait- 
 ing for the assent of the English. Congressional is analo- 
 gous to parliamentary in some respects." Ji. 
 
 To Consider. 
 
 The use of this verb, without as after it, is thus crit- 
 icised by Dr. Witherspoon : " I do not consider myself 
 equal to this task. The word as is wanting. I am not 
 certain m hether this may not be an English vulgarism, 
 for it is frquently used by the renowned author of Com- 
 mon Sense, who is an Englishman born ; but he has so 
 iiappy a talent of adopting the blunders of others, that 
 nothing decisive can be inferred from his practice. It 
 is, however, undoubtedly an Americanism, for it is used 
 by authors greatly superior to him in eveiy respect." 
 Druid, No. 5. This idiom sometimes occurs in English 
 writers. 
 
 Considerable. 
 
 This word is still fjequeiitly used in the manner 
 pointed out by Ur. AVithersjxKui in tli<' following remark : 
 ** He is considerable of a surveyor ; considerable of it may 
 be found in the country. This maimer of speaking 
 jwevails in the nortliern parts." Dniid, No. 7.
 
 ()8 
 
 Coxsori VTinx. 
 
 This tonn, which signifies (as Mr. Webster explains 
 it) " a convention of pastors and messengers of churches," 
 is used in Connecficut ; and I had supposed it to be pe- 
 culiar to that State ; at least, in the sense in question. 
 But I find (as a clerical fiiend first informed me) that 
 it was used in tlK' *« Result of the Synod" at Boston in 
 the year 1662 ; thougli pei'ha])s, not exactly in the sense 
 which it has in Conncdkul : " Consociation of churches, 
 is their mutual and solemn agreement to exercise com- 
 munion in such acts as aforesaid, amongst themselves, 
 witli special reference to tliose churches, which by Prov- 
 idence are ])Iaced in a convenient vicinity, though ^vith 
 liberty reserved without offence, to make use of others, 
 as the nature of the case, or the advantage of opportunity 
 may lead thereunto." Question ii. Tlie word, however, 
 is not in use in Jlassaduisetts at the present day. 
 
 Constable. 
 
 The follow ing distinction is made by Mr. Websterj 
 betvveeen the English and American significations of this 
 w ord : " In England, a governor or commander ; in Jimtr- 
 ica, a town-officer of the peace with the powers of an 
 under-sheriff." A writer in the Monthly Anthology speaks 
 of this as " an idle attempt to exhibit a distinction be- 
 tween them." Entick and other lexicographers define 
 constable, ** a kind of peace-officer ;" and it is the fact, I 
 believe, that in many of the cities, boroughs, and other 
 local jurisdictions in England, they have peace officers 
 called constables, whose powers are not mateiially, if at 
 all, different from those of our constables. 
 
 Consternated. 
 
 I never met with this uncommon word in the wi'itings 
 of any Americans, except in the follow ing instance : " When 
 it was found that General Hampton w as not at St. Regis,
 
 69 
 
 his place of rendezvous, all ranks were consiernaiedJ* 
 Letter from an officer in Gen TVilkinson^s army, in Dec, 
 1813. The only English dictionary, in which I find it, 
 is Jisli's ; and it is there said to he *' not sirfficientlif au- 
 thoriz^ed.'* 
 Constituted authorities. 
 
 The officers of government collectively, in a king- 
 dom, city, town, ^c. This expression has heen adopted 
 by some of our writers from the vocabulary of the French 
 Revolution. " Neither could he perceive danger to liber- 
 ty except from the constituted antJionties, and especially 
 from the executive." Marsh. Life of Washing, vol. v. p. 
 354. The English, I think, have used it only in trans- 
 lations from the French. 
 Constitutionality. 
 
 " The state of being agreeable to the constitirtion, or 
 of affecting the constitution." Wcbst. Diet. " The ar- 
 gument upon this question has naturally divided [itself] 
 into two pai-ts, the one of expediency, the other of consti- 
 tutionality.'* Debates in Congress, on the Judiciary hill 
 in 1802, p. 76. 
 
 This word is not in Johnson nor Mason ; nor have I 
 been able to find it in any other English dictionary. I 
 do not recollect it in any Englisli publications. The 
 adjective constitutional is used in England as well as in 
 this country. 
 Contemplation. 
 
 A distinguished foreigner, \\]\o resided in England 
 many years, and is well acquainted with the language* 
 upon his arrival in this country, was struck with tlie 
 frequent recurrence of this Mord in conversation ; as, 
 ♦' 1 have it in contemplation to do such a thing ; for, 1 
 intend to do such a thing." I'he expression is not un- 
 common in English ;m6/ic'«fio7Js;thougli 1 do not recollect
 
 70 
 
 it in conversation. A coiTospondcnl remarks, that it ii: . 
 •Misf'il both in books and conversation in England} 
 lint possibly not so IrcqiK'ntly as in the United States." j3. 
 
 To CoNTIJIVK. 
 
 Dr. M itherspoon has the folhnving remarks on a 
 sini^idar use of this ^^ ord : »' I wish wc could contrive it 
 to Phila(U*lphia. The words to carry, to have it carried, 
 or some such, arc wantiiij^. It is a defective construction, 
 of which there are too many tliat have already obtained 
 in practice, in spite of all the remonstrances of men of 
 letters." JDruid, J\\). 5. 
 
 I doubt whether this strange expression is ever used 
 at the present day. I never heard it myself, nor have 
 I found any person that has heard it from any class of 
 people in this country. 
 
 To Convene. 
 
 This is used in some parts of New England in a very 
 strange sense ; that is, to be convenientf fit, or suita- | 
 ble. Ex. This road \\ ill convene the public ; i. e. will be 
 convenient for the public. The word, however, is used 
 only by the illiterate. 
 
 Convenient to. 
 
 A writer in the Montlily Anthology (for August 1808, 
 p. 438) censures the following use of this word in Mar- 
 siiall's Life of AVashington, vol. iii. p. 120. " The army 
 was convenient to the highlands." This expression is 
 not often to be found in American publications, 
 
 CorPERs. 
 
 The common name in New England for British half- 
 pence ; which, until the coinage of our Cents, constituted 
 the copper currency of this country : "We used to say a 
 copper's -ii'orlli of any thing, as in England they would 
 say a penny worth. The name is already nearly ob- 
 solete. 
 
 J
 
 71 
 
 Dorks. 
 
 The steel points fixed under the shoes of horses, in 
 the winter, to prevent tliem from falling, on the ice. It 
 is the same thing, that in Johnson's and other dictiona- 
 ries is called /rosf-naiis. From the noun we have formed 
 
 I a verh to corkf and we accordingly say, the horse is cork- 
 
 I edf &c. I do not find the term or its derivatives in any 
 of the English dictionaries, except Ash*s, where the par- 
 ticiple corking is thus explained — •» turning up the heels 
 of a horse's shoes." Mr. Webster has both the noun and 
 the verb. 
 
 Corn. 
 
 This word, in many parts of the United States, and 
 particularly in JVew England, signifies exclusively Indian 
 corji, or maize, which has been the principal sort of corn 
 cultivated in those pai-ts of the country. Wheat, rye, 
 and the other sorts of corn are generally called grain, 
 and frequently English grain. In England, corn is a 
 general term, (as it was here used by our old writers,) 
 and means all sorts of grain that are used for bread. 
 ** Corn, in Agriculture, a term applied to all sorts of grain 
 fit for food ; particularly wheat, lye, &c. — I'lie farmers, 
 indeed, rank under the denomination of corn several 
 other grains, as barley, oats, and even pulse, peas, vetch- 
 es, &c. which, however, they sometimes distinguish by 
 the denomination smaller corn." Rees*s Cyclop, art. Corx. 
 A correspondent says, tlic term " Corn among tiie English 
 is more peculiarly applied to rivheal." Jl. The meal of 
 Indian corn (which we call Indian meal) is in Enghmd 
 generally called Indian corn meal. 
 
 Corx-Blades. " Leaves of maixc. fSoulJiern States.*^ J 
 Wehst. Did. 
 
 Corn-Stalks. (Used generally in the plural number.) 
 
 The farmers of New England use tliis term, and
 
 inoro liTqiionlly the sinii)lc term, slnlks, to denote the 
 iippcr jjart of llio stalks of Indian corn (above the ear J 
 \vhi( h is (lit off while green, and then dried to inako 
 fodder for their cattle. 
 
 OossKT. »» A lanil). &r. brought up by hand." Bailey. 
 
 This word is used in JVcw England, in this sense, 
 and also to signify, a favourite or darling. In the South- 
 ern Stales (as in England J they use the word pet. The 
 word cosset, applied to a lamb, 6cc. is noticed by Rarff 
 (from whom Grose copies it,) as a provincialism of Nor- 
 folk and Suffolk, llajfs South and East Country words. 
 It is ill all the dictionaries. In Jlees^s Cyclopcedia it is 
 simply called a tei-ni in Rural Economy, but is not noted 
 as provincial. 
 
 CouNTERACTiox. A Counteracting. 
 
 This is sometimes, though I'arely, nsed by American 
 writers in the following manner : « He prevailed over bis 
 enemies by the counteraction [counteracting] of their de- 
 signs." It is not in any of the English dictionaries, and 
 is very rarely nsed by English authors. I have however, 
 met with the ftdlowing instance of it : <* All the eloquence 
 and fire of Demosthenes could not rouse the Athenian 
 people to a timely dread or ntaiAy counteraction of the for- 
 midable plans of Philip." Brit. Crit. vol. i. p. 51. 
 
 County. 
 
 In speaking of countieSf the names of which are com- 
 pounded of the word shire, (for example, Hampshire, 
 Ilerksliii'e, kc.) we say the county of Hampshire, the 
 county of Berksltire, kc. In England they would say, 
 either Hampshire or Berkshire simply, without the word 
 county ; or, the county of Hants, the county of Berks, &c. 
 The word shire of itself, as every body knows, means 
 county; and in one instance, (in Massachusetts,) this
 
 latter word is used instead ofsldre, as a partofthe7ia?ne.* 
 « the county of Duke's-Countij." 
 Creature. 
 
 An English traveller makes the following remark on 
 this word : " Creaturef pronounced creaiiiVf is used in 
 New England, in regard to men, in all the senses of the 
 French animal, bite and iiionstre.** Kcmlars Travels, 
 vol. iii. p. 255. In the plural number it is in very com- 
 mon use among farmers as a general term for horses, 
 oxen, &c. Mx. The creatures will be put into the pas- 
 ture to day. It is frequently so used in the old laws of 
 some of the States. " The owners or claimers of any 
 such creatures [i. e. < swine, neat-cattle, horses, or sheep'] 
 impounded as aforesaid, shall pay the fees," kc. Prov- 
 ince Laws of Massachusetts, Stat. 10. IVni. 3. A corres- 
 pondent also observes, " He has killed a beef-creatur (or 
 creature) to day, is a New Engliind expression.*' 
 
 In New England this word is used only in its old 
 English sense, that is, <» a part of the sea which runs into 
 the land." In Pennsylvania (and perhaps some other 
 States) it means also a brook, or small 7iver. 
 DitocK. The black of a pot, or of a chimney. 
 
 A writer in the Monthly Anthology, (vol. vii. p. 203.) 
 in reviewing Mr. Webster's dictionary, where this word 
 is found, says — " Crock is iiuleed common enough in this 
 section of the country ; but it is not an English word, and 
 our Southern brethren ridicule us for using it." It is, 
 in fact, only a provincial word in England, and is men- 
 tioned as such by Mason, who cites Ray's South and East 
 Country Words ; and in this latter work both the noun and 
 the verb are marked as peculiar to Essex, in Ejiglaiul. 
 Grose also has it as a provincial word. It is never used 
 here but in conversation. A correspondent savs : " Uhi 
 10
 
 \ 
 
 74 
 
 fdcc IS I roi kcd (ill over, is jiii expression iainiliai* to tUo 
 comnioii jR'ople of Eiii^land." 
 
 C'kow-har. Am iron (•i'o\\, or simply, a crow, (Used ii 
 Aew Kn!j;lan(l.) 
 
 Crmv-bnr is " a name often provindallif applied to an 
 iioM crow or lever." Recs^s Cyclop. Marshoil has it 
 an)onc; ilie »* I'roviiicialisins of West Devonshire,'* See 
 Rural Econ. of West of Engl. vol. i. 
 
 To Cultivate. " While these (in the phrase of a New En- 
 gland writer) arc cultivating the ocean." K'endaUs 
 TravelSy vol. ii. p. 113. This application of the word, 
 must, I think, have been a peculiarity of the writer al- 
 luded to : I never knew it to be thus used in America. 
 
 Curious. 
 
 This word (as a friend first remarked to me) is often 
 heard among the conmion farmers of New England, in 
 the sense of excellentf or peculiarly excellent j as in these 
 expressions : « These arc curious apples ; this is curious 
 rider," kc. A correspondent also inforjns me, that he 
 once noticed it in the Diary of one of our country clergy- 
 Jtien (written nearly a century ago) where this remark 
 w as made against one of the days of the month ; '* Curi- 
 ous hay -weather." Tliisuse of the word is hardly known 
 in our sea-port towns. 
 
 CrsTOMABiiE, *• Subject to duties. (Laiv of Massachusetts.** J 
 Wehst. Did. 
 
 This word I presume was never in use. I never 
 licai'd it among lawyers in Massachusetts ; and mercan- 
 tile friends, to w horn 1 have mentioned it, do not recollect 
 hearing it used. The word dutiahle is sometimes heard 
 in conversation. See Dutiable. 
 
 To Dkuaiik. 
 
 The British Critic notices the use of this word (among 
 otliers) as one of the faults of style in the Official Letters
 
 /a 
 
 o/" General Washington. After observing, in general 
 terms, that " in point of style and composition they [the 
 letters] are entitled to no ordinary praise," and that 
 « they may he received npon the whole as excellent 
 models in their kind," the reviewers add : " "NVc cannot, 
 hoAvever, but take notice in derogation from our general 
 praise for correctness of style, that some few Gallicisms 
 occur ; such as derange for disarrange ; grade for step, 
 debark for disembark, &c. which we do the more scrupu- 
 lously, because it is a vice of the times, to corrupt the 
 language by introducing foreign terms, without regard 
 to the just analogy of formation, and witliout rational 
 ground of preference for melody, or force, to genuine 
 English words of similar import." Brit. Cnt. vol. vi. 
 p. 237 ', for Sept. 1795. 
 
 These remarks, it will be observed, were made twenty 
 years ago, since whicli time the verb debark has been 
 more in use among the English. It is often to be seen 
 in the dispatches of British officers ; and, perhaps, is 
 <onsidered rather as belonging to the language of milita- 
 ry men, than as a word in genei'al use. I have, howev- 
 er, obsemed it, in one instance, in a British publication 
 of high rank : Sec Edinb. Rev. vol. i. \>. 41. The verb 
 derange also, which is here condemned, is nctw frequently 
 used in Great Britain. See Derange. 
 iDecedenT;. *' One dead. (Law of N. Jersey and Pennsyl- 
 vania.)" Webst. Did. 
 
 This word is unknown in the Northern States even 
 as a technical term. 
 : Decent. Tolerable ; pretty good. Ex. He is a decent 
 scholar ; a decent writer ; he is nothing more than decent. 
 This word has been in common use at some of our 
 colleges, but only in the language of conversation. The 
 adverb decently (and possibly the adjective also) is some-
 
 76 
 
 linips used in a siniihir mnniicr in some ]iaits oC Grout 
 Britain : •' Tiic ivi'ratcr part of the pieces it contains may 
 be said to b«' very ikccnfhj written." Edinh. Rev. vol. 
 i. p. 120. 
 Declensio.v. 
 
 We sometimes sec this word nscd in our ncws-papeis, 
 in speaking of a person's declining to be a candidate foi' 
 nrtice. E,i\ In consequence of the decknsinti of our candi- 
 date, wc sliall be obliged to vote for a new one. 
 'fo Deed. *' To give or transfer by deed." IVtbst. Did. 
 
 We sometimes bear this verb used colloquially; but 
 rarely, except by illiterate peoi)le. It is considered as 
 a low word. None of our writers would employ it. 
 It need hardly be observed, that it is not in the English 
 dictionaries. 
 To Degenerate, v. active. To cause any thing to de- 
 generate. 
 
 One of our reviews has censured the use of degene- 
 rate, as an active verb, in the writings of a well known 
 American author : <» Wc would, therefore, take the liber- 
 ty of recommending to the revision of Dr. Smith the 
 following expressions — < Idleness degenerates every thing ; 
 and mere amusement, wliere it occupies a large portion 
 of our time, evaporates the greatest and most respectable 
 qualities of human nature.'" Monthly Magazine and 
 American Review fJYcw Fork 1799) vol. i. p. 362 ; in a 
 review of Sermons by the Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith. 
 I have never met with any other instance of this verb, 
 used actively, in American publications. 
 Degree. Used iii this expression : To a degree ; that is, 
 extremely. " AVe learn that the situation of the inhab- 
 itants was distressing to a degree." Charleston (So. Car- 
 uLiimJ City Gazette, .Sug. 30, 1813. 
 
 An observing friend, who ha^ resided in South Cnro-
 
 77 
 
 Una, informs me, that this expression is very common there | 
 but not, he thinks, among people of education. I do not 
 recollect hearing it in New England. It is not, howev- 
 er, exclusively American, but has been used in Great 
 Britain j and several years ago was ridiculed there as an 
 innovation. See Dialogues of the Dead, by James IL 
 Beattie: Dial. iii. 
 
 Delinquency. 
 
 The use of this word in the following passage of 
 BancroJVs Life of Washington (p. 207) is condemned by 
 the English reviewers : »< The delinquency of the United 
 States to prepare for the approaching campaign ;" that 
 is, (say the reviewers,) *' tardiness or unwillingness.'* 
 British Critic, for 1810, p. 182. It is not mucli used here ; 
 I never saw it in any other instance than the above. 
 A correspondent remarks, that "the term might pass 
 between friends in conversation, in England." 
 
 Bemoeaxization. « Tlie destruction of morality." TJ'ehst. 
 Did. 
 
 This noun (as well as the verb demoralize J is some- 
 times used by American writers. It is also to be found 
 in some English authors ; but it is not acknowledged by 
 the critics of Great Britain as a legitimate word. The 
 Edinhirgh Reviewers, in theii* remarks on a work of 
 Miss Helen Maria Williams, thus sppak of this, and 
 other words : " Throughout all these comments we have 
 the same contempt of Jlnglidsm, as in the translation. 
 AVc have imperiurbabUify again, and demoralixation.-* 
 Edinb, Rev. vol. iii. p. 216. 
 
 To Demoralize. To corrupt, undermine, or destroy moral 
 principles." IVebst. Diet. 
 
 This (like the preceding noun) has been adopted 
 from the French since the revolution. It is used by some 
 English writers, but perhaps not so often as by us. It is
 
 78 
 
 not ill any of Iho (li( tiojiarics, I believe, cxa-pt Mr. 
 >Vel»st(>r's. 
 
 Depautmexts. See Heads of Departments. 
 
 DErvHTMENTAL. " IVi'taiiiiiig to a department." Jrebst. 
 Diet. 
 
 This adjective lias been ranked, by one of our oavu 
 critics, amons; our »• barbarisms." See Monlldy Anlliol. 
 vol. vii. p. 263. It is not i?i the English dictionaries. 
 
 To Dei'keciate ; v. neut. to fall in value. 
 
 In America this verb (like appredate,J is used as a 
 verb neuter. The English, in writing, always use it as 
 a verb active. But (a corres])ondent observes) « an En- 
 glishman might be found saying, in conversatioHf * their 
 paper-money depreciates fast.' ** 
 
 7b Deputize. To depute. 
 
 This word is sometimes heard here in conversation^ 
 but rarely occurs in u'riting. I have never met with it 
 but once in any of our publications : " They seldom 
 think it necessary to deputize more than one person to 
 attend to their interests at the seat of government." 
 Description of Mintucket, in the Port Folio for January 
 1811, p. 33. Mr. Webster has noted it as a Connecticut 
 word. It is also used in other parts of New England, 
 but has always been considei'ed as a mei*e vulgarism. 
 The only English dictionary, in which I have found it, 
 is Bailey's; where it is mentioned in a collection of words 
 subjoined to his Pi'cface (second folio edition) under the 
 title of " Words in some Modern Authors,** which did not 
 occur fill the Dictionary was entirely printed. It is, how- 
 ever, omitted in the octavo edition (of 1761,) and none of 
 the succeeding lexicographers have thought it worthy of 
 notice. 
 
 To Derange. 
 
 The British Critic (as will be seen above in the re-
 
 79 
 
 marks on the verb to debark J censures the use of dcrangCf 
 in Washington'' s Official Letters, as a Gallicism. It had 
 however been used in the preceding volume of that 
 Review : " That Robespieri-e might fall without derang- 
 ing the general system," &c. £. Crit. vol. v. p. 77. And 
 it has since been often used in other Reviews : « Derang- 
 ing the main operations of society.'* Edinh. Rev. vol. i. 
 p. 356 ; and again at p. 376. It was not noticed by any 
 of the English lexicographers, I believe, before Walker 
 and Mason inserted it in their works. 
 
 Derogatory. 
 
 The use of this adjective at the end of a sentence 
 (instead of degrading) has been criticised by Englishmen 
 as an Americanism. Ex. The government did such an 
 act, which was very derogatory : Sucli conduct is very 
 derogatory. 
 
 Desk. A pulpit. 
 
 An English traveller thus notices the use of this 
 word in Connecticut : " The pulpit, or, as it is here called, 
 the Desk, was filled by three if not four clergymen ^ a 
 number, which by its form and dimensions, it w as able 
 to accommodate." Kendal's Travels, vol. i. p. 4. It is 
 also used in some other States : " They are common to 
 every species of oratory, though of rarer use in the desk,'* 
 Sic. Adams'* Lectures on Rhetoric, vol. i. p. 198. 
 
 Destitution. Want, deficiency. 
 
 This is criticised in an English painpldet on America., 
 (see the note on the verb To bottom J as one of our words : 
 Ex. " Is it not true that our destitution of competent fleet s 
 
 and armies, the state of our finances combined to fur- 
 
 nisb," he. Address of the House of Representatives of 
 Massachusetts in answer to the Governor's Speech, June, 
 Session, 1813. This word is in the dictionaries, but is 
 not in use in England at the present day-
 
 80 
 
 7b Devolve. 
 
 AiiuM'ican writera sometimes employ this verb in an 
 active sense: "On Sir George Yeardly, vvliom he ap- 
 pointed ,s:ovornor of Virginia, and on his council he devoir- 
 vtl <he whole lei^islative and executive powers of the col- 
 ony," &c. Mirshall*s Life of WashingtoUf vol. i. p. 72-. 
 Jimer. edit. In the London quarto edition of that work, 
 
 the expression is thus altered : On Sir George Yeardly 
 
 devolved the whole legislative and executive powers, &c. 
 
 Tills use of devolve, though to be found in good En- 
 glish writers a century ago (see Johnson's dictionary) is 
 not common at the present day. It is censured by tlie 
 reviewers, in a modern English work. See Bnt. Crlt. 
 vol. xxii. p. 363 ; Review of Card's Revolutions of Russia. 
 Dictation. A dictating. Ex. " Was not this an arbitrary 
 dictation to a national vessel ?" 
 
 This word is in Johnson, upon the authority of former 
 
 Dictionaries ; but, as Ash says, it is " not much used" 
 
 in England ; and it can liardly be said to be in common 
 
 use in this country. 
 
 Dime. " A silver coin of the United States, of ten cents." 
 
 Wehst. Did. 
 Disconnexion. 
 
 This word is not in Johnson ; and it has been censur4 
 ed by an American writer, as an unauthorized word| 
 See Monthly Anthology, vol. iv. p. 281. It is, however," 
 sometimes used by English authors. Mason lias it in 
 his Snpplemeid, upon the authoiity of Burke ; as he has 
 also the participle disconnected. A correspondent says — 
 " Disconnected has been more in use in England than 
 disconnexion. The latter, liowever, is at least a conveni- 
 ent word." 
 Disdain. Contempt. 
 
 Dr. Witherspoon gives the following example : *' I
 
 81 
 
 should have let your performance sink into a silent 
 disdain." He then observes : « A performance may fall 
 into contempt, or sink into oblivion, or be treated with 
 disdain ; but to make it sink into silent disdain^ is a very 
 crude expression indeed." No American author at the 
 present day would use the word disdain in this exti'aor- 
 dinary manner. 
 
 To Disorganize ; Disorganizer, &;c. See To Organize. 
 
 DociTT, (pronounced dossity.^ 
 
 A low word, used in some parts of the United States, 
 to signify quick comprehension. It is used only in con- 
 versation, and generally with a negative, thus : He has 
 no docihj. It is a provincial word in England. See 
 Grose's Prov. Gloss. I do not find it in any of the dic- 
 tionaries, except Baileifs (fol. edit. 1736) and JsK's ; in 
 which last it is said to be " an incorrect spelling" of 
 docility. In this country it is a local word, and is employ- 
 ed only by the same class of speakers, that would use the 
 low word gumption^ which is also provincial in England. 
 See Gumption. 
 
 Domestics. 
 
 It has been remarked by Englishmen, that tlie peo- 
 ple of New England call their servants domestics. The 
 correlative master is also very seldom used in the A''orthern 
 States. Domestic is " a term of somewhat more extent 
 than that of servant," See Rees's Cyclop. 
 
 Dominant. 
 
 " The dominant party, the dominant faction," kc. are 
 common expressions with our political writers. Johnson 
 (as well as otlier lexicographers) has the word in his 
 dictionary, but he cites no autliority for it. It has been 
 used by some writers in Enghmd ; and has been thus 
 censured by tiic Reviewers : " When we have objected 
 to dominant^ resistless for unresisting, and arrondissement, 
 It
 
 uc have cxliaustinl i)ur chief v.v^c as verbal critics." 
 liritish Criiic, vol. i. p. 53 ; Review of MfreiTs Letters. 
 
 Tb Doom. To tax at discretion. Mrv England, 
 
 When a perst)n nea;lects to make a return of his 
 taxable property to tlie assessors of a town, those officers 
 (loom him ; that is, judge upon, and fix his tax according 
 to theii' discretion. " The estates of all marchants, shop- 
 keepers, and factors shall be assessed by the rule of com- 
 nion estimation, according to the will and doom of the 
 assessors." Massachusetts Colony Laws, p. 14. edit. 1660. 
 
 Doomage. " A fine or penalty. Law qfJKiw Hampshire" 
 Jf'ebst. Dkt. 
 
 To DOXOLOGIZE. 
 
 A friend has pointed out to me an instance of tlie^ 
 use of this verb (which was new to me) in one of 
 o periodical works: *' No instance is to be found iu 
 which primitive Christians doxologized the Spirit of God 
 as a Person.'* Christian Disciple, \o\. ii. p. 295. I never 
 met with the word in any other American work ; and I 
 have no I'ccollection of seeing it in any English publica- 
 tion. It may, possibly, be a part of the professional 
 language of divines. The only English dictionaries in 
 which I have found it are ^sh^s, and the folio edition (of 
 the year 173fi) of Baileifs. Jlsh gives it on the authority 
 of " Scott.-' In the octavo edition of Baileifs (of 1761) 
 it is omitted ; as it is also in Johnson's. Mr. Webster has 
 not inserted it in his work. 
 Drouth. Drought. 
 
 People of education in America have always avoided 
 using the word drmith, considering it as a mere vulgar 
 cori'uption of drought. Mr. Webster, however, in the 
 learned preface to his Compendious Dictionarij, following 
 the etymology of the word, as given by Ikrne Tooke, dc-
 
 83 
 
 iends drouth as the genuine word, and condemns drought 
 as the corruption : 
 
 " Drought and height (says he) are corruptions of 
 drugothe and heath ; which the Saxons formed from dryg 
 and heh or heah, drtj and high^ by adding the termination 
 ih as in length from leng ; strength from streng, and as we 
 form truth from true^ width from wirfe, xvarmth from 
 warm. The Saxon termination if/i is universally preserv- 
 ed in the popular pronunciation of this country ; and so 
 far is it from being an error or corruption, that it is the 
 very essence of the nouns drouth and hightlu Men there- 
 fore who use this pronunciation, though chargeable with 
 * a zeal for analogy,' as Johnson observes of Milton, and 
 though they may not imitate Garrick as Walker does, 
 will still have the honor to be correct, and to preserve 
 the purity of the original oi-thography. They will further 
 have the honor of conforming to what is in fact the na- 
 tional pronunciation, and has been, from the earliest re- 
 cords of our language. Height is an innovation compar- 
 atively modern ; and drought is the Belgic dialect of tiie 
 Teutonic ; but neither of these words existed in the Sax- 
 on, the parent of our language."* 
 
 In the same manner, as also appears from Tooke's 
 work, the English as well as ourselves have departed 
 from " the original orthograpliy" of several other words 
 of the same form. After showing the etymology of height 
 and some other nouns, (wliich he observes ai'e respective- 
 ly the third persons singular of the indicatives of various 
 Saxon verbs) Mr. Tooke says : " It has been remarked 
 indeed, that Milton always wrote beigth, as our ancient 
 autliors also did; but the word is now commonly written 
 height.** And (he adds) that thougjj this seems to oppose 
 his etymology, yet the same thing has happened to many 
 
 * Compendious Dictionary, Preface, p. vii.
 
 84 
 
 otlur worus. ♦• So it lias liapiKMicd (says he) to — Micnn- ; 
 which Ihp Aiii;;lo-Saxoiis wrote ma-geth, or mfigthc, i. c. 
 \\h:\\ oiii> iiKnu'tli ; (inantmii potest aut valet aliquis. 
 ^Mi^^lit is flio third juisou siui^-wlar of tlic indicative o!" 
 
 magaii posse, valcrc Sight ; Mliix h the Anglo Saxons 
 
 wrote sith and sithc, i. e. that faculty which seefh. The 
 tliird person singular ol' the indicative of seoUf videre. 
 
 "NVeight ; Ang. Sax. wngeth. The third person 
 
 singular of the indicative of tvwgan, to weigh. The 
 weight of any thing, that is, that which it weiglieth.*** 
 But althouglj tliis was the ** original ortliography" of all 
 these words, yet (as he observes of the ancient word 
 droHgUi) " Custom has transposed the TH." 
 
 I shall only add, that the noun drowth and its adjec- 
 tive drowthy, and, in addition to these, the verb drow, 
 (which last, 1 believe, is unknown in America) are still 
 ])rovincial in England : " Brow ; to dry. The hay don't 
 drorwij at all. Drowth ; dryness, thirst. Drowthy ; dry, 
 thirsty." Vocabulary of the Somerset Dialect, in the Lon- 
 don Monthly Magazine, vol. xxxviii. p. 331 ; for Nov. 
 181 k 
 
 i3uTiABLE. "Subject to duties or impost." JFebst. Diet. 
 
 The use of this word in MarshaWs Life of Washingt(m, 
 vol. ii. p. 73, has been censured by a writer in one of our 
 periodical works. See Monthly Anthology, vol. v. p. 438. 
 It is little used even in conversation. 
 
 Eaglk. a gold coin of tlie United States, of the value of 
 ten iloUais. 
 
 Educational. 
 
 A friend has given me the following instance of the 
 use of this word ; wliich was new to me : " It is believ- 
 ed tliat there is not an individual of the college who 
 
 * Diversions of I'urley, pari ii. cli. 5.
 
 85 
 
 woTilcl, if questioned, comphiin that he has, in any in- 
 stance, felt himself pressed Mitli opinions which interfered 
 with liis educational creed." Report to the Trustees of the 
 College of JNT3W Jersey^ relative to a revival of religion 
 among the Students, ^r. by Dr. Jshbel Green, President of 
 the College; as published in the FanopUst, for June, 1815, 
 p. 287. 
 
 PRITHEE. 
 
 Dr. Withcrspoon has the following remarks on the 
 use of this word : " The United States or either of them. 
 This is so far from being a mark of ignorance, that it is 
 used by many of the most able and accurate speakei*s 
 and writers, yet it is not English. The United States 
 are thirteen in number, but in English either docs not 
 signify one of many, but one or the other of tivo. I im- 
 agine either has become an adjective pronoun, by being 
 a sort of abbreviation of a sentence, where it is used 
 adverbially, either the one or the other. It is the same with 
 SKarsPog in Greek, and alteruter in Latin." l)ndd, 
 No. 5. But Johnson says, '< it is used sometimes of more 
 than two ; any one of a certain number ; any of an 
 indeterminate number." 
 
 7'o Energize. To impart energy. Ex. instead of aiding 
 and energizing the police of the college," &c. The Brit- 
 ish Spy, published in Virginia. 
 
 This word is noted as " unauthorised," by a writer 
 in the Monthly Anthology, vol. i. p. 035. I never saw it 
 in any other American work. 
 
 Episcopalians. 
 
 This term is thus noticed by an English traveller : 
 
 " One church belongs to the members of the Church 
 
 of England, here called Episcopalians.^' Kendal's Travels, 
 vol. i. p. 88.
 
 11 
 
 86 
 
 EqUALLY AS. 
 
 Dr. AVithcrspooii ])iits this iimoiii; liis Americanisms, 
 111- obsorvi'S — ♦» KqiKilly us well, and equally fl.s good. 
 This is rrequeiit in conversation and public speaking. It 
 is also to be found in sonic publicatiojis, of whicli it is 
 needless to name the authoi-s; but it is just as good En- 
 glish to say, the moat highest mountain in America." 
 Dniid, jNo. 6. 
 Esq,uiRE. 
 
 In America this is often joined with the title of Hon- 
 ourable. Ex. The Honourable A. B. Esquire. It is never 
 thus used in England. Since the former edition of this 
 Vocabulaiy was published I have seen this peculiarity 
 noticed (by l)eing put in Italics) in a well known En- 
 glish Review : *• Not even M. Chateaubriand could have 
 displayed a more ardent enthusiasm on this occasion 
 than the honourable Esquire before us." MontMij Review, 
 vol. Ixxv. p. 107 ; Review of an Oration by the Honourable 
 Gouv. Morris Esquire. An English friend has favoured 
 me with the following remai'ks on this subject : ** Hon- 
 ourable in England is commonly applied to the son of a 
 peer, of the rank of a baron, he. It is also applied to 
 a member of tlie House of Commons, in debate; but 
 members of that house have no such title out of parlia- 
 ment, and mucli less after they have ceased to be mem- 
 bers of parliament. In Massachusetts they say in their 
 Proclamations, * By his Excellency Caleb Strong Es- 
 quire ;^ which must seem a perfect solecism among 
 the English ; where Esquire (armiger) literally means 
 only the military attendant of a Knight (eques.'*) 
 Another English friend has informed me that in the 
 Britist West Indies they use Esquire with Honourable, as 
 we do.
 
 87 
 
 StnoGiuM. 
 
 A writer in the Monthly Anthology (vol. i. p. 609) ob- 
 serves that " enlogium is not an English word." But 
 this writer is certainly mistaken. It is in common use 
 with all the English and Scottish reviewers ; and occurs 
 much oftener, I think, that the Anglicised term eulogy, 
 Eulogiuirif however, is not in Johnsoii's dictionary, nor 
 in Mason's Supplement, nor do I find it in any of the 
 English dictionaries except Walker- s ; and it was not 
 inserted in the early editions of that work. It is inserted 
 in the fourth London edition (1806) with this short re- 
 mark — *<The same as eulogy." 
 
 fb Eventuate. " To issue, come to an end.'* Wehst. Diet. 
 A correspondent has reminded mc of this word, which is 
 much used hy some of our writers. It is not in the dic- 
 tionaries; and, I think, is rarely, if ever, used by En- 
 glish authors. 
 
 SviDENTIAt. 
 
 AVe sometimes hear this word from our pulpits ; but 
 I do not recollect seeing it in any of our publications. It 
 is not in the dictionaries ; and I think it is not in com- 
 mon use witli English writers. A friend, however, has 
 given me the following instance of it in a celebrated 
 English work: "Equivalent to that belief itself and 
 evidential of it." Christian Obaerver, vol. xiii. p. 765. 
 To Evoke. Ex. Every pliantom of jealousy and fear is 
 evoked. Letter of the Jlon. J. Q. Mams to the Hon. 11. G. 
 Otis, p. 30. 
 
 The Editor of the JVew York Evening Post^ in " Re- 
 marks and Criticisms"* on this letter, says — " We doubt 
 wljether the verb /o evoke Iw P^iiglisli ; tlie substanti^e 
 evocation is an English word." Another writer (at, 
 Boston) seems to intimate that f-voked here may be a 
 mistake of the printer lor /r/-voko<l. The v.'i'lj pvo]:c. is
 
 88 
 
 not ill Jolmson's dictionary : But Eidick and some otlicrs 
 have it ; and (as a friend informs mc) it is used in the 
 Costle of IndolencCf canto iT, and by Warburton, in one 
 of liis Letters. 
 
 Exchangeability. See Exchangeable. 
 
 Exchangeable. 
 
 This, and the word Exchangeability arc noticed, as 
 unautlioriscd words, by a writer in the J\Ionthly Anthology 
 (vol. i. p. 635) who observes, that they are used in JVash- 
 ington''s [Official] Letters, vol. ii. pp. 80, 94-, 257. I do 
 not find them taken notice of by any lexicographer, ex- 
 cept Mr. Webster. A correspondent remarks, tliat 
 •• Exchangeability is never used in England ', and that 
 Exchangeable can only be used in tlie most familiar 
 conversation." I have lately observed the latter word 
 used in an English Review .- " An attempt is made to 
 exact labour into an universal and immutable standard 
 of the exchangeable value of all commodities." Bnt. CriU 
 vol. xliv. p. 185. " By setting up labour as the stan- 
 dard of exchangeable value," &c. ibid. 
 
 Executive. 
 
 This word is now in general use here, as a noun, 
 signifying the Executive Power, or, the President of the 
 United States, in whom that power is vested. 
 
 A \NTiter in the Monthly Jintlwlogy (for 1808, p. 437) 
 seems to think tliat " we have succeeded in incorporating 
 it into the language, as it is in general use in England." 
 It is certainly sometimes used in England ; but very 
 I'ai'cly, except where the writer or speaker is alluding to 
 the Executive of the United States, and seems to employ 
 it as an .American name. In the preface to tlie London 
 edition of Ramsay's History of the Aniencan Revolution 
 (which, liowever, was publislied twenty years ago) it is 
 classed among those American words, which the English 
 
 i
 
 89 
 
 have listened to without as yet adopting.'* An English 
 friend, however, after remarking, that " an adjective some- 
 times assumes a substantive form, as, the military^ the 
 hiteriorf'* &c. adds — " Some have thus used the expression 
 < tlie legislative ;' but it seems not to have established 
 itself every where in the United States, and much less in 
 England. The Executive has been used in a substan- 
 tive form by some even in England ; but in 1792 M. 
 Necker, in his work Du Pouvoir Executif dans les GMnds 
 Etats, universally kept the terms executif and legislatif 
 to their adjective form." The Constitution of the 
 United States says, the Executive Powers and never sim- 
 ply, the Executive. 
 
 To Expect. To suppose, think. 
 
 " In most parts of the world people expect things 
 that are to come. But in Pennsylvania^ more particu- 
 larly in the metropolis, we expect things that are past. 
 One man tells another, he expects he has had a very 
 pleasant ride, &C....I have indeed heard a wise man of 
 Gotham say, he expected Alexander the Macedonian was 
 the greatest conqueror of antiquity." Port Folio, 1809, 
 p. 535. This use of the verb expect has now extended 
 to other pails of the United States. A friend informs me 
 that it is common in Virginia and other Southern States, 
 and it is now considerably used in the JSTorthern States ; 
 but I have been informed by observing persons, that 
 not more than thirty years ago, the people of New En- 
 gland used to remark upon it as a peculiarity of the 
 Southei'n States. It is provincial in England : " Expect, 
 suppose, Mrth.*' Grose's Prov. Gloss, 
 
 Factory. 
 
 This is a new word in America, and is doubtless au 
 abbreviation of vmnvfactory ; the latter word, indeed, is 
 not in Johnson^s and some other Englisli dictionaries, 
 IS
 
 90 
 
 Iml il is ill Mason's Siipiilcment, >\ alkcr's Dictionary, 
 and Rees's Cyclopaidia, and is ^^cll known to be in com- 
 mon nsc in England. 'J'lic word Factory (according to 
 ReesJ is ai)i)licd " in some of the manufacturing counties 
 [in England] to the places where particular jjrocesses of 
 tlie manufacture arc carried on;" but its common En- 
 glish meaning is well known to be (as Johnson gives it) 
 *« a house or district inhabited by traders in a distant 
 country," and " the traders embodied in one place." 
 To Fall. To fell, to cut do\Mi. 
 
 A reviewer in the Monthly .Anthology (vol. v. p. 438) 
 condemns this as an " Jlmencan barbarism" in the fol- 
 lowing passage of MarslialVs Life of Washington : « For 
 the purpose of cooperating w ith the continental troops 
 in breaking up the bridges, falling trees in the roads," 
 6ic. vol. iii. p. 456. Dr. Belknaj), in his History oJJSfeTV 
 Hampshire, and all other American writers whose works 
 1 have consulted, use to fell ; and to fall has always been 
 considered as a vulgarism in JVew England. The verb 
 to fall, in this sense, is to be found, indeed, in some of 
 the English dictionaries, but most of them do not admit 
 it. It is in the English part of Mnsxcm'th, but in the 
 Latin part, under both the words referred to, he says 
 to fell trees. It is also in Ash, Sheridan, and Walker ; 
 the last of whom has evidently copied Slieridan. But 
 it is not in Johnson, Mason, Bailey, Barclay, P^ntick, and 
 various others. To fell is constantly used by Evelyn, 
 throughout the chapter of felling trees, in his Sylva, 
 (which was first printed in i664) and the same term is 
 also used by his editor, the late Dr. Hunter, in his notes 
 on that work. It is also constantly used in Rees^s Cyclo- 
 pa'dia : See articles, Felling of Timber, Ash Tree, &c. 
 Some of the English statutes, however, have the verb 
 to fall. By the 13 Geo. 3. c. 8 it is enacted, that there
 
 91 
 
 shall be reserved to the owners of ground over which 
 highways are made, " all timber and wood growing upon 
 such ground to be fallen and taken by such owTier or 
 owners within one month after such order shall have 
 been made, or in default thereof to be fallen by the said 
 surveyor, &c. 
 Faxl. Autumn. 
 
 A friend has pointed out to me the following remark 
 on this word : " In North America the season in which 
 this [tlie fall of the leaf] takes place, derives its name 
 from that circumstance, and instead of aiituvin is univer- 
 sally called the fall." Rees*s Cijclopctdia, art. Decidu- 
 ous Leaves ; "written by Dr. J. E. Smith, President of the 
 Linnoian Society, 
 To Fault. *' To charge with a fault ; to accuse." Johnson. 
 I have heard this verb used in a few instances by old 
 people ; but it is nearly obsolete here ; and Jish says it is 
 " not much used" in England. 
 Federalist. " A friend to the Constitution of the United 
 States." Webst. Diet. 
 
 Mr. "Webster also has Federal, as a noun of the same 
 meaning ; but this is never heard, except in the mouths 
 of the most illiterate people ; and it has always been 
 considered as a corruption of Federalist. 
 Fellow-countrymen. 
 
 " This (says Dr. Witherspoon) is a word of frequent 
 use in America. It has been heard in public orations 
 from men of the first character, and may be daily seen 
 in news-paper publications. It is an evident tautology, 
 for the last word expresses fully the meaning of both. If 
 you open any dictionary, you will find tlie wovdcoimtrpnan 
 signifies one born in the same country. You may say, 
 fellow-citizens, fellow-soldiers, fellow-subjects, fi'l]o\\- 
 christians, but not fellow-countrymen." Druid, No. h.
 
 113 
 
 To tlirsr irniaiks T -will only add, Uiat Swift begins tli(> 
 Drapior's Letters thus — ♦♦Bj'i'tliren, Friends, Couvtrij- 
 meuy and Fdlow-Subjeds ;" and ends them in the same 
 manner — '» I am, my dear countrymen^ your loving Jel- 
 /ow subject, /fWow -sufferer," &c. A Iriend, however, 
 has pointed out to me an instance of the use of fellow- 
 countrymen in a late work of a well known English wri- 
 ter. ^Qc Sonthcy's Lfe of jKVson, \o\. iu \i. 257. Jim. ed. 
 
 Fiducial. " Confident ; undoubting." Johnson. 
 
 I have, in one or tw o instances, heard this word used 
 by our divines ; as it formerly was by the English. I 
 tliink it is never used by Englisii writers of the present 
 day. 
 
 F1RSTI.Y. 
 
 This adverb is frequently used by American writers. 
 None of the dictionaries have it; and, I had supposed, 
 tliat it had never been used by English writers. An En- 
 glish friend, how ever, says — " Some English hyper-critics 
 (if we may be allowed the term) have said firstly ; but 
 the number of them has been small. The framcrs of 
 our langufige, however, might reasonably have said 
 firstly."^- The word first seems always to have been 
 considered by English writers both as an adverb and an 
 adjective : " This action [in an epic poem] should have 
 three qualifications in it ; first, it should be a great 
 action ; secondly, it should be an entire action ; and 
 thirdly, it sliould be a great action," Spectator, JVb. 267 ; 
 et passim. ** The other purposes are to show , first, 
 
 that tlic time of the remarks was the favourable time 
 
 secondly, that on the enemy's side," &c. Burke*s Fourth 
 Letter on the Regicide Peace. The following is the only 
 instance I have seen o{ firstly in an English work: 
 <*They will in some measure be enabled to determine, 
 firstly, &c. Brit. Crit, vol. xliv. p. 577; for Dec, 1814.
 
 93 
 
 [i'lSK. The Treasury, or Exchequer. 
 
 This word has hcen proposed by the learned trans- 
 lator of Bynker shock* s ^ncEst. Jnr. Pub. as an addition to 
 our language. He uses it in the text of his author, and 
 then has tliis note : " As we make use of the words 
 fiscal, confiscate, confiscation, why sliould we not adopt in 
 America the word ^s/c, from the Latin ^scms, wliich is the 
 root of all these derivatives.'* Buponceaii's liifnkcrs- 
 Iwek, p. 51. No otlier writer in this country, I bi^lievc, 
 has made use of the term. The Ejiglish wiiters com- 
 monly render the word Fiscus by Treasurif : '< As tlie 
 Romans say, such goods as are forfeited to the Emperoi's 
 Treasury for any offence are bona confiscata, so we say 
 of those that are forfeited to our King's Exchequer." 
 Jacob's Law Lictionary, by Tomlins. Burke employs 
 the word Fisc, as a French term : " When they had 
 resolved to appropriate to the Fisc, a certain portion of 
 the landed property of their conquered country," &c. 
 Refi£ctions ; vol. iii. of his Works, p. 252, Boston edit. 
 
 Floor. Used in Congi-ess, in this expreasion — To get tlie 
 fioor ; that is, to obtain an opportunity of taking a part 
 in a debate. The English say, to be in possession of the 
 House : " Lord J. rose at the same time with the Hon. 
 Baronet, but the Speaker decided that the Hon. Baronet 
 tvas in possession of the House, if he claimed his right.'* 
 Debates in Parliament, Jan, 7, 181* 5 as reported in the 
 news-papers. 
 
 Folks. 
 
 This old word is much used in JV*cw England instead 
 o^ people or persons. 1. For the persons in one's family ; 
 as, in this common phrase : how do your folks do ;'* 
 that is, your family. 2. For people in g(>ncral ; as in 
 expressions of this kind : What do folks think of it," kc. 
 Dr. Jo/mson observes, that "it is now used only in l\\- 
 
 ^
 
 94 
 
 Miilinr or Imrlisquo lan^-iiagc." In New Euglaiid, il i 
 Irss usi'd now than Ibrnicily. 
 FoRTED IN. Ex. " A few inhabitants forted in on thi 
 Pofomac. Used in MarshalVs Life of fVashington, vol. ii 
 |). 28 ; and aniinadvei-ted upon by a writer in the Month 
 hj Jlnihnlogij, \o\. v. j). 4.S8. 
 To Fourfold. " To assess in a fourfold ratio. TVebst 
 Diet. 
 
 I believe tliis is peculiar to the State of Conncciicui. 
 Fredonia, Fredonian, Frede, Fredish, &c. &c. 
 
 These extraordinary words, which have been desc^ 
 vedly ridiculed here as well as in England, were projws- 
 cd sometime ago, and countenanced by two or three 
 individuals, as names for the territory and people of the 
 United States. The general term American is now com- 
 mouly understood (at least in all places where the En- 
 glish language is spoken,) to mean an inhabitant of the 
 United States ; and is so employed, except where unusual 
 precision of language is required. English writers in 
 speaking of us always say, the Americans, tlie American 
 government, the American ambassador, &,c. "The 
 French, indeed, (as a correspondent observes) extend the 
 appellation Americans (AmericainsJ to the inhabitants 
 of the West Indies.*' Their w riters, accordingly, some- 
 times distinguish us by the name of Anglo-Americans. 
 The words Fredonia, &c. are never now used in the 
 United States, except by way of ridicule. 
 Freshet. 
 
 This word is peculiar to New England at the present 
 day, and means, (as Dr. Belknap oljserves, in his His-' 
 tory of JSTew Hampshire, vol. iii. pref.) " a river swollen 
 by rain or melted snow in the interior country, rising 
 above its usual level, spreading over the adjacent low 
 lands, and rushing with an accelerated current to the
 
 93 
 
 sea. Ill this sense, (Dr. B. adds) it is understood in 
 New England ; and, as it is a part of the language of 
 the age and country in which I write, it is frequently 
 used in this volume." The word, it seems, had been 
 noticed (in another work of Dr. Belknap's) by the 
 Monthly Reviewers, who made this remark upon it — 
 "We are not acquainted with this word."* In the 
 next number of the Review, Dr. Belknap informs us, 
 *< a correspondent kindly attempted to correct what he 
 imagined to be * an errour of the press,' by substituting 
 the word fresh in its place ; meaning a tide or flowing of 
 fresh in distinction from salt water. But the reviewers 
 were not satisfied that there was any errour of the press ; 
 and in fact there w as not ; the word freshet is a term 
 familiar to the people of New England, as it was to 
 their forefathers, who brought it from England, where it 
 was equally familiar in the last century." Dr. Belknap 
 then cites two authorities for the word ; the first is from 
 Milton's Paradise Regained, Book II. line 3*5, which is 
 also given by Johnson : 
 
 " all fish from sea or shore. 
 
 Freshet or purling brook, of shell or fin." 
 
 Upon which Dr. Belknap remarks, " It seems this author, 
 by a freshetf meant a spreading collection of fresh water, 
 distinguished from a brook." The commentators on 
 Milton seem to have understoood it to mean a stream. 
 In Todd's edition of Milton's works thei'c is the follow- 
 ing note on the above lines : " Freshet, a stream of fresh 
 water. So Browne in his Brit. I'astorals 1616, B. II. s. 
 iii. of fish^ 
 
 Who now love the freihet, and then love the sea." 
 It is possible, indeed, that Milton employed the term in 
 ihe sense in wliich we do. It will be observed, that tl>« 
 
 * ' Month. Rev. f«v Feb. 17Sr, p. 139.'
 
 mImiIc pas-sai;*' ( oiisisls o[' aiilitlieses ; and freslu't iiui\ 
 prrhiips liavc bcon usi-d, not in opposition to a hrooh 
 simply, but to a ** pnrliii^ humk.^* 'Vim otliiT authority 
 cilcd I)} Dr. B. is the Description of JVew England^ writ- 
 ten and published in Enj^hind, in 16.^8, by Ferdinando 
 Ciors^es, who uses the word, .is Dr. B. justly observes, 
 precisely in the sense in which it is now undeixtood in 
 New Ens^land : " P. 29 — Between Salem and Charles- 
 town is situated the town of Lynn, near to a riv< r. 
 Mliose sti'oiii:; freslid at the end of Avinter filletb all her 
 banks, and with a violent torrent vents itself into the sea." 
 But if Milton did use this word in poetry, and Gor- 
 ges in prose, almost two centuries ago, does it follow 
 that it is now a part of the English language? If this 
 rule should be ado])ted, it would authorize us to use many 
 words, w hich would be as new to Americans of the pres- 
 ent day, as freshet was to the English Reviewers. The 
 English would doubtless use the term floods or freshes, 
 as is done in the following example, by an English trav- 
 eller in New England : " This bridge, like the others 
 ha\ ing been carried away by the floods or freshes, here 
 called fnshets,"" &c. KendaVs Travels, vol. i. p. 291. 
 The Encyclopcedia Brittanica also has the term Fresh- 
 es ; but says it is "a local term, signifying annual inunda- 
 tions, from the rivers being swollen by the melted snows 
 and otlier fresh waters from the uplands, as is the Nile, 
 &c. from periodical or tropical rains." One of Johnson''s 
 definitions of Flood is, « the swelling of a river by rain or 
 inland flood ; and Ttees'^s Cyclopctdia says, " Fresh denotes 
 the rise of water in a river, or a small flood." But 
 fresh is provirwial in England according to Grose, who 
 defines it thus : *' Fresh, a flood or overflowing of a 
 river. Tliis hca\y rain will bring down the freshes. 
 Noi-t!)." The people of the Soutliern States use the 
 'woTii fresh.
 
 97 
 
 Froisdesce. To put forth leaves. ^*His powers bc!2;an 
 now to frondesce and blossom." Eulogy on Br. Rush bij 
 JJiUiam Staughton, D. D. 
 
 This remarkable word is peculiar to the writer here 
 quoted. 
 
 Frough and Froughy. 
 
 The latter of these words is in very common use in 
 many parts of JVew England ; but I do not find it in the 
 English glovssaries. It is doubtless a corruption of 
 Frough, whicli is sometimes used here, and which is pro- 
 vincial in Great Britain: ^* Frough; loose, spungy: 
 Frough wood ; brittle." Ray's JS'orth Country Words. Se» 
 Brash. 
 
 Gawky. 
 
 This is sometimes used (in conrcrsntionj by the peo- 
 ple of New England, in the same manner as in the JS''orth 
 o{ England, where it is provincial: ^* Gaxvky ; awkward, 
 generally used to signify a tall, awkward pereon. Noilh." 
 Grose^s Prov. Gloss. 
 
 To GiRDiE. « The method is tliat of girdling tlie trees ; 
 which is done by making a circular incision through the 
 bark, and leaving them to die standing." Belknap^s Ilist. 
 dfMw Hampshire, vol. iii. p. 131. 
 
 This is animadverted upon, as an unauthorLzed word, 
 by a writer in the Monthly Jnthology, vol. i. p. 635 ; and 
 it is also noticed as an Americanism in Kendal's Travels, 
 vol. i. p. 235. Mr. Webster lias admitted it into his dic- 
 tionary ; but apprises his readers, that it is pecidiar to 
 Jlmerica. 
 
 Glut. A large wooden wedge. A''crv England. 
 
 Tliis is an English provincialism. See MarshaWs Ru- 
 ral Economy of tlie Midland Counties^ and Rees''s Cijrlo- 
 pmdia.
 
 ys 
 
 Gondola. 
 
 This ^vol•(l is thus noticed and explained by an Eu- 
 i;lish liaveHer : "Vessels of the hiirden above described 
 are tloated (lo^vn to the sea hy means of flat boats or 
 lii^hters, here [in I'ortsniouth, New Hampshire] called 
 GondolaSf and elsewhere Scows. Kendars Traveb, vol. 
 iii. p. 31. Tiic term Gondola is also used in otlier parti 
 of New England. Sec Scow. 
 
 To Go BY. 
 
 A New England friend, who has travelled in the 
 Soiitliern States, has favoured me witli the following re- 
 marks on this expression : *< I heard this used in JS'hrth 
 Carolina. Mr. B. asked me to stop and dine with him 
 tvlien I was passing his liousCf by saying, 'Will you go 
 by and dine \vith me.' When I mentioned this singular 
 expression to some gentlemen afterwards, I was told it 
 was often used. Its origin is very natural. When a gen- 
 tleman is about riding a great distance through that 
 country, where there are few great roads, and the houses 
 or jdantations are often two or three miles from them, a 
 friend, living near his route, asks him to go by his plan- 
 tation, and dine or lodge with him. But in a town, or 
 when one is passing before the door, the expression is pe- 
 culiar." 
 
 Gouging. 
 
 The following account of this word is given by anP^n- 
 glish traveller, upon the authority of an American : "IMie 
 General* informed me, that the mode of fighting in Vir- 
 ginia and the other Southern States, is really of that de- 
 scription, mentioned by preceding travellers, the truth o£ 
 which many persons have doubted, and some even con- 
 tradicted. Gouging, kicking, and biting are aHowcd in 
 
 * General Bradley, a Senator in Congress for the State of Vernaont.
 
 99 
 
 most of their hiitt\cs....Gouging is performed by twisting 
 the forefinger in a lock of hair, near the temple, and turn- 
 ing the eye out of the socket with the thumb nail, which 
 is suffered to grow long for that purpose." Lambert's 
 Travels, vol. ii. p. 300. "A diaholical practice (says an 
 English Review) which has never disgraced Europe, and 
 for which no other people have even a name." Quart. 
 Rev. vol. ii. p. 333. Tlie practice itself and the name are 
 both unknown in JVew England ; and from the following 
 remarks of a wi^ll known American author it will appear, 
 that the practice is much less general in the Southern 
 States than it has been : <»We are told (says Dr. Morse) 
 that a strange and very barbarous practice prevails a- 
 mong the lower class of people in the back parts of Vir- 
 ginia, North and South Carolinas, and Georgia ; it is cal- 
 led Gouging., ..We have lately been told, that in a par- 
 ticular county, wliere at the quarterly court twenty years 
 ago, a day seldom passed without ten or fifteen boxing 
 matches, it is now a rare thing to hear of a fight." 
 Morse'' sJlmer. Univer. Geographj, vol. i. p. 676 ', edit. 1805. 
 
 Governmental. 
 
 A reviewer in the Monihlij AntJiology (vol. vii. p. 263) 
 ranks this among the " barbarisms in common use" in A- 
 merica. It is not in any of the dictionaries ; and I did 
 not suppose it had ever been used by any English author. 
 But I fiiul it has been, by Mr. Bclsham in his Memoirs of 
 George the Third, it is however (witlt tlie words libertici- 
 daU roijalism, and some otlicrs) condemned by the Edin- 
 burgh Reviewers, wlio observe, that tliese words «aro 
 slight innovations upon tlie Englisli language, wliich we 
 cannot give up to tlie ravages of tliis tiiirsty reformer, 
 any more than the lOnglish Constitution." Ed. Rev. vol. 
 ii. p. 18i. 
 
 Grade. Gradation, degree, rank, order. " To talents of the
 
 100 
 
 liicjlicst ^ra.lr he [iraiuilton] united a i)aticiit iiuhislry not 
 always tlio ((unpimion (»l\2;;niiis." »M(irs/iuirs LiffnfJf'ash- 
 ingtoii, vol. V. p. 2L>. ♦• 'riic lii.a;h rank lio had held in llio 
 Amcmaii anny would obviate those ditliculties in fdling 
 the inlV'i ioiir grades with men of experience." p. 309. 
 
 This word lias been often criticised by English wri- 
 ters, in their ninarks on Ainei'i( an publications. See re- 
 marks of the British Critic, under the word Debark ; and 
 the note on the verb To Bottom. The Annual Review 
 also thus notices it in the review of jMarshall's Life of 
 Washington: "At page .3(57 [of vol. v.] and in many oth- 
 er places grade is used for degi'ee." Jinn. Rev. vol. vii. p. 
 241. 
 To Graduate. To take a degree at a university. 
 
 This verb was, till lately, always used by us as a 
 verb neuter or intransitive : Ex. ** He graduated at the 
 University of Cambridge ;" but many pei'sons now say, 
 " he -was graduated.'' The former mode of using it is com- 
 mon with the English. In the Lqndon Monthly Magaxine 
 (for Oct. 1808, p. 22-i-) a writer, speakiiig of Mandeville, 
 says — *^\Iq graduated at Leyden in 1691 ;" and in the 
 same woik (for Feb. 1809) it is again used. In Rees*s 
 Ctjclopctdiaf art. Gianvili, it is also said, " betook bis first 
 degree in the year 1655, and removing to Lincoln college 
 lie graduated master of arts in 1658." In the same work, 
 art. Magnol (written by Dr. J. E. Smith, President of 
 the Linnaan Society,) it is again used — " w bercver Jllag- 
 nol graduated" &c. The English Rerieicers also ust it — 
 « \S e think dissenters, merely as such, should not be de- 
 prived of the privilege of studying and graduating at the 
 English universities," &c. Eclec.Rev. Apr. 1811, p. 295. 
 Johvfon has it as a verb aetive only. But an English 
 friend observes, that *< the aetive sense of this word is rare 
 in England." I have met with one instance in an English
 
 101 
 
 publication where it is used in a dialogue, in the following; 
 manner : "You, methinks, are graduated.** See a review 
 in the British Cntic, vol. xxxiv. p. 538. 
 
 Graix. See Corn. 
 
 Grand. Much used in conrersalion, for very good, excellent, 
 fine, &c. Ex. This is grand news ; he is a grand fellow ; 
 this is a grand day. JS^exu England. 
 
 Gubernatorial. " Relating to a governor." TFebst. Diet. 
 Ex. At the late gubernatorial election ; that is, at the late 
 election of governor. 
 
 To Guess. To imagine, suppose, believe, think, fancy. 
 JVew England. 
 
 This is one of the most common words in use among 
 the people of wVew England ; and from its frequent re- 
 currence lias been the subject of much ridicule, not only 
 among the English, but among ihc people of the South- 
 ern States. A late English traveller thus amuses him- 
 self with this word, as used in our country-towns : « In- 
 stead of imagining, supposing, or believing, as 7ve do, 
 they always guess at every thing. * I guess as how, 
 Jonathan, it's not so could as yeasterday. Why I guess, 
 Natiian, that the wind has changed.* '* LamberVs Trav- 
 els, vol. ii. p. 506. 
 
 The greatest abuse of this word is guessing about 
 things well known. The word itself, as every body 
 knows, is an old Englisli wo!(l ; and, in the sense in 
 which Johnson defines it (that is, " to conjecture, to judge 
 without any certain principles of judgment,") is still in 
 common use among the English, as it lias long been, 
 both in conversation and in writing. " Whether Mr. P. 
 means &c. we are at a loss to guess." Brit. Crit. vol. i. 
 p. 17. "Whence so rrarked and decided a contradiction 
 in the results of observations made upon so simple a mat- 
 ter, as the time in which fever make? its .attack, could
 
 10;^ 
 
 happin, ^^e arc iinahle to guess.'* Dril. Crit. vol. v. p. 
 'Zi. ** Wo sIioul(l giiess this tract, from its external ap- 
 pearance, to be tlie produce of a private press." BriL 
 Crit. vol. xi. p. 69i.. An intellij;<iit fricn;! informs me, 
 that he has heard it used in England, (by the i)eopK^ of 
 AV.'f/) just as it is in this country. It is also used in Der- 
 bifshire : •• dness, to suppose. I guess so. Derb." Pegge^s 
 Supplnncnt to Giose*s rrovincial Glossary, London, 181i. 
 
 GUMITIOX. 
 
 A low word, \vhi( h is sometimes heard in conver- 
 sation, and signifirs understanding, or capacity, as it 
 docs in some parts of Eni^land j where it is provincial. 
 Grose, under the word Gawm, has this explanation : 
 <« Gawm ; to understand. I dunna gawm ye ; I don't 
 nndei-htaiiil you. Hence gawmtion, or gumption, un- 
 derstanding. JVorth.''* Prow Gloss. Sec Docity. 
 GcxxiXG. The diversion of shooting. JV*ew England. 
 
 ** They [the Americans] were, however, mostly marks- 
 men, having been accustomed to gunning from their 
 youth." Hist, of JNl'W England by Haniuih Mams, p. 
 30;^, 8vo. edit. 
 
 This word is often noticed by Englishmen, as an 
 Jmericanism ; and I have no recollection of having heard 
 it in England. Jsh, however, has it in his dictionary, as 
 follows : *• Gunning fs. a colloquial word from gun.J 
 The diversion of shooting ; the act of going out with a 
 gun in order to kill game." I believe no other English 
 lexicographer has noticed it. It should be observed, that 
 though the word often occurs in the language of conver- 
 sation, it is rarely used in writing, even by Ameiicans. 
 Hack. An abbreviation of hackney-coach. 
 
 In England hack signifies " a horse much used or 
 let out for hire." Mason^s Supplement. A writer in one 
 of our periodical works observes, that the Englisli, '• in-
 
 103 
 
 stead of our abbreviation, go call me a hack, say, go eatt 
 me a coach*' [or, call me a hackney-coach.'] Mouihly An- 
 thology, vol. V. p. 660. 
 
 Handsome. 
 
 An obliging correspondent observes, that " tlds word 
 is here applied to almost every thing j" and then adds 
 (though in rather too strong terms,) that, " in England 
 it is used only in reference to the human countenance.'* 
 It is thus mentioned as an Jmericanism in the (Quarterly 
 Review : " The country thus far had presented few strik- 
 ing features, but was generally what the Americans 
 call handsome.*' vol. xii. p. 335 ; review of Lewis and 
 Clarke's Travels, The reviewers again notice it (p. 3il,) 
 by putting it in Italics in the following quotation fi'om 
 Lewis and Clarke's work : " The surface seems higher 
 tliere than the eartli on the sides of the fountain, wliich 
 is a handsome tiirf of green grass." 
 
 Happifying. Making happy. 
 
 This strange word is sometimes heard from our pid- 
 pits ; and a clerical friend informs me, that he has met 
 with it in some of our printed sermons. I had supposed 
 it to be a word of very recent date; but I find it was 
 noticed many years ago by Dr. 'SVitherspoon, who merely 
 mentions it in a short list of " terms and plirases to be 
 noted for remarks.'* Lectures on Eloquence ; lect. 3. 
 
 To Have. Used, instead of the auxiliary to be, with some of 
 the intransitive verbs. See tlie remarks on the verb Jln-ive. 
 
 Heads of Departments. (In the jdural nttmbcr only. J 
 A general term, used in speaking of the /Secretaries of 
 State, of the Treasury, kc. collectively. " The tiMuporary 
 Heads of Departments were required to prepare and hiy 
 before the first magistrate such statements," 6cc. Jlar- 
 shall's Life of Mashington, v(d. v. p. 176. 
 
 Heat or IIet (jtrct. and part, of to heat.)
 
 104 
 
 This is oIIpii hoard in (onvcrsation ; but (as Mr. 
 Webster ol)serves) " the practice is not respectable."* 
 Mi.soiu in liis Supplement to Johnson, has heat as a parti- 
 c\p\Cf " used by old poets for heated." Jish also has it 
 (written het) on the autliority of Chaucer; and observes, 
 that it is ol)solete. Home Tooke, after observing tliat 
 hot, as a participle, is sufliciently common, adds — " heat 
 is rarely so used. Ben Johnson, however, so uses it in 
 Sejanus, act 3. 
 
 ' And fury ever bolls more high and strong' 
 • Neaf with ambition, than revenge of wrong.' 
 
 Diversions of Purley, part iii 
 
 IIeft, ?(. and To Heft, r. 
 
 The noun uErxis in Bailey's and EnticWs dictionaries, 
 in the sense in which it is often used in this country ; that 
 is, " the weight of any tiling." It is provincial in Eng- 
 land : " IIeft, weight — "NVhat heft be 'um." Dialect of 
 South Wiltshire ; in Monthly Magazine, vol. xxxviii. p. 
 114. Grose also has the nofun heft in his Glossary thus : 
 " Heft ; heaviness or weiglit ; as a heft in the air. To 
 judge by tlie heft ; to judge by the weight. Smith [of Eng- 
 land]." This noun is also used colloquially in America 
 (as a correspondent justly remarks) to signify the greater 
 part, or the bulk of any thing, in expressions of this 
 kind : A part of the crop of corn was good, but the Jieft 
 of it was bad. 
 
 The verb To heft, which here commonly signifies to 
 lift any thing in order to judge of its weight, is not in the 
 die tionaries. Both the noun and the verb are used only 
 by the illiterate. 
 Help. 
 
 This term is much used in some parts of New Eng- 
 land for servants ; and is generally applied to female ser- 
 
 • Philosophical and Practical Grammar, p. 113.
 
 105 
 
 vants. Ex. My help is very good ; she i^ very good 
 help. The word Domestics, however, is more commoiu 
 
 Het. See Heat. 
 
 Hither and yon. 
 
 This expression is often used in the counfri/-town9 
 of New England for here and there. It is provincial in 
 England : ** Hither and yon ; here and there, backwards 
 and forwards. JVorth." Grose's Prov. Gloss. It is nercr 
 heard in our sea-port towns. 
 
 HoxPE or HoLP. fPret. and part. pass, of Help. J 
 
 This antiquated inflection of the verb to Jielp is still 
 
 I - in use in Virginia ; where (as a correspondent informs 
 me) it is corrupted into holped. Mr. Webster observes, 
 that <« it is pronounced Mpe ;" and he then gives the 
 following example : *' Shall I hope you. Sir."' Disserta- 
 tions on the English Language, p. 384. A friend, liow- 
 ever, informs me, that he never heard it used (us in this 
 example) for the present tense, but always, as the pretente 
 or participle passive ; as in this expression : " Will you 
 be holped (or holpe) to any thing.'* This " ancient ir- 
 regular form holpe'' (in the preterite) is also mentioned 
 by Bishop Lowih, as " used in conversation" in England 
 at the period when he ^vrote. See his Grammar, Irreg. 
 verbs, sect. 3. I never heard it during my residence in 
 that country. 
 
 Hominy. 
 
 « The white inhabitants [of South Carolina] are ex- 
 tremely fond of the corn bruised and boiled into a pudding, 
 which they call homimj. It is eaten with milk, sugar, and 
 butter, and is a favourite dish at breakfast." Lambert's 
 Travels, vol. ii. p. 211. Mr. Webster's orthograpliy of 
 this word is hommony, and he defines it, « food made of 
 maize broken, but coarse, and boiled." Hence a vulgar
 
 106 
 
 comiiarison in many parts of this country — As coarse as 
 lioniiiiy. 
 
 IIoJfORARY. 
 
 Some American writers use this adjective instead of 
 honourable : Ex. It was highly honorary to him. 
 To Hope. 
 
 « We may hope the assistance of God. The word/or or 
 to receive is wanting. In this instance hope, which is a 
 neuter verb, is turned into an active, and not very properly 
 as to the ohjective term, assistance. It must he admitted 
 however, that in some old English poets hope is some- 
 times used as an active verb, but it is contrary to mod 
 crn practice.*' Witherspoons Druid, No. 5. 
 
 This verb, I think, woidd not be used, in the manner 
 here mentioned, by American writers of the present day. 
 
 HoRSE-CoLT. 
 
 " We frequently see in advertisements [in America] 
 these terms, horse-colt, mare-colt, &c. A horse-coM is sim- 
 ply a colt ; a mare-colt merely a Jilly" Port-Folio, JS'ew 
 Series, vol. ii. p. 309. 
 
 HousEN (plur. of house). 
 
 This old plural (as Mr. Webster has observed*) is 
 still used in New England j but by none except illiterate 
 people. It is also used at this day in some parts oi Eng- 
 land. Grose mentions it as a provincialism of Berkshire ; 
 and another English writer (in the Monthly ^Magazine, 
 vol. xxxviii. p. Hi) notices it in his " Specimens of the 
 provincial dialect of South Wiltshire." 
 
 Hub. The nave of a wheel. J^''ew England. 
 
 This is also an E ngl isli prorinciaZ word: "Hubs; 
 naves of wheels." Marshall's Rural Economy of the Md 
 land Counties. 
 
 * Dissertations on the Eng. Lang. p. 385-
 
 107 
 
 Illy. 
 
 This adverb has been much used in America, both in 
 coiivcrsati(m and in writing. It is not to be found in 
 the English Dictionaries, nor is it now used by English 
 authors ; the word ill (like well) being always employed 
 by them both as an adverb and adjective. Illy has been 
 thought by some persons to be of American origin ; but 
 this is not the fact. Jlinsworth has it in the Latin part of 
 his Dictionary, as a translation of the adverbs male and 
 maliim ; in the English part, however he has ill only. 
 In tlie former edition of this Vocabulary I also mentioned 
 the following (which was pointed out to me by a friend) 
 as an English authority for it : ** He then set himself 
 wholly to God unfeignedly, and to do all that was possible 
 in that little remainder of his life which was before him> 
 to redeem those great portions of it, that he had formerly 
 so illy employed." Burnetts Life and Death of the Earl of 
 Rochester; American editionf published in the Christian 
 Monitor, No. xx. p. 112. But a London edition of Bur- 
 net's work, which I have since seen, has illin this passage. 
 Another friend informed me, that he believed illy was 
 used by Steele in the Spectator ; but he did not recollect 
 in which of the volumes it was. I have not discovered it 
 in that work. 
 To Immigrate, Immigratiox, Immigrant. 
 
 These words were first used in this country, I believe, 
 by Dr. Belknap in his History of New Hampshire. In 
 the preface to the third volume of that work he has the 
 following defence of them : " There is another deviation 
 from the strict letter of the English dictionaries, which 
 is found extremely convenient i)i our discourses on popu- 
 lation. From the verb migro arc deri\^ed emigrate and im- 
 migrate ; with the same propriety as from mergo are deriv- 
 ed emerge and immerge. Accordingly the verb immigrate^
 
 108 
 
 and flic nouns immigrant and immigration arc used without 
 mruplo in some parts of this volume." There seems to be 
 .1 convenience, as the learned author observes, in having 
 these words in the language, hut in practice they do not 
 -appear to have been Ibund necessary,* I do not recollect that 
 any American writers (except such as have copied from 
 Dr. Belknap's work) have adopted them. None of them 
 are to be found, I believe, in any of the English diction- 
 aries except IJaileifs and AsJi's : these have the verb 
 IMMIGRATE, but not thc siibstantives immigrant and 
 iMMiGRATiox. They are all unknown, I think, to Eng- 
 lish writers of the ])rescnt day. Mr. Webster has insert- 
 ed them in his dictionary ; upon the authority, I presume, 
 of Dr. Belknap. Mr. Kendal (the English traveller al- 
 ready quoted) observes, that *Hininigrant is perhaps the 
 only new word, of which the circumstances of the United 
 States has in any degree demanded the addition to the 
 English language." Kendal's TravelSf vol. ii. p. 252, note. 
 
 In Judge Marshall's Life of WashingtoHf in one instance 
 W'here the American edition has the word t7?i-migrations, 
 the London quarto edition substitutes e-migrations : "The 
 im-migrations from England [into America] continued to 
 be very considerable." p. 62. Jm. ed. Land, edw p. 51.) 
 Importuxacy. 
 
 Tiiis has been called an American word. See Month- 
 ly Anthology, vol. iii. p. 92. Dr. Johnson, it is true, has 
 not inserted it in his dictionary, though it had been notic- 
 ed by Bailey. Mason, however, has it in his Supplement 
 to Johnson, upon the authority of Shakspeare's Two Gen^ 
 Uemen of Verona and Timon ; and Walker adopts it from 
 Mason, It docs not appear to be much used by English 
 writers of the present day. 
 To Improve. To occupy, make use of, employ. 
 
 This word, in i\i<i first sense, is in constant use in all 
 
 i
 
 109 
 
 parts of New England ; but in the second sense (when 
 applied to -persons, as in the following example) it 
 is not so common : " In actions of trespass against 
 several defendants, the plaintiff may, after issue is cloS' 
 ed, strike out any of them for tlie purpose of improving 
 them as witnesses." Sxviffs System of the Laws of Con- 
 necticut, vol. ii. p. 238. 
 
 The following remarks of Dr. Franidin, on this and 
 some other words, will not be uninteresting to the reader. 
 They are taken from his letter of Dec. 26, 1789, to Mr. 
 Webster : 
 
 « I cannot but applaud your zeal for preserving the pu- 
 rity of our language, both in its expression and pronunci- 
 ation, and in correcting the popular errors several of our 
 States are continually falling into with respect to both. 
 Give me leave to mention some of them, though possibly 
 they may already have occurred to you. I wish however, 
 that in some future publication of yours, you would set a 
 discountenancing mark upon them. The first I remember 
 is the word improved. When I left New England in the 
 year 1723, this word had never been used among us, as 
 far as I know, but in the sense of ameliorated or made 
 better, except once, in a very old book of Dr. Mather's, 
 entitled Remarkable Providences. As that man wrote a 
 very obscure hand, I remember that when I read that 
 word in his book, used instead of the word employed, 
 I conjectured that it was an error of the printer, who 
 had mistaken a short I in the writing for an r, and a y 
 with too short a tail for a v, whereby employed was con- 
 verted into improved : but when I returned to Boston in 
 1733, I found this change had obtained favour, and was 
 then become common ; for I met with it often in perus- 
 ing the newspapers, where it frequently made an appear- 
 ance rather ridiculous. Such, for instance, as the advcr-
 
 110 
 
 liHCnniii ol a ( ountiy house to be sold, whicli liad been 
 many years improved as a tavern ; and in a cliaractcr of 
 a dcci'asrd countiy gentleman, that he liad been for more 
 than thirty years improved as a justice of the peace. 
 Tliis use of the word improve is peculiar to New Eng- 
 Jaiid, and not to be met with among any other speakers 
 of Knglisli, either on this or the other side of the water."* 
 Notwithstanding Dr. Franklin thus amuses himself 
 with tracing the origin of this word to the obscure hand- 
 tcriting of Dr. Mather, it had cei-tainly been used in some 
 parts of r\fw England before Mathefs time ; though, as 
 wc must presume from Dr. Franklin's remarks, it might 
 not liave been used in Boston. It occurs in some of the 
 ancient laws of the New England colonics. In the 
 ^'La^ves, Liberties and Orders^' of the *< New-Haven Col- 
 ony" it is orderedt that the Deputies, Constable, or other 
 ofhccrs in public trust, " shall from time to time have a 
 vigilant eye over their brethren and neighbours within the 
 lin»its of the said Plantation, that all parents and masters 
 doe duly endeavour, either by their own ability and la- 
 bour, or by improving such schoolmaster, or other helps 
 and means as the Plantation doth afford, or the family 
 may conveniently provide, that their children and ap- 
 
 • Di-. Franklin then has the followhig' remarks on some other 
 words : " During my late absense in France, I find that several other new 
 words have been introduced into our parliamentary language. For ex- 
 ample, I find a verb formed from the substantive notice — / should not 
 H'i-je noticed t/iis, were it not that the gentleman, &c. Also another verb froTH 
 the substantive advocate ; the ffentkman -who advocates or who has advocat- 
 vA that motion, Etc. Another from the substantive /iro^ress, the most awk- 
 ward and abominable of the three ; the comvdttee, having progressed, re- 
 vived to adjovm. The word opposed, though not a new word, I find used in 
 a new manner, as, thr gentlemen who are opposed to this measure, to which 
 1 hare also myself been opposed. If you should happen to be of my opinion 
 with respect to tliese innovations, you will use your authority in reprobat. 
 jrj them." Franklin's Essays, vol. ii. p. 79. London edit.
 
 Ill 
 
 prentices, as they grow c.ipablc, may througli God's bles- 
 sing attain at least so much, as to be abic duly to read 
 the Scriptures, and other good and profitable printed 
 books in the English tongue, being their native lan- 
 guage," &c. Certain Lawes^ Liberties and Orders^ made, 
 granted and established at severall times by the Generall 
 Court of JYew-Haven Colony ; from 1648 to 1660. It is also 
 applied in the same manner, in a Connecticut law of the 
 year 1690, cited in Kendal's Tra-vels, vol. i. p. 273 : 
 *' This Court, considering the necessity that many pa- 
 rents may be under to improve their children and servants 
 in labour for a great part of the year, doe order," &c. 
 
 This verb, applied to lands, occurs also in the Colony 
 and Province Laws of Massachusetts, (as was observed in 
 the former edition of this work,) and in some instances it 
 appears to have the signification in question; but in 
 others it is used in the sense of cidfivated, or ameliorated : 
 « Where lands lye in common unfenced, if one man sliall 
 improve his land by fencing in several, and another shall 
 not, he who shall so improve shall secure his lands against 
 other men's cattle, and shall not compel such as joyn up- 
 on him, to make any fence with him, except he shall so 
 improve in several as the other doth....The like order shall 
 be where any man shall improve land against any Town- 
 Common. Provided, this order sliall not extend to housc- 
 loits, not exceeding ten acres ; but if in such one shall im- 
 prove, his neighbour shall be compellable to make and 
 mantaine one half of the fence between them, whetlier lie 
 improve or not." Massa, Colony Laws, title Cattle, Corn- 
 1FIEXDS, Fences, sect. 7. J. D. 1642. 
 
 It is not unworthy of notice, that in the English 
 Abridgment of these laws, published by Neal (in his His- 
 tory of New England), the verb inclose is generally sub- 
 stituted for improve. I do not recollect seeing imprort
 
 lis 
 
 Rpplicil it> houses (as it now is) or any thing but lands, in 
 the old laws of Missachusetts, 
 
 'l'li<)n,i;h this verb is so common in New England, 
 the corresponding noun, improver, is not in use ; but we 
 always say, the occupier or occupant of a house, or land. 
 I lia\ (', however, once met with the noun improver in the 
 Jaiu's of Massachusetts. 
 
 This use of the verb improve is also noticed by Dr. 
 A^'ithcrspoon ; (see his JDruid, No. 7) and in Webstei-'s 
 Dktionarij. 
 
 I. M TROT EM EN T, of a semion J the conclusion. Ex, «To 
 7/uiAf some improvement of the whole." 
 
 This expression, though probably much more common 
 here than in Great Britain, is by no means peculiar to 
 us. In an English review of Sermons by the Rev. John 
 Drysdale, D. I). F. R. S. Edinb. the following remark is 
 made upon it : " The conclusion [of the sermon] is term- 
 ed, somewhat inaccurately, making an improvement of 
 the whole. The autlior, w^ presume, means, deducing 
 from the whole what may contribute to the general im- 
 provement." Brit. Crit. vol. i. p. 379. In the review of 
 another publication, the word improvement, used in the 
 same manner, is noticed by being printed in Italics. Brit. 
 Crit. vol. iii. p. 345. Both the works here cited are from 
 the pens of Scottish writers. 
 
 I.N /or Into. 
 
 Mr. Coleman, in remarking upon the prevalence of 
 this inaccuracy in JS^ew Tork, says : '»' We get in the 
 stage f and have the rheumatism into our knees." JN". Fork 
 Evening Post, Jan. 6, 1814. An obsei-ving English friend 
 al Phdaddphia also speaks of its frequent use there, in the 
 following strong terms : « The preposition into is almost
 
 il3 
 
 unknown here. They say, when did you come in iotvn 9 
 I met him riding in town." B.^ 
 Incident. Liable or subject. 
 
 " Such bodies are incident to these evils. The evil is 
 incident or ready to fall upon the person ; the person li- 
 able or subject to the evil." Withersp. Druid, No. 5. 
 
 I have never heard the word incident used in this 
 manner in America. 
 Incivism. *• Unfriendliness to a state or government." 
 Webst. Diet. 
 
 This Gallicism has never been heard in America since 
 the first years of the French revolution. 
 To Inculpate ; Inculpation. 
 
 Tlicse words are used by some American writers ; 
 but they are not in the English dictionaries, and are cer- 
 tainly not much, if at all, used by English writers, 
 Indesirable. 
 
 This ward is censured in the Monthly Anthology, 
 (1807, p. 281). I have never met with it in Amerioan 
 publications, except in the instance there cited. A cor- 
 respondent says, it is " unknown to the English." 
 Inexecution. ** The extensive discussions which had tak- 
 en place relative to the inexecution of the treaty of 
 peace," 6cc. Marsh. Life of Washing, vol. v. p. 484. 
 
 English writers use the term non-execution, as Judge 
 Marshall himself commonly does ; see pp. 184, 275, 370, 
 473, &c. of the volume here cited. 
 Infected. 
 
 The Annual Review has hastily criticised Judge 
 Marshall for using t!iis word, in his Life of Wash- 
 ington, in a peculiar manner. The remark of the 
 reviewers is : — " Vol. v. p. 144, [Eng. edit.] meaning to 
 
 • The remarks under the signature *' B " in this work ai'c all Irom 
 tlje correspondent lierc quoted. 
 15
 
 114 
 
 pniiso llii'in. our author siiys, ' the patriotic vctcraus ol' 
 the Involution, infected by the wide spreading contagion 
 ol tlic linirs, arrayed themselves under the banner of 
 tlie hiws.-' dun. Rev. vol. vii. p. 211. But tlie word infect- 
 ed is an errour of the press, in the London edition, for 
 un-infected. In this same sentence there is another al- 
 teration in the London edition : *' the jmtriotic veterans," 
 for " patriot veterans," as it stands in the American edi- 
 tion.* 
 Interior. 
 
 <» Inferior and superior Tsays an English friend) in a 
 ■positive sense, are almost universal in New England : A 
 very superior, mare, a most inferior horse," &c. B. These 
 expressions are, I presume, more frequently heard in A- 
 merica than in Great Britain ; but Englishmen sometimes 
 employ these adjectives " in a positive sense," even in w ri- 
 ting : " The throwing out of employ all very inferior la- 
 
 • The London cctavb edition of tliis work (if \ve may judge ft-om the 
 examples given in the Annual Review) must be grossly incorrect ; for of the 
 thirteen instances which the reviewers give of Amtrican inaccuracies in lan- 
 guage, several are errors of the English press. The word infected for mi- 
 infected has been mentioned above. Anoth.er instance occurs in vol. ii. p. 
 551, London octavo edit. [p. 479, Amer. ed.] where the reviewers suppose 
 the author uses ptitrole for parole : But the London quarto and the Amer- 
 ican editions botli have parole. No American would confound these two 
 words. A typographical error also in the name of Dr. Robertson (wliich 
 in the London octavo edition, it seems, is printed Robinson, though the 
 quarto has Robertson) and an inadvertence on the part of the author, in 
 giving that distinguished historian the title of J\1r. instead of his usual one 
 of Dr. are made the subject of an unmerited degree of ridicule. In the 
 American edition, the name is correctly printed. We have enough cor^ 
 ruptiont of our own to answer for, without being responsible for those 
 which tlie English printers make for us. We sliould never, I trust, be 
 bo wanting in candour, as to charge these Reviewers with ignorance, be- 
 cavise they have in this very article given our countryman Minot the name 
 of Minor.
 
 115 
 
 bourers." Brit. Crit. vol. ix. p. 6S8. The engravings.... 
 are of mean and xej-y infciior execution." vol. xxi. p. 506. 
 *' Biionanni was contemporary with Grew, and....publish- 
 cd at Rome his Recreazione kc. a work of very supe- 
 rior merit." Rees^s Cyclop, art. Conchology, col. 19. 
 Infiiiential. Having influence. Ex. " Persons who arc 
 strangers to the vifluential motives of tlic day." Marsh. 
 Life of Wash. vol. v. p. 380. " He was a very hiflueniial 
 
 man." 
 
 Johnson and other lexicographers have this word in the 
 
 sense of exerting influence ; but it does not appear to be 
 
 used now in England. Burkes in one instance, seems to 
 
 use the word prevalent as we should injluential : " I know 
 
 that he and those who are much prevalent with him," 
 
 &c. Burke's Works, Letter Fourth on the Regicide Peaces 
 
 vol. V. p. 89. Amcr. cd. An English friend observes, that 
 
 ^'influential is clearly an American word." J. 
 
 To Inform. 
 
 This verb is much used in the United States in the 
 following manner : I'he master of the ship informs tliat he 
 left London on such a day ; for informs us, or says, or 
 states, ^c. A correspondent says, that '• inform is thus used 
 by English merchants ; but it is merely a technical ex- 
 pression." Ji. 
 
 To Infeact. 
 
 This is used by some American authors instead of the 
 verb to infiinge, which is commonly employed by English 
 writers. 
 
 Infuriated. 
 
 This is a favourite word with a few American writorw ; 
 but it is not in general use among us. Tlie adjective in- 
 furiate is often used by the poets, and is in tlie English 
 dictionaries ; but the participle infuriated anfl its vcrl) arc 
 not. Mr. AVebster has the verb, as well as the adjective.
 
 110 
 
 liVSUtiKtTT. 
 
 I si'd by some American writers. It is not in the 
 Knglish dirtionaries, and, 1 believe, is never used by Eng- 
 lish authors. 
 Insfrrectionart. *' Suitable to insurrections." ^lason. 
 
 This word was criticised a few years ago, in a review 
 oi** Letters from Europe hj a native of Pennsylvaniaf** (see 
 Montlily Anthology for 1806,) as an Americanism, or, as 
 the reviewers with some severity call it, an Indianism. 
 It is not in Johmoii's dictionary, but it is in Masmi's Sup- 
 plement, where this passage is cited from Burke — « True 
 democratic, explosive, insurrectionarij nitre." To wliich 
 may be added tlie following, from the posthumous works of 
 tlie same autlior — « Why, the author writes, that on their 
 fnurderous insurrectionarij system their own lives are not 
 sure for an hour." — " "Whilst the sansculotte gallery in- 
 stantly recognized their old insurrectionary acquaintance," 
 &c. Burke^s Fourth Letter on the Regicide Peace, vol. v. of 
 his Works, pp. 34, 35. Amer. ed. 
 
 This word is a production of the French Revolution, 
 and perhaps (like the term sansculotte and some others) 
 would not have been used by Burke, except when writing 
 upon the affairs of France. I have never met witli it in 
 any other English author, and it is not mentioned by any 
 of the lexicographers but Mason, 
 Interval-land, or Intervale. 
 
 " Along the borders of the rivers, at a distance from 
 one another, are some small portions of meadow, or of 
 those culturable uplands, that, in New England, are in- 
 cluded with meadow in the denomination of interval' 
 lands:' ICendal's Travels, vol. iii. p. 71. Mr. Kendal 
 then criticises Dr. Morse for using interval as synonymous 
 With meadow, observing, that " if the word interval were 
 Bynonymous with meadow, it ought upon no account to
 
 117 
 
 be employed ; and it is only because it is not synony- 
 mous, that it is useful, and deserves to be retained....The 
 interval, intended in New England geography, is the iji- 
 terval or space between a river and the mountains, wliich 
 on both sides uniformly accompany its course at a greater 
 or less distance from its margin. Hence interval-lands 
 include meadow and uplands, and in general tlie whole of 
 tlie narrow valley, through which in these regions the riv- 
 ers flow." p. 183. Dr. Belknap usee the word intervale ; 
 observing, that he can " cite no very ancient authority 
 for it ; but it is well understood, in all parts of New 
 England, to distinguish the low land adjacent to the fresh 
 rivers, which is frequently overflowed by the freshets, and 
 which is accounted some of our most valuable soil, be- 
 cause it is rendered permanently fertile by t!ie bountiful 
 hand of nature, without the labour of man." Hist. ofJ\''ew 
 Hampshire, vol. iii. preface, p. 6. See Bottom- Lands. 
 
 Involvement. <' The inclination of tlie public led to a full 
 indulgence in the most extravagant partiality, but not to 
 an involvement in the consequences which that indulgence 
 would infallibly produce." Marsh. Life of Wash. vol. v. p. 
 401. 
 
 This word is not in common use in tliis country. 1 
 never met with it in any otlicr work ; nor have I ever 
 heard it used in conversation. It is not in the diction- 
 aries. 
 
 Irrepbalability. *^ The quality of not being repealable." 
 Wehst. Diet. 
 
 Mr. Webster, in the Preface to his Dictionary, re- 
 marks, that " in every country, where thi^ English lan- 
 guage is used, improvements will continually demand the 
 use of new terms j" ami, after adducing instances of 
 new terms in several arts and sciences, be adds — " A new 
 system of civil polity in the western world originates now
 
 118 
 
 iilcas, and l)rinc;s info question the consi if ididnnlity oi i^ow- 
 (Ts, tlic lunKriiVLABiLiTY of laws, and the removability 
 of men from office." p. xxii. 
 
 Tlie term irrcpealubiidif may perhaps be found neces- 
 sary, or at least useful ; but I do not recollect that any 
 of our writers have yet adopted it : I never met with it 
 in any work excc[)t Mr. Webstei^'s. 
 To Issue. 
 
 The Bntish Crilic for 1809 (vol. xxxv. p. 182) cen- 
 ^xxrvs the use of this verb, in the following passage of the 
 Rev. Dr. Bancroft's Life of Washington : " The northern 
 campaign had issued in the capture of General Burgoync, 
 p. 169.'' It is also used by Dr. Ramsay^ in his Life of 
 Washington, and censured by one of our own writers, in 
 the Monthly Anthology, vol. iv. p. 6(ii>. Dr. Witherspoon 
 has not mentioned this word among his AnwicanismSf but 
 has himself used it : "A curious debate in a certain fam- 
 ily, which issued in nothing." 
 
 It is also used occasionally by some of the writers of 
 Great Britain : " This is our first justification, which, if 
 duly improved, will issue in our full and final justifica- 
 tion." 2'aylor on Romans, as cited in the British Critic, vol. 
 iv. p. 30. " The application of this test will issue in a 
 very favourable judgment, concerning the work which 
 has been examined." Christian Observer, vol. ii. p. 97. 
 " In what can such a contest issue, but in the utter dis- 
 comfiture of a conquering or invading army." Edinb. Re- 
 view, vol. xxiv. p. 255. 
 Item. An intimation, a hint. Ex. I had an item of his de- 
 signs. 
 
 This is a low word, and is used here only by the illit- 
 erate. It is in Johnson's dictionary ,• but Grose has it 
 among his provincial words, and marks it as peculiar to 
 the ^Torth of England. A friend informs me, that « it 
 is colloquial in this sense, among many of the English."
 
 119 
 
 Jag. a small load. Xeto England. 
 
 Grose has this among the provincial words of Eng- 
 land : « Jag, a small parcel or load of any thing, whether 
 on a man's back or in a carriage. Mrfolk." Bailey also 
 marks it as a " Co^lniry** word. 
 
 To Jeopardize. 
 
 This verb is often seen in the Debates of Congress, as 
 they are reported in the newspapers. It is doubtless a 
 corruption of the ancient verb to jeopardy as deputise is of 
 depute. But even the verb tojeojjardf whicli is in all the 
 dictionaries, Dr. Jo/iMson says, is "obsolete;" JsAsays, it 
 is " not much used f' and Barclay, that it is " used only 
 in Divinity.^* It is hardly necessary to remark, that to 
 jeopardise is not in any of the dictionaries. 
 
 Jeopardy. 
 
 This noun (as well as the verb just mentioned) is 
 sometimes to be found in American works. Dr. Johnson 
 observes, that it is " not in use." 
 
 Jockeying. " The farmers impeached their honesty, ac- 
 cusing them of unfair dealing, or, as their phrase is, of 
 jockeying." KendaVs Trav. vol. i. p. 87. 
 
 The verb to jockey, signifying " to cheat, to trick," is 
 in Johnson's, and other English dictionaries ; and a friend 
 informs me, that it is " a coarse but well known colloquial 
 word in England." In America also it is considered us 
 a low word. 
 
 Jounce, n. and To Jouxce, r. 
 
 These are sometimes heard in convei'sation ; but they 
 are considered as low words. I'hey are provincial in 
 England: ^^ Jounce ; a jolt or shake; i\ jouncing trot; 
 a hard rough trot : Norf." Grose^s Frov. Gloss. 
 
 Kedge. Brisk, in good health and spirits. Ex. How do 
 you do to day ? I am pretty kedge. 
 
 This is used only in a few of the connfnj towns of
 
 420 
 
 New EM.2,1aii(I. but is unknown on the sea-coast. It is 
 proviuciul in England. Grose defines it, " brisk, lively;'* 
 and says it is used in the South. Ray also has it among 
 Ids " South and East Country 7vords," and explains it 
 thns — " brisk, budge, lively. Suffolk.^* 
 
 To Keep. To stay at the liouse of any person. Ex. Wiiere 
 do you keep ? I keep at my friend's house. JWw England. 
 This is noted as an JmencaniHm in the Monthly An- 
 thology, vol. V. p. 428. It is less used now than former- 
 ly. An English friend remarks, that " there are certain 
 situations in which this word may perhaps be used in 
 England ; as, for example, in Universities." A. 
 
 Keepixg-room. a parlour. J^ew England. " The lat- 
 ter spent his evening in the parlour, or, as it is called, 
 the keeping-room.''^ KendaVs Trav. vol. iii p. 264. 
 
 This is now more frequently called the sitting-room. 
 The term is provincial in England : « Keeping-room, a 
 sitting-room. J\''orfolk.''* Marsh. Rural Econ. JWyif. The 
 term parlour^ however, is in general use in the sea-port 
 towns of New England. 
 
 Kelter or Kilter (pronounced Kilter). Good condition, 
 order. Ex. This cart, or plough, is out of kilter. 
 
 This is very common among the farmers of New 
 England. It is also one of the provincial words of Great 
 Britain : " Kelter or kilter ; frame, order, condition. 
 .S'hrth. In good case or kelter; in good condition." 
 Grose^s Prov. Gloss.* It is also mentioned by Marshall 
 among his " Provincialisms of Yorkshire,*^ and by Ray in 
 his " South and East Country Words ;" and in the Monthly 
 Magazine (Mar. 1815) it is given among specimens of the 
 Essex Dialect." 
 
 Kextal. a quintal. " Our whale-oils pay six livres the ken- 
 Grose adds—" Ilcnce hclters-kelter, a corruption of helter, to hang, 
 
 and kelter, order, i. e. hang- order, or in defiance of order.
 
 131 
 
 tal." Report of the Secretary of State (Mr. Jefferson) on 
 Commercial Restrictions <^c. Dec. 16, 1793, p. 
 
 This manner of writing the word quintal is not the 
 'i American^* orthography, but is, I believe, peculiar to the 
 autlior of the Report here cited. Mr. Webster's orthogra- 
 phy, which is JCentle, approaches to this, and is conform- 
 able to the common pronunciation of the word. But the 
 universal orthography of other American writers is quintal. 
 
 Knoll. A little round hill. In common use in New Eng- 
 land. 
 
 It is mentioned by Ray (and by Grose, who cojiies Ray J 
 among the JVbrth Country words of Great Britain. <« It is 
 used (says an English friend) among the gentry of Eng- 
 land, in particular, when describing country scenery.*' J, 
 
 Land-board. Vide Sea-board. 
 
 Languishment. " This disease [pulmonary consumption] 
 which, after the co?tnir y-people among the whites, they 
 [the Indians] call a languishment," Kendal's Trav. vol. ii. 
 p. 211, where the author is speaking of the Island of JV'a?i- 
 tucket. The word is not in general use in New England. 
 
 Lay. n. Terms or conditions of a bargain ; price. Ex. 
 I bought the articles at a good lay ; lie bought his goods 
 on the same fat/ that I did mine. Jl low word. J\"ew Eng- 
 land. 
 
 lb Lay, for Lie. 
 
 Dr. Witherspoon observes, that « this is not only a pre- 
 vailing vulgarism in conversation, but has obtained in pub- 
 lic speaking, and may be often seen in print. I am even 
 of opini'»n (he adds) that it has some chance of overcom- 
 ing all the opposition made to it, and fully establishing 
 itself by custom, which is the final arbiter in all sucli cases. 
 Lowth in his Grammar has been at much pains to correct 
 it ; yet though that most excellent treatise has been in 
 
 the hands of the public for many years, this word seems 
 16
 
 122 
 
 to jEfaiii, iiistnul of losiiit; !:;i'omul." Drn'id, JV*o. 6. This 
 viil;;;irism (wliich is common in En2;lan(l as well as in 
 Amtii( a) is much less firquont here at the present day, 
 than it was when Dr. WIthcrspoon wrote: It is still 
 heiu'd in conversation, hut in writing every body avoids 
 it. 
 
 One of the latest iTistances, which I have observed, of 
 this error in an English writer., is the followina,' (quoted 
 by the British Critic, vol. iii. p. 53'^, note) from Poems by 
 John Biillake, B. Jl. London, 1794. Tlie Reviewers ob- 
 serve — ** In p. 4, we have the common but vulgar mistake 
 of tlje verb to uiij for to lie : 
 
 ' And on the ground to catch each sound would lay* 
 
 Leanto or Lean-to, n. (commtmly pronounced linter.J 
 ♦< The part of a building which appears to lean upon an- 
 other." n\bst. Diet. 
 
 This is not in Johnson j but Mason has it in his Sup- 
 plement, where it is called an architectural term, and is de- 
 fined thus : " A low shallow building joined to a higher ; *' 
 which is tlie JVew England signification of it. 
 
 A lean-to is here commonly united with the principal 
 part of a building in such a manner, that the roof of the 
 whole appears much sloped ; and in a late English work 
 I find the provincial word tented with that signification : 
 " Lented, sl')ped or glanced off; a verb formed from 
 leaned." Fegge^s Supplement to Grose*s Provincial Glossary, 
 
 Lease, n. A cow -lease ; that is, a right of. pasturage for a 
 cow, in a common pasture. Used in some towns of Mw 
 England. Grose has the term as a provincialism of the 
 jyest of England, and remarks, that it is perhaps the 
 same as Lees. 
 
 To Legislate. 
 
 This verb has long been as common, with American 
 writers, as its nouns, legislation^ legislature^ &c. but the
 
 i2S 
 
 English have not, I think, until lately, made use of 
 it. fFalker has inserted it in his dictionary, but as he 
 remarks) it is " neither in Johnson nor Sheridav ;" nor is 
 it in Mason's Supplement to Johnson. It was noticed, 
 however, several years ago in Entick*s dictionary, (edi- 
 tion of 1795) ; and, more lately, in an edition of Sheridany 
 *' corrected and improved by Salmon ;" and also in the 
 octavo edition of Pemfs dictionary, publislied in 1805. 
 Mr. Webster adopts it from Entick. 
 
 Legislative. 
 
 This, like the term executive, is used in America as 
 a noun ; but it is by no means so common as that word. In 
 the Preface to the London edition of Ramsay's Hi tor y of 
 the Revolution^ it is classed among those Amencan names, 
 which the English " have listened to without as yet adopt- 
 ing." See the remarks on tlie term executive. 
 
 Lengthy. 
 
 This word has been very common among us, both in 
 writing and in the language of conversation ; but it has 
 been so much ridiculed by Americans as well as En.^lish- 
 men, that in writing it is now generally avoided. Mr. 
 Webster has admitted it into his dictionary ; but (as need 
 hardly be remarked) it is not in any of the English ones. 
 It is applied by us, as Mr. Webster justly observes, 
 chiefly to writings or discours' s. Thus we say, a lengthy 
 pamphlet, a lengthy sermon, kr. The English would 
 say, a long or (in the more familiar style) a tongish ser- 
 mon. It may be here remarked, by the way, that they 
 make much more use of the termination ish than we do ; 
 but this is only in the language of conversation. 
 
 The British Critic, in a review of Hamilton's Report 
 on Manufactures, tiius notices lengthy : " We sliaJl at all 
 times with pleasure receive from our transalhintic breth- 
 ren real improvements of our common mother-tongue
 
 1S4 
 
 but \st sliall hardly be induced to admit such phrases as 
 that ill p. '.'•> [London edition] — " more Icngtliy'* for lon- 
 ger, or more diffuse. But perhaps it is an established 
 Americanism." Bnt. Crit. vol. ii. p. 286 ; for Aov. 1793. 
 
 As some American writers have thought this noted 
 word to be higlily useful and even necessary, it may not 
 be uniiiteresting to see how English writers can dis- 
 pense w ith the use of it in cases where they do not employ 
 the word long. In addition to the word diffuse (which is 
 employed above by the British Critic as one of the synO" 
 nymes) they use lengthtned, prolongedt extended, extensive, 
 and prolix, as will l)e seen in the follow ing examples ; 
 in all of which, I think, many Americans would have 
 chosen lengthy : « For the purpose of bestowing upon 
 hiin, and upon all that belong to him, a lengthened and ela- 
 borate eulogy." ^nart. Rev. vol. x. p. 314. " The edi- 
 tor apologizes for the prolonged account of the life 
 
 of Dr. Doddridge," &c. Brit. Crit, rol. iv. p. 164. « We 
 gave rather an extended account of this ingenious work." 
 Brit. Crit. vol. viii. p. 91. " To which we have al- 
 lotted an extensive account." Brit. Crit.xol. vi. pref. p. ii, 
 « This rather extensive and well written paper." Bnt. Crit. 
 vol. xxi. p. 352. " We have neither time nor inclina- 
 tion to enter into a prolix statement of particulars. Brit. 
 Crit. vol. V. p. 238. 
 
 I never heard lengthy among Englishmen ; but an Eng- 
 lish friend (who has, however, been in America for sev- 
 eral years past) observes in rather an emphatic manner, 
 that « there certainly was a time in England, when this 
 word would have passed unnoticed in the first societies in 
 a familiar conversation. Criticism (he adds) may since 
 have struck it out of use." 
 
 LlABLLITT. 
 
 This is in common use throughout the United States
 
 1S6 
 
 in the popular as well as legal style ; but it is not in the 
 English dictionaries. None of the lexicographers, in- 
 deed, have noticed the word liaUenesSf except Entick 
 and Mason ; the latter of whom gives it on the authority 
 of Butler^s Analogy. Liabilitij is in common use among 
 English lawyers ; and a correspondent remarks, that it is 
 " a word which any Englishman might use in haste, and 
 for want of a better ; though he might wish to find a bet- 
 ter when at leisure, particularly for his written composi- 
 tions." J. 
 
 Licit. Lawful, 
 
 This word was criticised in the Monthly Anthology 
 (1804, p. 54) in a review of the " Miscellaneous Works of 
 David Humphreys, Esq." The reviewers say, " There 
 is no such word as licitf and we cannot allow the author, 
 respectable as he is, to coin language." 
 
 Lick or Salt-lick. " A salt spring is called a licki from 
 the earth about them being furrowed out in a most curi- 
 ous manner, by the buffalo and deer, which lick the earth 
 on account of the saline particles with which it is impreg- 
 nated." Imlaifs Topographical Description of the Western 
 Territory of JV. America^ p. 46. 2d edit. 
 
 Lift. n. Used by the farmers in some parts of New Eng- 
 land to signify a sort of gate without hinges. In some 
 counties of England th(^y use the term lift-gate for the 
 same thing : " Lift-gate ; a gate without hinges, being 
 lifted into notches in the posts. JVbr/o/A:." Marshall's Ru- 
 ral Econ, JVoj/. 
 
 Like for as or like as : Ex. " He carries them like he does : 
 Why don't you strike like I do." 
 
 This is common in some of the Southern, and (as a 
 correspondent informs me) in some of the JVestern States ^ 
 but it is not used by people of education. 
 LiKELT. Sensible, intelligent. Mru England.
 
 1S6 
 
 <• Tliroiijclinut the British dominions, and in most 
 pai-tsofthe United States, the epithet /iAc/j/ conveys an 
 idiM of innv prs >nal bi'aiit y, unconnected >vith any mor- 
 al or iiitelhctwal quality. But in JV*ett> England .... a. 
 man ov woman as det'ormed as a Hottentot or an Ourang 
 Outan.s;, mav be UMij, or very likclij. The epithet there 
 nlers to moral character." Port Folio, Od. 1809, p. 535. 
 
 Links. Sausages. Used in some of the country towns of 
 New Knghuid. It is also used in Suffolk in England. 
 See Groftc^e Prov. Gloss. 
 
 LiXTo. Sec LeanUy. 
 
 LisTEK. " One who receives and makes returns of ratable 
 estate. Conncdicnt.** TFebst. Did. 
 
 Lit or Light, Cpret. and part, of to light. J 
 
 This word is censured, in a review of Bancroft's Life 
 if JFashington, in the Monthly Antliology, vol. iv. p. 666, 
 The reviewers say, " it has never been admitted into 
 goud company, and we hope never will be." Tliis form 
 of the verb is to be found in all the dictionaries ; and in this 
 country, as in England, it is much used in conversation. 
 Bisliop L(^)wth remarks, fSee chap, on Irregular Verbs, 
 sect. 1.) that " the regular form is preferable, and pre- 
 vails most in writing j" and this is agreeable to tiie gen- 
 eral practice in America. 
 
 The British Critic tlius condemns the useof this irreg« 
 nlar form of the verb in a modern English work : *< Lit, 
 in two or three places, for lighted — a terrible vulgarism.'* 
 vol. ix. p. 313 ; in a review of the Sea, a Poem by John Bid-, 
 lake, London, 1796. 
 To Loan. 
 
 In the preface to the London edition of Ramsay's- 
 History of the American Revolution, this is classed a- 
 mong those American verbs, which tiie English " have 
 altogether declined to countenance 5" and " which, (says
 
 1S7 
 
 the Editor) appear to be verbs invented without any ap- 
 parent reason.'* 
 
 To Locate. 1. To place. <« A number of courts properly 
 located will keep the business of any country in such con- 
 dition as but few suits will be instituted." Debates on the 
 Judiciary^ p. 51. 
 
 2. " To survey or fix the bounds of unsettled land, 
 or to designate a tract by a wi-iting." JVebst. Did. This 
 verb is not in the English dictionaries. 
 
 Location. " The act of designating or surveying and 
 bounding land ; the tract so designated." Webst. 
 
 This substantive is in the English dictionaries, but 
 not in this sense. 
 
 Lot. « A share or division of land ; a field." TFebst. Did. 
 Hence, a house-lot^ shop4ot, &c. 
 
 Ml'. Webster, after observing upon several new terms, 
 which the peculiar circumstances of our country have 
 rendered necessary in tlie language, thus mentions the 
 word lot with some others : " Lots and locations of land, 
 with located and unlocated rights, form in this cour.trv- a 
 new language, to whi(-h the British people are strangers."* 
 In t!ie first settlement of this country a certain portion or 
 share of land was allotted to each inhabitant of a town ; 
 and this was called his lot. Both lot and allotment occur 
 in our early laws : « In any and every town of this pro- 
 vince where several allotments of upland and meadow are 
 
 inclosed and fenred in one geni'ral field the propri- 
 
 etf>rs of each lot respectively dui'ing the time of liis or 
 their feeding, planting, mowing, or otherwise improving 
 his part in such genvral field, shall make and maintain 
 his or their respective part of the whole fence, according 
 to the (piantity of acres of land contained in his or their 
 «tto<meMi," tVc. Mass. Provindal Stat, 4 Geo. cap. ;». 
 
 * Compendious Dictionary, prrf. p. xxii.
 
 I3i8 
 
 Lumber. ♦•Timber in p;cnci*al ; but cbiefly small timber, as 
 boards, stavrs, hoops, scantling," &c. IFebst. Did. 
 
 LuMBKKKR. " To tbis mill the surrounding lumberers or 
 sellers of timber bring their logs," &c. Kendal's Travels, 
 vol. iii. p. 33. A technical term used only in thjse parts 
 of tiie Ui.ited States, where lumber is procured. 
 
 Mad. Angry, vexed. 
 
 « I was quite mad at liim, he made me mad. In this 
 instance mad is o» ly a metaphor for angry. This is per- 
 haps an English vulgarism, but it is not found in any 
 accurate writer, nor used by any good speaker, unless 
 when poets or orators use it as a strong figure, and to 
 heighten the expression, say, he was mxid with rage." 
 Withersp. Druid, No. 5. 
 
 Mad, in the sense of angry, is considered as a low 
 word in this country, and at the present day is never 
 used except in very familiar conversation. It seems that 
 it is also used in this manner in Ireland. In Miss Edge- 
 woilh's Castle Rack Rent, an Irishman says — " My lady 
 would have the last word, and Sir Murtagh grewmarf;" 
 that is, " grew angry ;" a meaning, which the author 
 thinks it necessary to explain to her English readers in 
 the Glossary to the work. The same use of the word by 
 an Irish youth in the Eton Montem (Edgeworth*s Parent's 
 Assistant) is the cause of his giving offence to one of his 
 English fellow students, who is not reconciled to him un- 
 til the Irish meaning of the term is explained. Mad is 
 also used in the same sense in the JSorth of England : 
 " Mad ; angry. He made mad.* I was mad at him, 
 JVoW/t. See Old Plays, 2d edit. vol. i. p. 65." Pegge^s 
 Supplement to Grose's Provincial Glossary. It is also put 
 into the mouth of one of the characters in the Spectator, 
 No. 176 : " Indeed, my dear, you make me mad some- 
 
 • Qu. if this is not an error of the press for— he made me mad.
 
 times, ^o you do." An English friend remarks, that 
 *' this word, in the sense of being angry, is certainly very 
 common in England ; but it is rarely employed unless in 
 conversation. The English say, * a man is mad with 
 himself, or at himself.' That the style of the expression 
 quoted from the Spectator is only that of conversation, may 
 be inferred from the manner, in which it is introduced in 
 that work — a work, by the way, of very mixed authori- 
 ty and very various merit." A. 
 
 The verb to mad, in the sense of to make angry, is 
 also in use in many parts of this country ; but it is con- 
 sidered as a mere vulgarism. 
 Madam. 
 
 «< Here and in some neighbouring places it has been 
 and still is the practice, to prefix to the name of a deceas- 
 ed female of some consideration, as the parson's, the dea- 
 con's, or the doctor's wife, the title of Madam.'* KendaVs 
 Travels, vol. ii. p. 44 ; where the author is speaking of 
 Plymouth in Massachusetts. This practice (like that of 
 giving magistrates the title of 'Squire) prevails in most of 
 the country -towns of New England ; but is scarcely known 
 at the present day in the sea-port towns. 
 Mankind. 
 
 Mr. Kendal quotes the following, as an expression 
 used in the state of Vermont : ** If tlic government can 
 put mankind in gaols," &c. ; and he then makes this re- 
 mark — " It is to be observed, tliat the word mankind, so 
 ludicrous in its application here, is frequently used in New 
 England, as in this example, for men, in the indefinite 
 sense." KendaVs Travels, vol. iii. p. 253. This use of 
 the word is, I think, unknown in the towns on the sea- 
 coast of New England. 
 Marooning. Used in this expression — « A marooning party." 
 
 A friend, who has resided in Cbavleston (South Caro- 
 17
 
 130 
 
 linn) observes, tliat " the country about (Jbarlcston is laot 
 so thickly settled as in Massachusetts j and therefore a 
 mnroomng party always carry their provisions with 
 tbein : I think it always means a party to the aea-shore." 
 
 Meadow. 
 
 In New England this word means exclusively grass 
 land, which is moist or subject to being oveijioxved ; and 
 land, which is not so, is called upland. In England 2X^,0, 
 the term meadow is used among agiuculturists in the lim- 
 ited sense above mentioned. But there it has also a more 
 general signification, conformable to its etymology ; that 
 is, land that may be mowed.^ Accordingly it is defined 
 by Bailey — « Pasture land, yielding grass, hay j" and 
 Sheridan (who is followed by Walker) also defines it — *• a 
 rich pasture ground, from which hay is made." A sim- 
 ilar explanation of it is given by several other lexico- 
 graphers. On the other hand, Dr. Johnson gives it only 
 the limited signification — *' Ground somew hat watery, not 
 plouglied, but covered with grass and flowers.'* 
 
 Mean /or Means. 
 
 Many American writers, following the Scottish mod- 
 els, make use of mean instead of means, Ex. " It was 
 the best mean of bringing t]\e negotiation to a happy is- 
 sue.'* Marsh. Life of Washington, vol. v. p. 5i6. « That 
 [party] winch had been reproached with a desire to ac- 
 cumulate debt as a mean of subverting the republican 
 system." p. 60i ; and in other places. But the establish- 
 ed practice among English WTiters from the time of Ad- 
 dison to the present day, has been to use the plural 
 means. A few writers, however, among the English, 
 have struggled against this general usage; but Dr. 
 
 * "Meadow, mead. Aug. Snxor,, 'mxd (^'i. e. riuni:edj moxoecl .- the 
 past participle of mcivwn?;." Diversitns of Purlci/.
 
 131 
 
 Johnson himself, though he considers those who employ 
 the plural means with an adjective singular, as using it 
 *< not very grammatically," observes, that " the singular 
 in this sense is now rarehj used." Bishop Lowth, with- 
 out denying that the general practice is to use the plu- 
 ral means with an adjective singular, is of opinion, 
 that we ought cither to say by this mean, by that mean, 
 &c. or by these means, and by those means, 6cc. See his 
 Grammar, ch. on Sentences, note 1. Dr. Priestley says — 
 " The word means belongs to the class of words, which do 
 not change their terminations on account of number j for it 
 is used alike in both numbers. Lest this means should fail, 
 Hume's Hist. vol. viii. p. 65. Some persons, however, (he 
 adds) use the singular of this word, and would say, lest 
 /Ms mean should fail ; and Dr. Lowth pleads for it; but 
 custom has so formed our ears, that they do not easily ad- 
 mit this form of the word, notwithstanding it is more 
 agreeable to the general analogy of the language." 
 Friestleifs Grammar, JSTotes, sect. 1. 
 
 Dr. Campbell (contrary to the practice of the Scottish 
 WTiters in general) uses this means, that means, &c ; and, 
 after alluding to the opinions of Johnson, Lowth, and 
 Priestley, expresses himself in the following strong terms : 
 That however the appearance of solecism may induce crit- 
 ics, who are accustomed to attend to the rules of syntax, 
 to avoid the expressions in question, ) ct " no person of 
 taste, 1 presume, will venture so far to violate the present 
 usage , and consequently to sliock the ears of the general- 
 ity of readers, as to say. By this mean, or By that mean." 
 Fhilos. ofBhet. B. ii. ch. x\ sect. 3. p. 216, Boston edit. 
 
 The British Critic, in a review of Sermons by John 
 Disney, expresses a similar opinion : " We observe in 
 some passages, that the autlior uses the expression of a 
 mean, for that by which we do any tiling. How the sin-
 
 13S 
 
 guljii- ot means, in this sense, became obsolete, we know 
 iiol, but it is so ; and Means itself has since been some- 
 (iims made singular by violence. ">Ve heartily v>ish a 
 mean revived by common consent j but till it is, as there 
 is something in it that offends the ear, we think it more 
 advisable to throw it always into the plural, or to employ 
 finoth(r phrase." Brit. CriL^\o\. 1. p. 159, note. 
 
 The expressions, that meansy may be defended by 
 the ancient use of the word that, which like the word 
 it (according to Home Tooke) was applied by the old 
 writers " indifferently to plural nouns and to singular ;" 
 and this was the practice as late as the time of Sii* 
 N Thomas More. The following are some of the authori- 
 ties cited by Tooke on this point : " There was a statute 
 or ii deuysed to take away that peines of the church, 
 that were before alwaies ordeined and used against marl- 
 ed priestes'' — " to the entent they might the more fully 
 and frely repose themselves in that unspeakable joyes 
 with which Christ feedethe them." p. liO and 284 of a 
 Traidise by Dr. Martin, " who (says Tooke) wrote accu- 
 rately and was no mean scholar." Sir Thomas More also 
 uses it in the same manner : " This pleasure undoubtedly 
 farre excelleth aU that pleasures that in this life male be 
 obteined. tife of Picus,]). ±2. That euyll aungels the 
 deuilles. -p. 386, of his Workes." See Diversions of Furleys 
 pari 2. p. *7. Jliner. edit. 
 Member of the church, 
 
 <• Returning to his house I missed a young man whe 
 had been with us j and on inquiring for him, was inform- 
 ed, that he had stayed behind, to receive the sacrament, 
 with the addition, that he was a Member of the church. I 
 was at length made to understand, that the Church con- 
 sists in a narrow circle within the circle of settled, quali- 
 fied and approved inhabitants, as that is within the circle
 
 133 
 
 of the Socidij ; and tliat it is only to the church that the 
 sacrament of the Last Supper is administered.'* Kendal's 
 Travels, vol. i. p. 115. Members of the church are fre- 
 quently called here, by way of eminence, professors of 
 religion ; and tliis appellation (as a friend first remarked 
 to me) is also used among sects of Christians in England : 
 " Professors of religion have their own peculiar class of 
 besetting sins." Christian Observer, vol. xiii. p. 445. 
 
 Mighty /or Very. 
 
 An intelligent friend, who has travelled in VirginiUf 
 informs me, that lie <* found the adverb mightij in common 
 use, in the conversation of all classes of people in that 
 State, as precisely synonymous with very. Ex, gr. Migh- 
 tij cold — mighty near ten o'clock — a mighty fine man, 
 &c." 
 
 To Militate. 
 
 American writers often use the preposition tvith after 
 this verb : The English say, to militate against. Ex, " It 
 militates equally against the whole," &c. Brit. Crit. vol. i. 
 p. 244. " The few instances of Enclitics ... so far mili- 
 tate against it," 6cc. Vol. viii. p. 526. 
 
 Mission. 
 
 This word, till lately, was generally used to signify a 
 religious embassy ; as it is explained by Dr. Johnson. It 
 was first employed as a diplomatic term, I believe, by A- 
 merican wviicrs ; hut it seems now to he used in the same 
 manner in Great Britain. " He had heard it reported, that 
 the gentleman [Mr. Rose], who had been sent on a viis- 
 sion to America," ^c. Debates in Parliament, Feb. 26, 180S. 
 "The French mission was still suffered to remain at 
 Stockholm." Edinb.Rev.\o\.\x\. ]). ±B5. An English 
 friend however makes the following remark on it — " In 
 England it may be doubted whether this word is now 
 listed;* even in politics, in a confined and technical sensie-
 
 134 
 
 In tlif iilia of an Eiiglisliman a person may be sent by a 
 j^ovornmont to its own s^ihjedSf as well as to a foreign 
 coiul. Nor need tbc party sent to a foreign court, on 
 some of tlicse missions, be clothed with any * official ' ti- 
 tlc/» Jl. 
 
 To MissToxATE. To perform the ser-vices of a missionary. 
 **A low ecclesiastical word (says a learned clerical 
 correspondent) used in conversation" in America. It is 
 also used sometimes in iheological publications. A friend 
 lias referred me, for an instance of it, to the Missionarij 
 MagaxinCf vol. ii. p. 12 and 13 ; but it is there used only 
 in the familiar style of a letter. 
 
 MoccAsoN or MoGGAsoN (commonly pronounced moggason.') 
 " A shoe of soft lether* without a sole, ornamented round 
 the ankle." nYost. Diet, An Indian name. 
 
 MouGHT. Qrret. of »Might.) 
 
 *' J\Might for might is heard in most of the States, but 
 not frequently except in a few towns." JVebstcr's Dis- 
 sertations, p. 111. I'ut this is only among the illiterate. 
 This old preterite is also mentioned as a *< Londonism," 
 in Tegge-s very amusing " Anecdotes of the English Lan- 
 gnage," where it is tlius ironically defended : 
 
 " This word is allowed by Bailey in his dictionary 
 (Scott*s edit.) and by Dr. Johnson, to have been former- 
 ly used for the modern word might; though they 
 both observe that mought is now grown obsolete. So 
 much the better ; for professed Antiquaries, my dear Sir, 
 of all men, ought not to reject a word on account of its 
 Ancientry! Chaucer and other writers of an early date 
 use it repeatedly.! " Dr. Wallis, speaking of might, vol- 
 untarily adds — < olim mought ;' though he does not give us 
 any farther pai-t of its history. It is clear, however, that 
 
 • Mr Webster's orthography of leatfier. 
 
 ■j- " Sec the Glossaries to Chaucer ; Fairfax'sTasso ; and the Reliques 
 of Ancient English Foctry."
 
 135 
 
 all these authorities must prevail, as being well founded ; 
 and that our word might is merely a delicate pronunciation 
 fur female lips, or introdu'-^d by foppish refinements under 
 the foolish French appellations of bon toti, instead of 
 monghtf which has stronger claims to regular formation.*' 
 Pegge's JinecdoteSf p. 113 ; second edit London, 1814. 
 
 Muggy. Damp, close. Used in speaking of the weather. 
 Ex. It is muggy weather j it is a muggy day. JVeto 
 England, 
 
 In this country, the term muggy is applied to tlie 
 Tveather only ; and this use of it is provincial in Eng- 
 land : " Muggy ; moist ; muggy weatlier. North." 
 Fegge's Supplement to Grose's Prov. Gloss. « Muggy, 
 poothery,* (the oo short) close, muggy, sultry ; spoken 
 of the weather." MarshaWs Rural Econ. Midland Conn- 
 ties. But in England tlie term is applied to other things, 
 as well as to the weather. Dr. Johnson gives the fol- 
 lowing example : " Cover with muggy straw to keep it 
 moist." 
 
 Mush. "Food of maia, flower and water boiled, (local)." 
 Wehst. Diet. Used in some of tlie Sautliern States, for 
 the same thing that in the JVorthcrn States is called Hasty - 
 puddhig. 
 
 Musical. 
 
 A friend informs me, that in some towns in the inte- 
 rior of New England, this word is used in the extraordi- 
 nary sense of humorous. They would say of a man of 
 humour. He is very musical. 
 
 Naked. ** An act of naked trust." First Ripe Fruits, being 
 a Collection of Tracts ^*c. by the Rev. John Mason, JWtr 
 York, 1803. 
 
 The English Reviewers quote this expression (among 
 others) as an instance of what they call the « occasional 
 
 * This word "poothery" is entirrly new to vnr.
 
 136 
 
 viil^-arisms, possibly Ane;l()-Amcricanisms" of Dr. Ma- 
 son's work. Seethe review of it in the Christian Observ- 
 er^ vol. ii. p. 56k. The expression is not a common one 
 \\\{\\ our writers ; I never met with it in any other Amer- 
 ican work, 
 lb Narrate. " To relate, to tell." Johnson. 
 
 This veil) is noticed, by beiiig printed in Italics, ia 
 some English works, where extracts have been made 
 from American publications. Dr. Johnson says, it is " a 
 word only used in Scotland.^* Walker, without contro- 
 verting Johnson's assertion, thus defends the word : «< As 
 it is regularly derived from tlie Latin narro, and has a 
 specific meaning to distinguish it from every other word, 
 it ought to be considered as a necessary part of the lan- 
 guage. To tell seems to imply communication in the most 
 general sense : " as to tell a storij, to tell a secret, &c. To 
 relate, is to tell at some length, and in some order, as to 
 relate the particulars of a transaction. But to narrate 
 seems to relate a transaction in order from beginning to 
 end ; which often becomes insipid and tiresome. Hence 
 the beauty of Pope's — narrative old age : 
 
 " Tlie poor, the rich, llie valiant, and the sage. 
 And boasting youth, and riarrative old age." 
 
 In the former edition of this work, I remarked, that I 
 did not think this distinction was observed by English wri- 
 tei-s. An English friend says — ''Walker's distinction is 
 unknown to me ; for narrative is synonymous to talka- 
 tive in the verse from Pope." He adds, that the verb to 
 narrate " is too formal to be much used in English con- 
 versation : Tt has often been used in some authors, but 
 perhaps not always by the best." J. It is often used in 
 tlie Edinburgh Review. See, for instance, vol. ii. p. 507, 
 where it is used twice in the same page : But the Eng- 
 lish reviewers rarely employ it. In tlie qu.irterly Review
 
 it is condemned in the following strong terms — ^'< The 
 abominable verb * 7urrafe,' which must absolutely be pro- 
 scribed in all good writing." vol. ix. p. 433. 
 
 Nationality. 
 
 Used by some writers in America. I have also met 
 with it once in the quarterly Review ; but it is printed in 
 italics. It is a new word, and is not to be found in the 
 dictionaries. 
 
 Navigatiopt. Shipping. « The word navigation is used in 
 New England for shippings and for sea-faring.^' Kend. 
 Trav. vol. i. p. 321, note. It is in constant use in the 
 Jirst of these significations, but I never heard it used in 
 the other ; nor do I perceive, how it could well be em- 
 ployed as a substitute for this adjective. Johnson lias 
 " vessels of navigation," as one of the meanings of tlie 
 word ; but it is on the authority of Shakspeare : 
 
 " Tho' you untie the winds, and let them fight 
 Against the churches, tho' the testy waves 
 Confound and swallow narnifation up." 
 
 Near for To or At ; in these expressions — Tlie minister 
 plenipotentiary near the Court of St. James's — near the 
 United States, &c. 
 
 This Gallicism was first used here in translations of 
 the diplomatic correspondence between the French and A- 
 merican governments ; and from tlie language ol' transla- 
 tions (" the great pr st of speech," as Dr. Jolmson calls 
 them) it has been adopted in miiny of oui- original com- 
 positions. An English friend has favoured me with the 
 following remarks upon it : 
 
 <' Some American writers, eminent for the offices they 
 have borne and for their literature, speak of an « ambassa- 
 dor near a court ;' which is a translation of the French 
 expression of < ambassadcur pres ou anpres d*unc cour.' 
 But as the French say also., * ambassadeur d Rome/ and 
 18
 
 188 
 
 » ambassadoui' a la com,' why should we desert the old 
 En.e;lish phraseoh>i5y of • ambassador <o, or at, a court?' 
 To say that a minister is iiear a court, may seem to im- 
 ply in Enii;iish, that lie is merely in some adjoining coun- 
 try ; whereas the ordinary English phrases of to and at 
 are attended with no such ambiguity. Mons. de Cal- 
 lieres, one of the Forty Members of the Frencli Academy 
 of Belles Lettres, and who was also m« niber of the coun- 
 cil of Louis XIV, and Secretary of his Cabinet, as well 
 as one of his negotiators at Ryswiok, is the authority for 
 the foregoing French expressions on these subjects. He 
 also uses the following expressions as to ministers — ' ar- 
 rive dans une cour — approchant de la cour — ministre ponr 
 la cour, and, envoye vers un prince ;' among which the 
 phrase of » minister/or a court' would better suit the idiom 
 of our language, than that upon which we comment ', were 
 it necessary to make any change in our customary form 
 of speaking on tliis occaion." w3. 
 
 Netop. 
 
 This Indian word (as a friend informs me) is still 
 used, colloquially, in some towns in the interior of Massa- 
 chusetts, to signify a friend, or to use a cant word) a crony. 
 It is mentioned in Roger Williams' Key to the JVarragan- 
 set Language, published in the Collections of the Massachu- 
 setts Historical Society, vol. v. p. 82. Williams says, 
 " What cheer, netop, is the general salutation of all Eng- 
 lish towards them [the Indians.]" 
 
 To Notice. 
 
 This is not, as some persons have supposed, au Amer- 
 icanism. It is a modern word, and is not in Johnson's 
 dictionary. Mason says, it is " a word imported into 
 Englisli conversation from Ireland;" but it is now used 
 in England, botli in conversation and in writing: "This 
 work, which W8 really thought we had noticed long ago."
 
 139 
 
 British Critic^ vol. xxxiv. p. 537. " The fourth, whicU 
 we lately noticed, &c. vol. xxxv. p. 18. The only Eng- 
 lish dictionary, in which I find it, is Jsh's ; where it is 
 said to be " not much used.'* But that work was published 
 forty years ago. 
 
 Noticeable. 
 
 A correspondent has remarked upon this as an Amer- 
 icanism; and he has referred me to the following instance 
 of the use of it ; " The moon's limb exhibited very little 
 of that rough or serrated appearance, which was so no- 
 Hceable in 1806. Memoirs of the Jmer. Acad. vol. iii. p. 2*8. 
 Mr. Webster \\?LS admitted it into his dictionary j but it 
 is not in the English ones. 
 
 To Notify. 
 
 The following remarks of Dr. Witherspoon will ex- 
 plain tlie American and the English maimer of using this 
 verb : " This is to notify the public ; or the people had 
 not been notified. By this is meant inform and informed. 
 In English we do not notify the person of the thing, but noti- 
 fy the thing to the person. In this instance there is cer- 
 tainly an impropriety ; for to notifij is just saying by a word 
 of Latin derivation to make known. Now if you cannot say, 
 this is to make the public known, neither ought you to say, 
 this is to notify the public." Druid, No. 5. Some American 
 writers preserve the English idiom : '< The official letter, 
 notifying to the Convention the appointment of Mr. Ge- 
 net," &c. Marsh. Life of Washing, vol. v. Appendix, p. 
 18. The practice of writers in England seems to have 
 been invariable, from the days of Addison to the pres- 
 ent : " Having notified to my good friend Sir Roger, that 
 I should set out for London," kc. Spectat. No. 132. The 
 act of notifijing to the world." Johns. Diet, under the word 
 Publication. « The Commander in Chief, therefore, has 
 it in command to convey to all those officers the highest
 
 140 
 
 (Usploasurc of the Prince Regent for conduct so unmili- 
 tary and dis.i^raccfid, and to notify to them tliat they are 
 no l()n.a:<'r (►lliccis in liis majesty's service." Ihike of 
 rork\s General Orders, Sept. 10, 1813. In advertisements 
 in the newspapers, where we should commonly say, tJie 
 piibliCi or tlie inhabitants of the town &c. are hereby notifi- 
 ed, the English would say, Notice is hereby given,'* &c. 
 
 Notions. Small wares. JV*ew England, A low word. 
 
 To Obligate. 
 
 " I'lic word obligate is unnecepsarj', and has no res- 
 pectable sui>])ort." Review of Mr. fFebster's Did. in the 
 Monthly Anthology, vol. vii. p. 263. It is in the dictiona- 
 ries, and is sometimes used by English writers ; but it is 
 not considered as an authorized word. The British Crit- 
 ic, (in tlie review of a Discmirse by George Somers Clark, 
 of Trinity College, Oxford J makes this remark upon it : 
 " We object, however, to the use of the word < obligated* for 
 * obliged,* a low colloquial inaccuracy." vol. ii. p. 212. 
 
 Obligemext. 
 
 A friend informs me, that he has sometimes heard this 
 antiquated word used by old people in New England. It 
 is not very common. 
 
 To Obliviate. To cause to be forgotten. 
 
 I have never seen this extraordinary word but once 
 in any American publication. 
 
 Obnoxious. 
 
 This has been generally used by American writers in 
 the sense of odious, offensive, noocious, disagreeable, &c. 
 ** Habit renders the burden not only less obnoxious, but 
 less oppressive also." Marsh. Life of Washing, vol. v. p. 
 264.. The English formerly used obnoxious in the sense 
 of liable or subject to; and Johnson accordingly explains 
 eacli of these words by the others. But the practice in 
 England is not invariable. A writer in the European
 
 141 
 
 Magazinef (for Sept. 1806, p. 182) mentions among the 
 improprieties of tlie present day in England^ this «< use 
 of the word obnoxious for noxious or hurfful ; th&X such 
 a tiling is very obnoxious. Now, Sir, you know (says 
 he to the editor) that tlie fact is, that the word is perfect- 
 ly innocent of any such meaning, and that it simply im- 
 plies, incident, liable^ or subject to; such as, that people are 
 obnoxious (liable) to agues." The use of this word in 
 the sense of odious or offensive does not seem to be alto- 
 gether an impropriety of the present day. Ash (who wrote 
 forty years ago) mentions this as one of the meanings of 
 the word ; he says, however, that " this sense is colloqui- 
 al." At the present day it is often used in writing. " E- 
 very proposition made in your parliament to remove the 
 original cause of these troubles by taking off taxes, obnox- 
 ious for their principle or their design, had been overru- 
 led." Burke's Fourth Letter on the Regicide Peace. " While 
 therefore the Church of Rome declares any mitigation of 
 her most obnoxious doctrines to be impossible," &c. ((uart. 
 Rev, Jan. ISli^, p. 421. The use of obnoxious, however, 
 in the sense of noxious is severely censured in the British 
 Critic: See vol. ix. p. 73. 
 
 Occasion. 
 
 Dr. Witherspoon ranks the following use of this word 
 among the " local phrases and terms" of New England : 
 ** Shall I have occasion, i. e. opportunity, to go over the 
 ferry?" 1 never heard it used in this sense ; but it is of- 
 ten used for needy in this manner : <" I have no occasion for 
 it." 
 
 Occlusion. A shutting up, closing. •• The occlusion of the 
 port of New Orleans by the Spaniards was calculated to 
 give general alarm through the United States." Letter of 
 President Jefferson to Gov. Garrard, Dec. ±6, 1802. 
 
 This word has been oCtcn noticed, and ridiculed, b^
 
 14S 
 
 ilic Enp,Iisli, as il" it was a word in general use in Amer- 
 ica ; Aviiicli is by no means the case. Some few persons 
 in 111 is countiy, however, w'hose writings have reached 
 Kiii^Iand, have made use of it ; but, though this may be a 
 rcnsonabh> gi'ound with an Englishman for presuuiing it 
 to be one of our common w ords, yet the peculiar opinions 
 of a few inflividiials can no more make a usage here than 
 in En.^land ; and this very word has been the subject of 
 as much ridicule in this country, as it has been there. 
 Some i)crsons have supposed that occlusion was used 
 here for the first time in the letter above quoted j 
 but this is not the fact. It was used many years before 
 that, in Dr. Ramsay's History of the American Revohitioih 
 (published in 1789) vol. i. p. 103 : " He had also hoped, 
 tluit the ]n'(;spect of advantage to the town of Salem, from 
 its being made the seat of the custom-house, and from the 
 occlusion of the port of Boston, would detach them from 
 the interest of the latter," k.c. In the London edition of 
 the work, this word, being doubtless new to the English 
 editor, w as probably supposed to be an error of the press 
 in the Jmeiican copy, and it is accordingly changed into 
 a word resembling it in sound, and wliich would occupy 
 tlie same space in the page, the word ex-clusion, Occlu- 
 sion is in the dictionaries. 
 
 OlFSET. 
 
 This is much used by the lawyers of America instead 
 of the English term set-off; and it is also very common, 
 in popular language, in the sense of an equivalent: " The 
 expense of the frigates had been strongly urged, but the 
 saving in insurance, in ships and cargoes, and the ran- 
 som of seamen, was more than an offset against this item." 
 Marsh. Life of Washing, vol. v. p. 529. It is not in the 
 dictionaries. In the technical sense of the writers on agri- 
 rnlhire (that is, for a plant divided from another) it is com-
 
 143 
 
 mon in England as well as in this country ; and it is of- 
 ten used figuratively, by writers on other subjects : « He 
 avoided giving offence to any of the numerous offsets of 
 Presbyterianism." Q^uart. Rev. vol. x. p. 198. 
 
 Old /or Stale ; in this expression, old bread. JVew England. 
 From the following exti-act, this seems also to be a Scot- 
 ticism : « The Scotticism old bread seems no way iuferi- 
 or to the Anglicism stale bread." London Monthly Mag- 
 a&ine, Jpr. 1800, p. 239. 
 
 Once in a while. Dr. Witherspoon has put this among 
 the " local phrases and terms" of the Middle States : 
 "He will once in a rvhikf i. e. sometimeSf get drunk.'* 
 Vruidf No. 7. It is often used in New England ; and a 
 friend informs me that " it is colloquial in England." Jl. 
 
 Onto. 
 
 A writer in the Cambridge Literarij Miscellamj (vol. 
 ii. p. 217) proposes this as a new preposition in our lan- 
 guage, to be used in such phrases as these : " An army 
 inarches (mtothe field of battle ; a man leaps onto a fence," 
 &c. In the examples, however, which he gives, there 
 seems to be no need of any thing more than the old sim- 
 ple prepositions, o?i, upon^ or to. The vulgar, indeed, 
 constantly say on-to or onto; nor is it, as this writer sup- 
 poses, a new term in writing. A friend has referred me 
 to the works of Mr. Marshall, the well known English 
 writer on Agriculture, wlio uses it ; but he frequently 
 divides it into its two parts, on and to. " When the stack 
 has risen too high to be conveniently forked on to from 
 the ground," &.c. Bural Econ. Yorkshire^ vol. ii. p. 1+*, 
 London edit. 1788. And in his Gloucestershire (speaking 
 of the method of feeding cattle in Wiltshire) he uses the 
 compound: "The hay is all carried onloiha land upon 
 men's backs," kc. vol. ii. p. 15-i, and in other places. JJut 
 Marshall's works are written in the most familiar style 5
 
 144 
 
 antl some of the EiiJ^lish Ri'viewers have censured him 
 for what tliry rail (in one of his works) •' a new-fane;led 
 laii.i^uaiifo of his own." Sec Brit. Crit. vol. xxii. p. 93. 
 An Eni^lish friend alsi makes the following r-marks 
 on the agricultural writers in general : « The English 
 ai^ricnltuial writers ronimonly live in the country, and 
 use many provincial terms ; and the phraseology of ma- 
 ny »f them is technical to a degree that is affected. 
 Hence their authority is often not to be quoted in mat- 
 ters of style." A. 
 
 I had supposed that on to had never been used by any 
 American writer ; hut an obliging friend has given me 
 the following example : " Take all your cigarrs and to- 
 bacco, and in some calm evening carry them o?i to the 
 common," kc. Lecture on the evil tendency of the use of 
 Tobacco upon young persons, by Benjamin fVaterhouse, 
 M. V. p. 32. 
 To he Opposed to for To Oppose. Ex. I shall be op- 
 posed to that measure — He said he should be oppos- 
 ed to acts of violence. " Several members were in fa- 
 vour of this motion, but others, who were opposed to re- 
 ceding from the ground already taken," &c. Marsh. Life 
 of Wash. vol. V. p. 206, et passim. 
 
 Dr. Franklin many years ago censured this use of 
 the verb oppose as an innovation. See his remarks in 
 the J^ote at p. 110, ante. But at the present day, it is 
 sometimes used by Englishmen. A fi'iend has given me 
 the following instance of it from a well known English 
 work : " To which Mr. Overton is as much opposed as 
 he is himself." Christ. Observer, vol. iii. p. 692. 
 To Organize ; Organization. Used in spealnng of po- 
 litical bodies. 
 
 In the preface to the Tendon edition of liamsay^s His- 
 tory of the American Revolution tliese words are mention^
 
 145 
 
 ed as American « additions" to the language. " Sonic oi 
 these additions (says the English editor) we liave our- 
 selves received, as in tlie cases of the words * organize 
 and organization,' when applied to p<.}itical bodies." p. vi. 
 The compounds disorganize^ disorganizer and disorganiza- 
 tion (which have been adopted by us since the French 
 Revolution, and are not in any of the English dicti(tna~ 
 ries) are also often used in the political publications of the 
 day in England. 
 
 I'd Originate, v. a. " To bring into existence." Johns. 
 
 The use of this as an active verb has been tiiought by 
 some persons to be peculiar to Amencans; but this is not 
 the case. It is not so common with English as witli A- 
 merican writers ; but it snm( times occurs in their works. 
 Burke uses it : " For tlie purpose of originating a new 
 civil order out of the first elements of society." lleJJec- 
 iions ; vol. iii. p. 38, of hie Works^ Amcr. edit. He howev- 
 er generally employs it as a verb neuter : See p. 131 and 
 168, of the same volume. But in the active sense it is not 
 considered as an authorized word. An English Review 
 thus mentions it, as one of the " few blemishes in language" 
 of Discourses on various subjects, by the Rev. Jiobert Oray, 
 author of the Key to the Old Testament: " We object to 
 the word originates used actively." Brit. Crit. vol. i. p. 95. 
 And in Marshall's Life of Washington (vol. i. j). 33) where 
 the American edition has this expression — " Bartholomew 
 Gosnold, who originated the expedition" — the London edi- 
 tion has — « who had 'planned the expedition." 
 
 Over /or Under. In these expressions : " He wrote over tlie 
 signature of Junius. He published some papers over his 
 own signature." 
 
 A few of our writers still countenance this unwarrant- 
 able Innovation ; but the principle, on whicli it is defend- 
 ed, would unsettle the whole language. The u«e of the 
 19
 
 140 
 
 woi'd under, in plii'ascs like tliose above mentioned, is as 
 \\v\l i-stablisliod as any English idiom. As it has, how- 
 ever, been questioned, and some writers appear to be se- 
 rious in their opinion tiiat it is incorrect to use bindery it 
 seems necessary to give the suhj c t a brief consideration. 
 Mr. Coleman, the able editor of the New York Evening 
 Post, has repeatedly exposed this »< piece of affectation," 
 (as he Justly calls it,) an;l produced the following author- 
 ities from Dr. Johnson and from Junius : " The attention 
 paid to the papers published under the name of ' Bicker- 
 staff' induced Steele when he projected a * Tatler' to as- 
 sume an appellation, which had already possession of the 
 reader's notice." Johnson'' s Life of Swift. "I admit the 
 claim of a gentleman who publishes in the Gazette under 
 the name of Jlodestus." Junius' s Letters.^ But neither 
 the arguments nor the authorities produced by Mr. Cole- 
 man seem to have convinced all the advocates of tliis new 
 piiraseology ; for some of them imagine that in one case, 
 at least, it is necessaiy. They contend, that wheie a wri- 
 ter assumes a fictitious name, we may say •jnider the signa- 
 ture, because some disguise or concealment is implied ; 
 but that where he signs his true name, we should say over 
 his signature. But what difForence is tliere, in reality, be- 
 tween the two cases ? Tlie advocates of over contend, that 
 they are right in the use of that term, because the wn- 
 ting is placed over or above the name of the writer ; but 
 this Is equally tiue in the case of a fctitious and a real 
 signature. It is, indeed, a sufficient answer to them, tliat 
 in practice, among the few writers w ho have adopted over, 
 this distinction is not observed j but they use the term in 
 
 • See the JVVw York Eveniinr Post of March 15, and Nov. 22, 1803. A 
 writer iii another newspaper, who adopts the signature of The Good Old 
 Way, ironically closer his remarks upon this " awkward and absurd term," 
 as he styles it, by thus employing it — " Given iver my baud and seal," &c. 
 -Vafem Gazette, Apr. 2, 1813.
 
 147 
 
 botli casos injlfflfercntly. But, after all, the question is a 
 simple question of fact — What is the practice of the hat En- 
 glish writers ? Now it is so well known to be their inva- 
 riable practice (and I may add, the practice of our best 
 writers) to say nnihr a name, and under a signature, that 
 it will perliaps hardly be credited by English scholars, that 
 any persons, wlio protend to speak the English language, 
 could have questioned the propriety of it. To the authori- 
 ties cited by Mr. Coleman I w ill subjoin only two or three 
 others : " The first works whicli were published under 
 my name,'' &c. Dedication of the Tatler. " I really doubt 
 whether I shall write any more binder this signature." Fri- 
 rate Letters of Junius to Mr. Woodfall, No. 5. In the late 
 edition oi Junius by Woodfall (published in 1812) the ex- 
 pression under the signature is continually used ; the very 
 title page begins thus : " Junius, including Letters by the 
 same writer under other signatures ;'' and, in the Jldrer- 
 tiscment and Preliminary Essay to this edition, the phrase 
 occurs in almost every page. 
 
 Package. A general term, comprehending hales, hoxes, Sec. 
 of merchandize. 
 
 This signification of tlie word is not in the dictiona- 
 ries ; and a mercantile friend informs me, that it has been 
 considered as an Americanism. An Englisli friend, how- 
 ever, remarks, that " it is in use in England ; but by the 
 nature of the case, the word cannot be found often in clas- 
 sical authors." Ji. It has probably been omitted by the 
 lexicograpliers, as being a term jjureiy technical. Besides 
 the general signification above mentioned, it is also often 
 used here among merchants (as a friend informs me) in 
 contradistinction to a bale orot!ici"/a?;^r package ; in wliich 
 case an English merchant would use the term parcel. 
 
 Packet, 
 
 To the usual definition of this word, a vessel thai carries
 
 118 
 
 letters, >lr. Webster adds, *• In America a roastiiij^ vesse 
 for pa>sengers.^'' A writer in the JJanthly Jinthologij^ for 
 Or . 1S09. p. 262 treats this (anion.j; other instances) as 
 *» ail {(He attempt to exhibit a distinction" between the En- 
 glish and American signilications. Tlie word seems, in- 
 deed, to be applied in Enj^land to vessels employed for 
 carryinp; passengers and letters. The term packet Ims been 
 considered as a mere abbreviation of packet-boat ; which 
 the English lexicograpliers define, " a boat for advice or 
 passengers ;'' and this definition of packet-ftoaf is adopted 
 by Mr. Webster. 
 
 To Packet. ** To ply with a packet." Webst. Diet. 
 
 I have never known this verb used in America ; nor 
 is this signification given in the English dictionaries. It 
 is probably a local use of the word. 
 
 Pappoose. f Accented on the last syllable. J « The Indian 
 name of a child." Webst. Diet. Hence, as some have sup- 
 posed, the vulgar expression of carrying anything a-poose 
 back (Jovpickback or pickapack J from the custom among the 
 Indian women of carrying their children, or pappooses, on 
 their backs. The tQvm pappoose is only used in speaking 
 of Indian children. 
 
 To Parade. « To assemble and arrange, exhibit." Webst, 
 Diet. Used in speaking of drawing up troops. Ex, The 
 general paraded his troops at such a place. 
 
 This verb is not in the English dictionaries, and I do 
 not recollect hearing it used in this manner by English- 
 men ; but as a verb nenter^ it is not unfrequent, in the fa- 
 miliar style : " One hour you shall see him parading Vsdl 
 Mall." Parliamentary Portraits, p. 148. 
 
 Pakagraph. 
 
 Mr. Kendal (Travels, vol. i. p. 31.) after quoting a 
 Connecticut writer, who speaks of the paragraphs of on^
 
 149 
 
 of tlic laws of that state, makes this note upon the word : 
 " By jmragraphs is intended sections or clauses " 
 
 Fartit. Nearly, almost. 
 
 A friend informs me, that this word is thus used in 
 some towns of the Middle States : " His house is partly 
 opposite, i. e. nearly opposite to mine." Dr. >V^itherspoon 
 has taken notice of this word, and gives the following ex- 
 ample : " It is partly all gone ; it is mostly all gone. This 
 (he remarks) is an absurdity or barbarism, as well as a 
 vulgarism." Bruid, No. 6. 
 
 Passage /or Passing. Used in speaking of laws. ^x. *« Be- 
 fore the question was taken on the passage of the hill," &c. 
 Marsh. Life of Wash. vol. v. p. 344, et passim. 
 
 This use of the w^ord passage is now very common, in 
 Congress and our other legislative assemblies, and has 
 been adopted by many of our w riters. It is v-riticised by 
 the English Reviewers as an American innovation. See 
 the Annual Review f art. Marshall's Life of Washington. 
 
 To Peak or Peek. To peep. 
 
 A fi'iend informs mc, that this word is very common in 
 the towns on the banks of the Connecticut j but it is only 
 used in conversation. The participle ^eafewt^ also, he in- 
 forms me, is used there for sneaking^ as it is in Shaks eare : 
 See Johnson^s Diet. Mr. Webster has observed, that jjeck is 
 « used corruptedly for peep." See his Dissert, on the Eng. 
 Lang. p. 387. 
 
 PECUiiiARs. " All peculiars^ viz. such places as are not yet 
 layd within the bounds of any town." Massachusetts Colo- 
 ny Laws; tit. Charges Publick; p. 15. edit. 1660. 
 
 This word is now so wholly obsolete with us, that I 
 have heard even our lawyers ask the meaning of it. 
 
 To Peek. See To Peak. 
 
 Pending. 
 
 In the review of Marshall's Life of Washington in th«
 
 i 50 
 
 .Mnvflity Jhillioiogy (vol. V. p. 438.) tliis word is criticised 
 usohsolcfc. But it is certainly used by tlic English in le- 
 ^nl and pnrlimneiitary language ; and it is, accordingly, 
 to be found in the Reviews of works on those subjects : 
 *» At the period wlirn the American treaty with this coun- 
 try was pending," he. liiif. Crit. vol. vi. p. 59*. 
 I'erk. *< Lively, brisk, holding up the head." Wehst. 
 Did. 
 
 This word is in Johnson,, but is marked <* obsolete^' 
 It is, however, provincial at this day, in Ejigland : 
 " Perk ; lively." Specimens of the Essex Dialect, in 
 Ihc Monthly Mtgazinc, for July 1814, p. 498. It is used 
 in the interior of ^Xew England ; and is commonly pro- 
 nounced pearkf (the ea as in pear J just as it is written 
 in the passage which Dr, Johnson quotes from Spencer, 
 Pieces. Papers. 
 
 The Edinburgh Revieyvers, in their account of the 
 American Mineralogical Journal, (published at N. York 
 in 1810, by A. Bruce) make the following remarks upon 
 an article in tliat work wiittrn by Dr. Mitchell: "The 
 two first words of it bespeak a foreign idiom, character- 
 izing, as might be expected, tlie Anglo American lan- 
 guage in which this Journal is written. The author 
 begins by saying, * These pieces were collected during a 
 tour in the summer of 1809 ;' and soon afterwards de- 
 scribing a specimen of black flint, he adds, * such as 
 abounds in the Seneca pmincs.' " Edinb. Rev. JVor. 1810, 
 p. 116. 
 
 This Gallicism is not in common use here ; but it 
 has been adopted by some American, as it also appears 
 to have been by some English writers : « I received this 
 
 moment your letter with the enclosed jneces relative to 
 
 the present dispute between the king and the parliament." 
 Chesierjield-s Letters, No. 344. An English friend makes
 
 the following remarks on this word : ••' We say in En«>'- 
 lish, sucii a piece was inserted in a newspaper or maga- 
 zine. B ut where an article is independeiitly written and is 
 of some length, even though it be insL-rted in a miscellane- 
 ous work (as the Philosophical Transactions) we call it 
 a paper.^* A. 
 
 Pine-barkens. Used in the Soutliern States. « The road 
 which I had to travel lay through a di-eary and exten- 
 sive forest of pine trees, or, as it is termed by the Caro- 
 linians, a pineban-en, where a habitation is seldom seen, 
 except at intervals of ten or twelve miles." Lamherfs 
 Travels, vol. ii. p. 226. 
 
 PxEAD or Pled /or Pleaded. 
 
 This is in constant use, in the colloqnial language of 
 the Bar in New England. But the verb to plead is a 
 regular verb ; and in England the regular form pleaded 
 seems to have been invariably used for centuries. *' He 
 pleaded still not guilty." Shakspeare^ as cited by Br. 
 Johnson. It is also used in the Bible : " Thei'e I will 
 plead with you, face to fa<"e, like as I pleaded with your 
 fathers in the wilderness." Ezek. xx. 35, 36 ; and in 
 various other places. " Foi-merly the general issue was 
 seldom p/mded — " " Everj defence which cannot be thus 
 specially j}leaded.'* 3 Blackst. Com. 305. 
 
 This word is notice d as an »< inaccuracy" in the 
 Monthly Anthology, for Feb. 1808, p. 109 ; and as an 
 Americanism in the Fort Folio, for Oct. 1S09. But it 
 has also been used by some writers in Great Britain. 
 The British Critic thus notices it in a review of Annals of 
 Great Britain, publislicd iji 1807 : *» The author occa- 
 sionally usi'S pled for p/crtie^/, as the past tense of the 
 verb to plead; but we are not aware that there is such a 
 word as pled in the English language." B. C. vol.xxxvi. 
 p. 343.
 
 Plenty for I'lentiful. 
 
 Tills is very common here, in the language of conver- 
 sation ; and is sometimes to be met witli in writing. Dr. 
 Franklin uses it in liis Directions to make money plenty 
 in crery man's pocket ; anil tlie English reviewers in 
 noticing that work, ])ut the word plenty in Italics. See 
 Brit, Crit. vol. iii. p. 285. Dr. Johnson says — " It is 
 used, I tliink barbarously, for plentiful.'^ And Ash calls 
 it "rather colloquial." Dr. Cainpb''ll condemns it in 
 the strongest terms : He says — Plenty for plentiful " ap- 
 pears to me so gross a vulgarism, that I should not have 
 thought it worthy a place here, if I had not sometimes 
 found it in works of considerable mei'it." Philos. of Rhet, 
 B. ii. eh. 3. sect. 3. p. 254; Amer, edit. 
 
 Poke. A bag. 
 
 I have heard tliis old word used by some persons here 
 in the compound term cream-poke ; that is, a small bag, 
 through which cream is strained. In England, I j)resume, 
 it is never used, except in the old proverb, which is fa- 
 miliar to every body in both countries 
 
 Pond. " The soil and suiface consists in a continuity of 
 hills or downs of sandy loam with valleys and hollows 
 that contain small streams, and lakes or pools, in New 
 England always denominated ponds,^^ Kendal's Trav, 
 vol. ii. p 39. 
 
 PooELT. adj. " Rather indisposed, indiJQferent, ill." Webst. 
 Diet. 
 
 None of the English lexicographers, I believe, except 
 ^s/t, mention poorly in this sense ; and he says it is " a 
 colloquial word ;" wliich is also the case in this country. 
 But a later English work gives it as a mor^ provincial word 
 in England, peculiar to the JS^orth. " Poorly, indifferent 
 in health. Feri/ ^worii/, very indifferent. JVorth," Fegge's 
 Supp. to Grose^s Frov* Gloss. London, 1814.
 
 153 
 
 Popular. Used frequently by the illiterate for populom. 
 Populated for Peopled. " A thinly popidated country." 
 
 Very raiely used. 
 Portage. 
 
 A carrying place by the banks of rivers, round water- 
 falls or I'apidSf &c. In this sense the word is very com- 
 mon, and has been thought to be necessary, in this coun- 
 try. In the following example it is used in a manner 
 not common with American writers : " These reinforce- 
 ments could not arrive with the necessary quantity of 
 provisions and other supplies, because the river La Bceuf 
 ....did not admit of their portage down it.'* Marsh. Life 
 of Wash. vol. ii. p. 16. 
 Practitional. 
 
 I have once met with this extraordinary word in the 
 character of a deceased lawyer : " In his practitional ca- 
 reer he was," &c. The word is entirely new. 
 Prairie. 
 
 A French term, which has been much used of late by 
 American writers, to designate those remarkable mead- 
 ows or plains, which are described by travellers in Loui- 
 siana. Mr. Webster writes it prairy^ and defines it " a 
 natural meadow, or a plain naturally destitute of trees." 
 None of our writers, that I recollect, have adopted this 
 orthography. The word prairie is censured by the Ed- 
 inburgh reviewers, as a Gallicism. See their remarks on 
 the word Pieces. 
 Prayerful ; Prayerfully. Ex, In a prayerful manner ; 
 may we be prayerfdly disposed. 
 
 Tliis is used by some of our clergy ; but it is not very 
 
 common. It is not in any of the dictionaries. 
 
 Prayerless. " Not praying, not using prayers." JFebst. 
 
 Diet. I have never known this word to be used here j 
 
 but a friend informs me, that he has often heard it in the 
 
 20
 
 154 
 
 prayei"9 of countiT clergymen, in this plivase — ' May 
 there be no prayctiess families in this place.' The word 
 is not in the dictionaries. Jniitfidd uses this, and 
 Christless, and many other compounds of the same form. 
 
 To Tredicate. To found. '* Being predicated on no pre- 
 vious proceedings of the legislature." *Marsh. Life of 
 IVash. vol. V. p. -iOS. " It ought surely to he predicated 
 upon a full and imi)artial consideration of the whole sub- 
 ject." Letter of the Hon. J. Q. AdamSf p. 5. 
 
 Upon this last passage tlie Editor of the New York 
 Evening Post remarks : " The predicate is that wliich is 
 atlirmed of the subject of a proposition j it is here used 
 as synonymous with founded." 
 
 This use of the verb predicate is very common with 
 American writers, and in the debates of our legislative 
 assemblies. <' It is (says a friend) purely American." J. 
 
 Presidential. <• Pertaining to a President." Webst. This 
 is mentioned by a writer in the Monthly Antliology as 
 "one of the barbarisms in common use" among us. En^ 
 glish writers have sometimes used it, but only in speak- 
 ing of American aftairs : « The friends of Washington 
 had determined to support Mr. Adams as candidate for 
 the presidential chair," &c. ({uarterhj Rev. vol. x. p. 497 5 
 for Jan. 1814. 
 
 Profanity. 
 
 This word is in common use here ; more particularly 
 (as a clerical friend once observed to me) with our clergy. 
 It is not in the dictionaries, and I do not recollect ever 
 meeting with it in English authors. The Scottish writers, 
 however, employ it ; as v.iil be seen by the fidlowing ex- 
 amples, ^^hi(•h a friend has given me : « The man who can 
 pass days in listening to folly and profanity," &c. McGiWs 
 Coiiside rat inns addressed to a young clergyman ; in « Tracts 
 on the Pastoral Office," p. 2*5. " The preacJiing of the gos-
 
 155 
 
 pel administers a standing reproof to every species of 
 profauUij and criminality." Institutes of Theology, by Dr. 
 Hill, Principal of St. Mary's College, in the University of 
 St. Andrexvs, 
 
 English writers use the word profanemss : " A lilliputian 
 history of England, in a parody of sci iptui'e, containing 
 some inaccuracy, more drollery, and much more profane- 
 ncss." Brit. Grit. vol. ix, p. 330. " Warburton, how- 
 ever, far surpasses his brother in brutality of invective ; 
 not to mention tlie peculiar demerit of using the most 
 awful language of scripture with an irreveren'^e, ap- 
 proaching to profaneness.^^ (^uart. Rev. vol. vii. p. 407. 
 <' And (if it were not a sort of profanene:,s to talk of the 
 use as affecting tlie title to property) he makes a good 
 use of his revenues." Biirke''s Reflections, p. 131, vol. 
 iii, of his Works, Amer. edit. The word profaneness was 
 also in use here, I ihiniv, till about the period of the Rev- 
 olution. 
 
 Professor of Religion. See Member of the Church. 
 
 To Progress. 
 
 This obsolete English word, which (as I have been 
 informed) was never heard among us before the Revolu- 
 tion, has had an extraordinary currency for the last 
 twenty or tliirty years, notwithstanding it has been con- 
 demned by the English, and by the best American wri- 
 ters. The use of it in Judge MarshaWs Life of Washing- 
 ion has been censured by some of our own critics (sec 
 Monthly Anthology for August 1808) ; and a well known 
 English Review, in noticing the same work, thus speaks 
 of this verb: «\Ve object to the continual use of the 
 word jn-ogress as a verb ; we are aware that authorities 
 may be found for it in Englisli writers, but such use had 
 fortunately become obsolete till the American Revolulion 
 revived it." Annual Rev. vol. vii. p. 241. It is true that
 
 156 
 
 Hiwie authorities may be found for it in English writers, 
 and it is accord iiit^ly in Johnson*s and other dictionaries j 
 hwi Jolnisdn has noted it as ** not nscd.'" It seems also, 
 thiit the accent was formerly placed on the first syllable, 
 and not (as we pronounce it) on the lust: 
 
 " Let me wipe ofTtliis liononrablc dew, 
 Tliut silvcrly dolh progrcsa on tliy cheeks" 
 
 Dr. Franklin condemned the word many years ago. Sec 
 At)/c »)n the word Improve. 
 
 Proven /or Provkd. 
 
 This is often heard in the debates of Congress, and 
 is sometimes used by writers in the Southern States; but 
 it is unknown in JVew England. " There is (says an 
 Englisli fi'iend) much aflfectation in the use of the words 
 jjroven and sfncken among cej'tain American writers and 
 speakers. To labour, as some do, to raise old words 
 from the dead, is not only not tanti; but it shews, that 
 the persons who use these exertions do not consider, that 
 if tliey are in any degree proper, they ought to be carried 
 to a much greater extent than the parties seem to be 
 aware of." Jl, 
 
 Provincialism. 
 
 This has been censured by some American writers as 
 an unauthorized word. But it is in common use in En- 
 gland, though it is not to be found in the dictionaries. 
 The English reviewers constantly use it. 
 
 Proxies. 
 
 This word is thus noticed by Mr. Kendal, in his Travels, 
 vf)l. i. p. 32 — "The written votes or ballots, wliich 
 througli a mistake, or else abuse of terms, the statutes 
 occasionally call proxies,** This use of the term proxies 
 is not known, I believe, in any of tlie States, except Rhode 
 Island, and Connecticut. It is also used sometimes 
 as equivalent to election, or election-day. The follow-
 
 157 
 
 in,£j instances are from a Connecticut newspaper : «< Re- 
 publicans of Connecticut ; previous to everv jJroxies you 
 have been assaulted on every side" — « On the approaching 
 proxies wc ask you to attend universalfy," &c. The 
 abbreviation Frox is also used in BJwde Island, for the 
 Ticket; (as it is called elsewhere) that is, theLisf of Can- 
 didates at Elections. 
 
 Publishment. 
 
 An official notification, made by the clerks of towns 
 in New England, of an intended marriage. The term 
 is in common use in most parts of New England, and is 
 also adopted in some of our laws. « Any persons de- 
 siring to be joined in marriage shall have such their in- 
 tentions puhlished....or posted up by the clerk of such 
 town ; and a certificate of such publishmcnt....shR]\ be 
 produced as aforesaid previous to tlieir marriage." 
 Massachnsetis Stat. June 22, 1786. In England tliey use 
 the expression pihUcation of the banns : « Marriage 
 must be preceded by publication of the banns." JRees*s 
 Cycloj). v. Marriage. 
 
 Punk. Rotten wood, touchwood, spunk. 
 
 A friend has mentioned this to me as one of our cor- 
 ruptions of the English language. The word is in com- 
 mon use in many, if not all parts of New England ; but 
 it is not to he found in this sense in the dictionaries. 
 ^9shf however, in the Supplement to Ids dictionary, has 
 the following signification of it: " — A kind of //tH»MS, 
 often used for tinder ;" hut Bailey gives this meaning t» 
 the word spmk. Mr. Webster has spunk. 
 
 To Quackle. To almost choke, or suffocate. 
 
 A low, colloquial word, which is sometimes heard in 
 New England. Tn Englandf it is provincial: "To 
 quackle, to suffocate." Essex THalectf in the Jfonthhj 
 Magazine, vol. xxxviii. p. 498 ,♦ for July 181 i-. « quack-
 
 158 
 
 hd, almost choked or suffocated. Norfolk and Suffolk." 
 right's Stijiplcm. to Grose. 
 
 <^i ARREL. A pane of glass. 
 
 This old word is still sometimes heard in New Eng- 
 land j but only among the illiterate. It is thus noticed 
 in the Monthly Magazine (vol. xxxviii. p. 332) as an 
 English provincialism : " Quarrel, s. A square of window 
 glass ; quarrc [rather quarreau, now written carremi] 
 French." 
 
 Rackets. fUsed in the plural.) A common name in some 
 parts of New England, for what in other parts are called 
 snow-shoes. They have this name, without doubt, from 
 tlieir resemblance to the rackets used in playing tennis. 
 
 Rafty. Rancid ; damp and musty. 
 
 I have heard this word used by old people in New 
 England. It is provincial in England: ^' Rafty ; damp 
 and musty, as corn or hay in a wet season." Marshall's 
 Rural Econ. of JVorfolk, 
 
 To Raise. 
 
 In New England the farmers say, to raise corn, 
 wheat, &c. ; but in P^ngland, at the present day, the far- 
 mers and even the agricultural writers say, to grow corn 
 kc. and this expression is now getting into use here. 
 This verb, indeed, and its noun growers (though, accord- 
 ing to Rees's Cyclopadiai the latter is a term ^^provin- 
 cially applied to farmers") seem to be a part of the tech- 
 nical language of agriculturists. Dr. Johnson calls ^row 
 a verb neuter ; and his twenty-first signification of to raise 
 is, «« to procure to be bred or propagated." One of his 
 examples is, « he raised wheat where none grew befoie." 
 ^sA, whose dictionary is the only one in which I find to 
 grow as a verb active^ says, it " is a colloquial word ;'* 
 but, at the present day, it is certainly used by the agri- 
 cultural writers of England. Dr. Witherspoon, many
 
 159 
 
 years ago, ranked this use of to grow among « the new- 
 est corruptions of the language, and much more common 
 in England than America 5" and he cites Cook*s first voy' 
 age, by Hawkesworth, where (he adds) " some others of 
 the same kind are to he found." Druids No. 6. A learned 
 friend observes — « The licences in language, common 
 among the Englisli agriculturists, seem to be partly ow- 
 ing to the proprietor and the literary man giving ear to 
 the plirases of agents, farmers and labourers ; and then 
 transferring them to books : Whence we read of to grow 
 for to cause to grow. In addition to the corruptions for- 
 ced upon the mind of the English agricultural WTiters by 
 their familiarity with practical agriculturists, these fre- 
 quently adopt the style of journals ; and thougli journals 
 may easily be made (with care) to assume a correct form, 
 yet whet! er framed by agriculturists, medical writers, or 
 nautical men, they too often appear in a form which is 
 needlessly uncouth." A. See also the remark of the 
 same friend, on the style of the English agricultural wri- 
 ters under the word 0?fTO. 
 
 2. In some of the Southern States they also use the 
 Terb to raise in tliis manner : I was raised, i. e. brought 
 up, in such a town. It is never thus used in the JVorthem 
 States. 
 
 3. To raise (as an English friend first remarked to 
 me) is also very much used in some of the Southern States, 
 instead of to rise. He observes, in a letter from Phila- 
 del2}hia — " Of the gentlemen who are my frllow boarders 
 at least one half use the vei-b raise as a neuter ; as w« 
 in New England do the verb fall as an active. Ex. To- 
 bacco and cotton will raise." lie has also referred me 
 to the following passage of a well known work, the author 
 of which learned his English cliiefly among the people of 
 Peninsylvania : "Although the deferred stock is every
 
 160 
 
 day niishi^ In value," c\c. Sketches of tJie Finances of 
 the U. States, bij dlbert Gallatin Esq. p. 12J, note fB.J 
 
 i. This verb is also iiiiu h used in our legislative as- 
 semblies in the following niiinner : A member moves, 
 that a f omniittee should be raised to take any particular 
 subject into consideration ; and a committee is accord- 
 ingly raised. The English say, in parliamentary lan- 
 guage, a committee was formed or appointed : " Earl 
 Liverpool moved that a committee of twenty-one Peers 
 be appointed by ballot to examine the Physicians on the 
 state of His Majesty's health," &c. Debates in Parlia- 
 mentf Jan. 9, 1812. "The usual committees were form- 
 ed." Report of Debates, in the London nexcspapers. 
 
 R.ypiDS. CUsed in the plural. J " A i)art of a river where 
 tlie water is rapid over a moderate descent." Webst. Diet. 
 The following' description of the rapids of the river 
 Ohio will further explain tiie term : « They are occasion- 
 ed by a ledge of rocks that stretch across the bed of the 
 river, from one side to the other, in some places projec- 
 ting so much that they are visible when the water is not 
 high, and in most places when the water is extremely 
 low. The fall is not more than between four and five 
 feet in the distance of a mile," kc. Imlay's Topograph. 
 JDescript. of the TFestern Terntory of the U. States, p. 51, 
 2d edit. 
 
 Raw Salad. Dr Witherspoon makes the following remarks 
 on this expression : " Raw salad is used in the South for 
 salad. N. B. There is no salad boiled." Druid, No. 7. 
 Hence, as a correspondent observes, Johnson defines a 
 salad — " food of raw herbs." I do not know whether 
 this expression is common in the Southern States at the 
 present day, or not. In JN'eiy England I have ne^'cr 
 heard it.
 
 161 
 
 To Realize. 
 
 « The clergy of New England (says a friend) employ 
 this word, when a thing is spoken of as made certain, or 
 substantial ; a sense not frequent among the modern 
 English." Jl, A learned clerical friend has reminded me, 
 tliat it is used in this manner by Jilison, the well known 
 Scottish author. ' 
 
 Reciprocity. 
 
 This word has been remarked upon, by some of our 
 writers, as "hardly admissible.'* See ^Month. Anihol.for 
 1S06, p. 102. It is not noticed by any of the lexicogra- 
 phers except Walker and Mason; the latter of whom cites 
 a law authority in support of it : " Any degree of reci- 
 procity will prevent the pact from being nude. Blackstonc.** 
 But it is in general use with other English wi'iters ; per- 
 haps, however, it is more commoidy employed by them in 
 political and other discussions, which admit of a language 
 approaching to the legal style. It is often used by them 
 in diplomatic papers. Walker has inserted it in his dic- 
 tionary, without informing the reader that it is a new 
 word, as he usually does in such cases. 
 To Reckoa". Used in some of the Southern States, as guess 
 is in the Northern. Ex. I reckon he will, kc. It seems 
 to be provincial in England : " Reckon, to imagine, to 
 suppose : I reckon I shall. JVorf/i." Pegge''s Supplem. to 
 Grose. 
 Redemptioner. " One who redeems himself by services, or 
 whose services are sold to pay certain expenses." Wchst. 
 Diet. 
 
 This name is given, in the Southern States, to those 
 Germans, Irish, and other Euro]);'ans, who emigrate from 
 their own country to the United States, and sell their ser- 
 vices for a term of time to pay their passage- money and 
 other expenses. 
 
 •2r
 
 Refekexce. 
 
 The frequent use of this word in the follo'wing man- 
 ner is noticed, by a late Ena;lish traveller, among the 
 " quaint expressions," peculiar to Americans : " Has tjjc 
 einhargo act progressed in Congress ? Which have you 
 reference to ?" Lambert's Travels^ vol. ii. p. 506. An En- 
 glish friend, however, says — " If Mr. Lambert considers 
 this use of the word reference as confined to America, he 
 is in an error. It is a word in well established use in 
 England." J. 
 
 Releasemext. 
 
 The use of this word in Bancrofts Life of fFasJiingfon 
 is censured by some of the English reviewers. See Brit- 
 ish Cntic, vol. xxxv. p. 182. It is very rarely used by 
 American writers. I do not find it in any of the English 
 dictionaries except Baileifs and Jsh*s ; and it is unques- 
 tionably obsolete. I never met with it in any work print- 
 ed in England, except once accidentally in the Index to 
 SmoUet's Hislorif of England f London edition of 1796 J in 
 this article : «< Murray Hon. Alexander — procession at 
 his rekasement from Newgate." 
 
 Relishes. " About eight or nine in the morning they break- 
 fast on tea and coffee, attended always with what they call 
 relishes, such as salt-fish, beef-steaks, sausages, broiled* 
 fowls, ham, bacon, &c. FriesVs Tra-eels in the U. States of 
 America. 
 
 To Reloax. " To lend a second time." Webst. Bicf. See 
 To Loan. 
 
 To Reluct. 
 
 TIjc use of this verb in Bancroft- s Life of fFashington 
 is censured by a reviewer in tiie Monthly Anthology, vol. 
 iv. p. 666. Most of the dictionaries have it ; but (as a 
 friend observes) it is never used " by good English wri- 
 ters." A. I may add, that it does not frequently occur in 
 tlie writings of Americans.
 
 163 
 
 Removability. « The capacity of being removed or dis- 
 placed." M^ebst. Diet. 
 
 See the remarks on the word Irrepealability. 
 
 Remove. <•' At an infinite remove." First Ripe Fniits ; 
 being a collection of Tracts, ^r. by the Rev. John Mason, 
 JVev) York, 1803. 
 
 Some of the English reviewers mention this expres- 
 sion as one of the " occasional vulgarisms, possibly An- 
 glo-Americanisms/' of Dr. Mason's work. See the Chris- 
 tian Observer, vol. ii. p. 564*. The noun remove is not an 
 « Anglo-Americanism." It is sometimes used by English 
 writers of celebrity : " Such a procedure is scarcely a 
 remove short of pious fraud." For son* s Letters to Travis, 
 preface, p. 26. 
 
 Renew EDLY. Anew ; again. 
 
 This adverb is often heard from our pulpits. But 
 (as a correspondent observes) it is <• a word destitute of 
 all authority." A. 
 
 Requirement. 
 
 American writers sometimes employ this term ; but 
 it is not in general use. I do not find it in any of the 
 English dictionaries except Bailey^s, folio edition. A 
 correspondent says, " it does not rank as a good English 
 word." .a. 
 
 Repetitious. "The observation which you have quoted 
 from the Abbe Raynal, which has been written off in a 
 succession not much less repetitious, or protracted, than 
 that in which school-boys of former times wrote," &c. 
 Remarks on the Review of Inchiquin^s Ixtters in the quar- 
 terly Review ; Boston, 1815. 
 
 This word is peculiar to the writer here quoted. 
 
 Resemblage. 
 
 Some of the Englisli reviewers of Marshairs Life of 
 Washimrton iiave noticed this word as an instance of the
 
 104 
 
 '* iiicorrot t lai)giiagc" of tliat work ; the reviewers con- 
 sideriii.a; it as the Jmerican term for re-assemhlage. Sec 
 Annual Review , vol. vii. p. 2ibl. But they have in this, 
 and in several other instances, heen misled by the incor- 
 rectness of the English editions of Judge Marsliall's work : 
 In the place referred to, the American edition has n-as- 
 semblagc; Avhich is the substitute proposed by the review- 
 ers. See Note on the word Infected. 
 Result, n. A teclmical name for the Decisions of Ecclesi- 
 astical Councils. A''ew England. 
 To Result. fFrom the preceding noun. J To decide or 
 decree, as an Ecclesiastical Council. 
 
 Some of our writers on ecclesiastical affairs constant- 
 ly use this verb, in speaking of our own Councils, thus : 
 <• The Council resulted that the parties should do certain 
 things.-' A friciid has remindt?d me of the following in- 
 stance of its being applied also to the Decrees of the an- 
 cient Councils : " According to Dr. Milner, the Council 
 of Nice resulted, in opposition to the views of Arius, that 
 the Son w as peculiarly of the Father," &c. Bible JS'ews, 
 by the Rev. JVoah Worcester , p. 176, 2d edit. 
 Retqrtive. 
 
 This is noticed as " a new word," in an American 
 
 review of Mr. Barlow's Columbiad. See Month. Jnthol. 
 
 vol. vii. p. 117. I presume no other American author 
 
 ever used it.* 
 
 To Retrospect. Ex. «• To give a correct idea of the cir- 
 
 * Mr, r.arlow has used a great number of words, wliich no other 
 American writer, probably, would have ventured to employ. Many of 
 them have been condemned by the Edinburgh Review (vol. xv. p. £8) and 
 by almost every one of Mr. Barlow's own countrymen. As tlie use of 
 these words may, with the strictest propriety, be said to be peculiar to 
 Mr. B. and as they will never, probably, be adopted by any other writei", 
 I hare thought it unnecessary to enumerate them.
 
 165 
 
 cumstauces which have gradually produced this convic- 
 tion, it may be useful to retrospect to an early period." 
 Letter from Alex. Hamilton concerning the public comlnct 
 and character of John Adams Esq. p. i. 
 
 An American reviewer thus defends the use of this new 
 verb in the work here cited : " A celebrated Letter pub- 
 lished here last autumn contained some words used as 
 verbs, which the English have hitherto used only as 
 nouns; such as advocate^ retrospect: But they were ex- 
 pressive of a circumlocution, and are agreeable to the 
 ear ; and why may they not be deemed of as high author- 
 ity, as if originating with Mi'. Pitt or Mr. Erskinc ?" .Amer- 
 ican Review and Literary Journal, vol. i. p. 220, note; 
 JVfw York, 1801. 
 
 The use of this same verb to retrospect (in an active 
 sense) had been attempted in Great Britain, a few years be- 
 fore the date of tlie publication above quoted ; but it receiv- 
 ed no favour. A well known English Review thus notices 
 it, in connexion with another new word : " Expressions 
 like the following cannot be admitted as improvements 
 of our language — <to irradicate selfish ideas — to retro- 
 spect his past conduct.' " Brit. Crit. vol. vii. p. 552 ; re- 
 view of The Haunted Cavern, a Caledonian Tale. liij 
 John Palmer, jun. London, 1796. 
 To Revolt. Ex. " The spirit of retreat, of devotion, and 
 of the heavenly-minded ness, which the gosjjel enjoins, re- 
 volts those whose hopes and enjoyments centre only in the 
 world." Sermons by S. Slanhopc Smifli, P- «• *' They 
 find doctrines in the Gospel that revolt their i-eason," tVc. 
 
 p. 11. 
 
 This use of the verb revolt is condenuiod by a review- 
 er of these Sermons, in the Mw lark ..Monthly Jlat;nzinr 
 and American Review, vol i. p. 362 ; for the year iSOO. 
 it has also been digconntcnanccd in England : >vl»<^i-c Oi-"
 
 16G 
 
 in this country) a few individuals liave adopted it. An 
 Knt!;lisli R('vi<'W thus notices it: "In p. 34, occurs this 
 plirase ; * however it may at first revolt us ;' to revolt 
 cannot properly be used as an active verb. In all good 
 writers it is neuter, or intransitive." Ilrit, Crit. vol. i. p. 
 5.>3 ; ixvieu^ of Boscaiveii's Horace. 
 
 River. 
 
 An observinsj friend (who has been particularly en- 
 gaged in geoi;;riip!iicid inquiries) first remarked to me, 
 that in speaking of rivers, Americans comm.>nly put the 
 name before the word River, thus : Connecticut river, 
 Charles river, Merrimack river ; whereas the English 
 w ould place the name after it, and say, tlie river Charles 
 kc. And when English writers copy from our geogra- 
 phers, they commonly make this alteration ; as will be 
 seen by rcforring to any of tiic English Gax.etteers. There 
 are exceptions, however, to this practice ; as, when we 
 speak of some of the largest rivers. Wc say, for instance, 
 the river Mississippi ; the river St. Lawrence, &c. 
 
 'JRjocK for Stoxe. 
 
 In JVew England, we often hear the expression of 
 heaving rocks, for throwing stones. 
 
 To Roil. (Commonly pronounced Rile. J « To render tur- 
 bid by stirring up lees ; to disturb the mind and excite 
 anger." Webst. Diet. fXew England. J 
 
 In the^rsf of these significations, this word is in 
 common use, in the language of conversation ; but in the 
 second sense it is only heard among the vulgar. In this 
 sense it is also provincial in Great Britain : " Roil or royle ; 
 to perplex, fatigue. JVorth." Grose. « To Rile, to vex." 
 Essex Dialect, in tlic Monthly Magazine, for March, 1815, 
 p. 125. It is not in the dictionaries. 
 
 RoiiT. Turbid.
 
 167 
 
 Romantically. 
 
 This is ridiculed, in the Monthly Mthology (vol iii . 
 p. 92,) as « an Iiidianism." It is not in use. I have, 
 in one iristani;o, met with the still more extraordinary 
 word romanticiti)'. 
 
 Rugged. Hardy, robust. JVew England. 
 
 Englishmen notice our use of rnggedy in tliis sense, 
 as a peculiarity ; in expressions of this kind — A rugged, 
 i. e. robust child ; nigged health. 
 
 Run. n. " A small stream." fVebst. Diet. fMw England.) 
 This is somctimr^s used in conversation ; but not iii 
 writing. The English dictionaries do not give this sense 
 of the word : Most of them, however, have Runnel^ which 
 Johnson defines " a rivulet, a small brook ;" but Walker 
 says it is " little used." It may be added, that in Jtmer- 
 icUf it is never used. 
 
 Rungs, n. plural. 
 
 A very common name in New England for the rounds 
 or steps of a ladder. Grose mentions it as a provincial 
 word of the JW^/t of England ; and Ash also gives it as 
 " a local word." The braces or rounds of common chaii-s 
 are also vulgarly called rungs. This has generally been 
 considered as a mere corru])tion o( rounds ; and people 
 of education use only this latter word. 
 
 Sabbath. " On Sunday, or, as it is here [in JVero England] 
 uniformly denominated, on Sabbath, I accompanied an en- 
 tire family to church." KendaVs Trav. vol. i. p. 115. 
 
 To Sag. To sink, or settle. 
 
 An English friend has pointed out the use of tliis old 
 word, as one of our peculiarities. It is in tlie dictionaries ; 
 but Sheridan and TVaU^' s.iy " it is not in use." It is used 
 here in Johnson^s fust sigrtification of to swag, that is, 
 " to sink down by its weight ;" and it has, I think, been
 
 •lo8 
 
 j^oiiorallv considoivd as a mere corruption of that word. 
 In Kii!;laiul it is used, ^noriwciflZ/?/, in speaking of the health 
 of a person : He begins to sag f i. e. to decline in his health. 
 Xorf. and Suf['. Fcgge^s Supplement to Grose. 
 
 Salad. Sec Rinv Salad. 
 
 Salt Lick. Sqc Lick. 
 
 Samp. " Maize broken coarse, boiled and mixed with milk," 
 &c. Wehst. Did. An Indian word. 
 
 Sappy. " Full of sap, jucy,* young, simple.*' TVehst. Did. 
 An American reviewer of Mr. Webster's dictionary 
 observes — " We never saw this word but once used in this 
 last sense." Monthhj Anthol. vol. vii. p. 263. Mr. Web- 
 ster, however, in admitting this signification of the word, 
 has only followed Entick's dictionary, of which his own 
 is " an enlargement and improvement."! Tlie same sig- 
 nification of the word is also given in Perrifs and Dyche*$ 
 dictionaries j but I have not found it in any other. It is 
 imiversally considered here as a low word, in this sense, 
 and is not very often used even in the language of conversa- 
 tion. 
 
 Sat /or Set. Ex. " I sat out yesterday morning, for I set 
 out." 
 
 This impropriety is not, as some liave supposed, peculiar 
 to this country. Bishop Lorvih, in commenting on the use 
 of these two verbs in English works, observes, that *' set 
 can be no part of the verb to sit ;" (see his Grammar^ 
 Irreg. Verbs') and Dr. WWicrspoondASses the example above 
 given, among his " Vulgarisms of England and America." 
 Druid) No. 6. I do not, however, recollect seeing sat ever 
 used for set'm any English publications of the present day ; 
 not even in the newspapers. In Jlmerica this error is much 
 less common now than it formerly was ', for though it is 
 
 • IMr. Webster''s orthography. 
 
 I See Preface to Mr. Wc])ster's Dictionary, p. xix.
 
 169 
 
 still heard in conversation, it is not often to be met with 
 in writing. 
 
 Sauce. 
 
 A general term among the country people of New Eng- 
 land, for all the common esculent vegetables. Hence tbose 
 farmers, who supply tbe markets with vegetables, are some- 
 times called by their brethren, smice-marketers. The 
 tenn sauce is sometimes used " more strangely (to adopt the 
 Words of an English friend) to signify imperlinence.'^ B. 
 In some parts of England (as the same friend informs me) 
 the term garden-stuff is used as a general name for vege- 
 tables, and »Ssh accordingly has that term j the other En- 
 glish lexicographers have garden-ware. 
 
 Scanty. 
 
 This word is in common use in New England, and 
 is to be found in all the dictionaries ; but is noted by Mr. 
 Pegge as provincial in England — " Scaniy, short, in w^ant 
 of : This is a scanty pattern. We are rather scant of it at 
 present. JVorth." Pegge^s Supplem. to Grose^s Prov. Gloss, 
 It is used here in conversation only. 
 
 Scow. " A large flat-bottomed boat." Webst. Diet 
 
 In some parts of the United States it is called a gondo- 
 la ('which see. J The word scow, says another Ameri- 
 can writer, is properly an American word, made from ne- 
 cessity to signify a small flat-bottomed boat, which is used 
 only in America, and is Just as good a word, as the track 
 schuyts of the Dutch. Port Folio, Mw Seiies, vol. vii. ]). 
 328.* A friend remarks, that " the word Scow is, perliaps, 
 a corruption among the Dutch settlers in New York for 
 Schuyt:' Jl. 
 
 Sea-bord or Sea-board. " Towards tlie sea." Baiky. 
 
 * Mr. Webster's definition agrees best with the 8ca~,vs or irondulns o( 
 the J^orthem states ; which are strong-built, lieavy boats, about ,30 fact long 
 artfi 12 feet wide. 
 
 22
 
 170- 
 
 This nauticil term is often Iward in conversation, and 
 u somctiinos used in writing. I do not find it in any of 
 tlie English dictionaries excej)t Baileifs, Jlnli's, and J^lason^s 
 Sitpplfmeiit to Johnson : and it is doubtless out of use in 
 Kngland, except among sea-faring people- There is some 
 difference of opinion among the lexicographers, as to the 
 orthographji of this term, and what pari of speech it is. Bailey 
 writes the last syllable of it uiV/t an a. Sea-board. Jsh co- 
 pies Failej's orthography, as well as his definition, and 
 calls it an adverb. Mason writes it without the «, Sea-6orrf, 
 and calls it an adjective : His authority is Spencer ; who, 
 however, according to Home Tookc, is one of" the worst 
 possible authorities for English words :" — 
 ** Sea-bokd. adj. Bordering on the sea. 
 
 There shall a lion from the sea-bord wood 
 Of Neustria come roring'. 
 
 Si>. F. Q. B. III. c. iii. st. 47. 
 
 The watry South-wincle from the seabord coste 
 Up-blowing doth disperse the vapour loste. 
 
 lb. c. iv. St. 13." 
 
 Mr. Webster has it as an adjective (adopting Mason's defini- 
 tion,} and also as a noun, w hich he defines — *' the shore or 
 edge of tlie sea." He writes it Sca-ftorJ. 
 
 The torm Land-board I have never met with in any in- 
 stance but tiie following, either in writing or conversation : 
 « The p.^sition and circumstances of the United States 
 leave them nothing to fear on their land-board, and nothing 
 to desire beyond their present rights. But on their sea-board 
 they are opvn to injury," &c. Report of the Secretary of State 
 (Mr. Jefferson) on Commercial Restrictions c^'C. Dec. 16, 
 1793. 
 .Sectiox. 
 
 Since the Frclicli Revolution this word hashecn much 
 used here instead of part, quarter, &c. Ex. " In this section 
 of the United States." It is not thus used in England.
 
 171 
 
 Sectionary. (From the jn-eceding noun J. Belonging to a 
 section of a country ; local. 
 
 I liaA'^e never met with this iincoramon word except in 
 the following instance : « This veneration arises not from 
 a little and selfish spirit ofsectionarij attachment." I have 
 once also met with sectional, in the same sense. 
 
 See/oj' Saw, (^preterite of to see. J Alcw England " I see him 
 yesterday, or see him last week ; for I saw him. In Scot- 
 land the vulgar say, I seed him last week." JViihersp, 
 Lniidf No. 6. 
 
 See-d also (as Mr. Pegge observes) " passes current- 
 ly with the common people of London, both for our perfect 
 tense saw, and our participle passive sce;i." Anecdotes of 
 the English language^ p. Ill, 2d edit. The corrupt form sec 
 (for saiv) is never used here except in the language of con- 
 versation ; and at the present day is only heard among the 
 illiterate. An Englts!; friend makes the following remarks 
 on it : " See and Shew, in the i)reterite, have a very un- 
 pleasant effect on the ears of an Englishman ; and are each 
 utterly unknown to English authors. Whoever has adopt- 
 ed these corj'uptions will do well to abandon tliem ; as 
 setting a mark upon the persons using them ; botli in the 
 Mddle and Southern States of this continent, and through- 
 out the whole of the British Dominions." A. 
 
 Sekioiis. 
 
 " Serious, has [in New England] the cant acceptation 
 of religious." KendaVs Trav. vol. i. p. 0i3. not. 
 
 Sbwent. See Suant, 
 
 Shan't. See An*L 
 
 SHEw/or Shewed or Showed,. Ex. <» I sh.civ it to him yes- 
 terday." 
 
 Several years ago this corrupt preterite was very com- 
 mon in JVe7*J England ; but it is now much less used i Nan ff)r- 
 merly. Mr. Pegge, in his ironical defence of kmw'd for
 
 4 7S 
 
 knew, mentions the following sin/^ular instances of irregu" 
 lar pivlorit's of vei-bs ending in ew or ow : »' The modern 
 past tense, Ikncrv, seems to have been imported from the 
 North of England, where the expressions arc — < I sew, 
 (instead of 1 so7v\l) my corn :' — < 1 mew (that is, I tiiowW) 
 my hay :' — and, ' it s«fw,' for it snow'd. To the first and 
 second of these words I have been an ear witness ; and as 
 to the last, the writer of t!ie Fragment at the end of 
 Sprott's Chronicle (who probably was a Yorkshireman) 
 speaking of the battle of Towton, says — 'and all the seasou 
 it snew.^ Dr. Wallis, a Kentish man, who lived in the last 
 century, admits knew to be an imperfect preterite, together 
 with sne7V and many others." Anecdotes of the Eng» 
 Lang. p. 107. 
 SuoTE. A young hog. JKTew England ; and some of the 
 Southern States. 
 
 This is a provincial word in England. Ray in his 
 South and East Conntrij Words, under the word Sheat says, 
 *' A Sheat, a young hog : Suffolk. In Essex they call it a 
 Shote ; both from Shoot.^* We sometimes hear it applied 
 in America to man, in this expression — He is a poor 
 shote f i. e. a sorry fellow. 
 Sir. 
 
 The words Sir and Ma^am are used in some parts of 
 New England for Father and Mother, and for Master and 
 Mistress. But they are not so common now as they were 
 some ye?rs ago. At our colleges also, the Bachelors of 
 Ai-ts have the appellation of Sir, as they have in the En- 
 glish Universities. 
 Sirs (p/. of Sir.) One or two attempts have lately been made 
 in this country to revive this antic^uated plural 5 but they 
 have been unsuccessful.
 
 173 
 
 To Slam ; used in this expression : To slam to a door ; that 
 is, to shut it with violence. 
 
 The common use of this low word is sometimes noticed 
 hy Englishmen, who visit this country. It is not, how- 
 ever, peculiar to America ; but in England, (according 
 to Grose J it is a iir&vincialism. I do not find this use of 
 it in any of the dictionaries, except Asli's, Barclmfs, 
 Perry^Sf and Entick*s. Ash, however, in his Supplement, 
 does not note it as local, or provincial, hut only as " a 
 colloquial word." Mr. Webster adopts Entick's expla- 
 nation of it. English writers sometimes put it into the 
 mouths of low characters in plays and novels. 
 
 Slang-whanger. 
 
 The Monthly Reviewers, in their account of tlic Eng- 
 lish edition of the well known American work, called 
 Salmagundi, have the following remarks on this term : 
 « When, for instance, he [the editor] tells us that * Caucus* 
 (an assembly) is the omlyAmeiican word that he has found 
 in these volumes, he evidently forgets the favourite com- 
 pound terra * slang-whanger* (a newspaper-writer J, whicli 
 occurs in almost every page ; and indeed many more vul- 
 garisms, or at best provincialisms, wliich we forbear to 
 mention, but hope we may not see repeated in similar 
 compositions," kc. Month. Rev. vol. Ixv. p. 429. 
 
 This word, which is of very recent origin in America, 
 does not denote merely a " writer ,•" It means also a 
 noisy talker, who makes use of that sort of political or 
 other cant, which amuses the rabble, and is railed hy tho 
 vidgar name of slang. It is hardly necessary to add, that 
 this term (as well as slang- whanging J is never admitted 
 into the higher kinds of writing ; but, like other cant words, 
 is confined to that familiar style, which is allowed only in 
 
 works of humour.
 
 174 
 
 To Slat. I'o tlirnw dnwii witli violence, to dash against. 
 Ex. *• He .s7/// tlu> book down npon the floor." A low 
 'Word; used only in conversation. 
 
 It is an English provindahsnh and is not in the dic- 
 tionaries. Ray has it among his J\''orth Country Words 
 t!ius : " To slat on, to Uck on, (pour on) to cast on, or 
 dash against. Vox eveuMTOT." Mason adopts it from 
 Hay, and adds an authority : « To slat, r. a. to dash. 
 Slatted his brains out, then soused him in the briny sea. 
 Mars'on^s Malcon." Those persons, who use it here, do 
 iK)t njakc the preterite slatkd, but slat. It is not in Mr. 
 jrebster*s dictionary. 
 Sled. Sec Sleigh. 
 Sleigh. A carriage for travelling on snow. 
 
 Mr. Kendal, after mentioning this word in his Trav- 
 els (vol. iii. p. 119) has this note upon it : "A local name 
 for sledge, learned of the Dutch colonists." Mr. Web- 
 ster writes it Sley ; and a reviewer of his dictionary has 
 the following remark on it : " Sley, being a vehicle in 
 common use wit!) us, and unknown in England, has a 
 claim, wc confess, to a jdace in an Englisli dictionary ; 
 but we insert it here to remark, that we have commonly, 
 we believe always, seen it spelled sleigh." Month. Anthol. 
 vol. V. p. 429. In New England, as a friend observes, 
 sleigh is a word applied to light carriages used in winter; 
 and sled to carriages used at that season for heavy arti- 
 cles. " /9fe(/^e (lie adds) is the wi)rd-used by the En- 
 glish in both cases." A. 
 Slice. A large kind of kitchen fire-shovel. JK'ew England. 
 A friend has refi>rred me to the Gentleman'' s Maga- 
 zine, vol. Ixiii. p. 108i, where this is said to be used in 
 Bristol, in England. It is also mentioned by Mr. Pegge: 
 << Slice, a fire-!?liovel. Bristol, So'*an Egg-slice." Snp- 
 plem. to Grose.
 
 175 
 
 Slim. Ordinary, mean. Ji low word. 
 
 Ray has slim, among his J\''orth Country TForda ; but 
 says, that ♦• its a word generally used [in Lincolnsliirc] 
 in the same sense witli sly:* Johnson says, that even in 
 its usual sense (i.e, slender J it is ** a cant word, as it 
 seems, and tlierof ;re, not to be used.'* But Mismi is of 
 opinion th?t *' Addison's using it may be deemed a suffi- 
 cient reply to the supposition of its being cant:' This, 
 however, (it need hardly be remarked) would depend upon 
 the circumstances, under which it was used by Addison. 
 
 SiosH or Slush. CTheJirst orthography is conjormable to 
 the pronunciation J. Jl low word. 
 
 This term, and its derivitive sloshy, (or slushy J are 
 often used by the people of New England, in speaking of 
 the state of the roads, when they are covered witii snow 
 and a thaw takes place. It is very com.mon to hear peo- 
 ple say — The roads are sloshy ; it is very sloshy going, &c. 
 None of the Ersglish dictionaries have this word ', but all 
 of them, I believe, except Bailey's, have the term Sludge, 
 and define it as Dr. Johnson does—" Mire, dirt mixed 
 with water." Grose has sludge in the same scMise, as a 
 provincial term, peculiar to the JVor^A of England. (Trov. 
 Gloss. J Marshall also has sludge among his provincial- 
 isms of tlie Midland Counties ; sluss, among those <»f .S'or- 
 folk, and slush among tliosc of Yorkshire; and he d«-fin(\s 
 them all nearly in the same words. Mr. ffehster has 
 sludge, but not slush or slosh. « In some jmrts of New Eng- 
 land (says a friend) the word pawsh is used for ivct snoxv ; 
 not only by land, but wlien the sn-jw is lloating on the 
 surface of the water." I never heard this term used. 
 
 Sloshy or Slushy. See Slosh. 
 
 To Slump. " To sink or fall into water or mud, throiigli 
 ice or other hard surfiif:e. M'no EngUimL" irrhl. DirJ. 
 A colloquial word.
 
 176 
 
 <« This word (says a reviewer of Mr. Webster's dic- 
 tioiiafv) is certainly unworthy of a place in such a work." 
 .I/oh////// Jinihol vol. vii. p. 264'. It is an Eni^lisli yro- 
 vivcialism : " To slump ; to slip or fall -plum down in any 
 wet or dirty place." Ray's A'orth Country Words. This 
 auther has it also, with the same explanation, among his 
 South and East Country Words ; wliere he obsei-vi's, that 
 *' it seems to be a word made per onmnatopctian from the 
 sound." 6rro.se copies Ray, but considers the word s/itTnp 
 as poculior to the Miih Country, and says, that *< in the 
 SoutJu flump is used in that sense." Prov, Gloss. The 
 word slump is in Bailey's dictionary (whore it is marked 
 as a JVorth Country word;, but it is omitted by Johnson 
 and the other modern lexicographers, except Ash, who 
 has it with this remark, that it is " a local word." It is 
 mentioned in a late English work among Specimens of 
 the Essex dialect : " Slump — ^to slip or fall into the dirt." 
 Month. Mag. for July 1814, p. 498. 
 
 Slush. See Slosh. 
 
 Social. 
 
 " In Franklin Place, apartments are occupied by the 
 Boston Social Library," &c. By social is here intended 
 society ; for by a perversion of language the Society-libra- 
 ries, of which some account has been given in a former 
 chapter, are so called." Kendal's Travels, 
 
 Society. 
 
 Mr. Kendal has the following remarks upon the us* 
 of this word in the State of Connecticut : « I have used 
 the words society and church [See Member of the ChurchJ 
 in senses new to most Englis'i readers.. .x\ society is a com- 
 munity or corporation established, for the most part, for 
 the twofold object of religious worsliip and common school- 
 ing ; but in some instances, for religious worsliip only 
 ..... Sometimes a town composes one society, sometimes
 
 177 
 
 it includes two or more So far the arrangements sup- 
 pose iiniformity of religious opinions ; but if these jar, then 
 the society f as to church arrangementSf has no reference to 
 territorial subdivision. Two or three societies may subsist 
 in t!ie same town ; and while one neighbour belongs to one, 
 the next may belong to a second. In like manner a so- 
 ciety may be composed of portions of the inhabitants of 
 two, three, or four towns, who, severally disagi-ceing w ith 
 their immediate neighbours, unite themselves with each 
 others but, however societies may be constituted, as to 
 matters of religious worship, the second object, that of cojii- 
 mon schooling, is always of a local nature ; and towns, 
 therefore, uniformly consist of one or more societies con- 
 sidered as distinct." Kendal's Trav. vol. i. p. 106. 
 
 In most parts of New England, however, the term society 
 is not applied to those communities or districts, which 
 are established for the purpose of maintaining schools; 
 they are commonly called school-districts. 
 
 To Solemnize. To make solemn, or serious. 
 
 This is frequently heard from our pulpits. It is not 
 explained in this sense in the English dictionaries, but 
 is sometimes to be found in English authors. An oblig- 
 ing friend has given me the following example : « It seems 
 to have a good effect in solemnizing tlie mind.s of the hear- 
 ers." Letter of Lindsey, quoted in Belsham's Life oj that 
 Writer, p. 113, not. 
 
 SoiiiTART. Rare. 
 
 A learned correspondent observes, that solitary in 
 this sense is « used by one very respectanie American 
 writer, in expressions of tills kind : «' A solitary event." 
 
 Some. Somewhat, something. Ex. He is some better tlr.n 
 he was; it rains some; it snows some, &c. Used < hi.lly 
 by the illiterate. Mw England. 
 
 This is not so much used in t!ie sen-ports, as in <hc country
 
 178 
 
 ^o\\l\^^,^)[\\'nv England. It in Aho a. Scutlicism : ** Some 
 is very ol'tcn used in the JVorth for somewhat or some- 
 thing ; as, lie is some better." Monthly Mag. for May 
 ISOO, p. o'Zo. 
 
 Spake. (Preterite of speak). 
 
 Tliis antiquated woid is sometimes lieard from the 
 pulpit ; and 1 have in one or two instances heard it in con- 
 versation : hut it is always remarked upon as a singularity. 
 This, and the old preterites sang^ sprang, forgat, &c. (as 
 ISIr. Webster justly observes) " are entirely obsolete in 
 ordinary practice, ^>llether popular or polite ,• and it seems 
 advisable not to attempt to revive them. In addition to 
 tliis reason for omitting tlicm (he adds) there is one, which 
 is not generally understood. The sound of a in these and 
 all other like cases was originally the broad a or aw ; 
 -which sound in tlie Gothic and Saxon, as in modern Scotch, 
 corresponded nearly with o in spoke, swore. Spoke is 
 therefore nearer to the original than spake, as we now 
 pronounce the vowel a with its first or long sound, as in 
 sake.'* Fhilosoph. and Practical Grammar, p. 117. not. 
 
 Span. A pair. Used in this expression : A sjmn of horses. 
 JSlew England. 
 
 I do not find tliis use of the word in any of the En- 
 glish dictionaries, nor in Raifs or Grose's Glossaries. The 
 Germans say, a span or Gespann ochsen oder p^erde ; s. 
 team (not exclusively one pair) of oxen or horses. From 
 span we have, in some parts of New England, the terra 
 s;xni-shacklc (or draft-iron J of a cart or plougli. 
 
 Spell. 
 
 " A spell of sickness, a long spell, a bad spell. Per- 
 haps this word is borrowed from the sea dialect." ffltk^ 
 ersp. iJruid, Xo. 6 ; where the author is speaking of the 
 « Vulgarisms of Jmerica." 
 
 SriLF.. " A peg or pin to stop a hole in a cask." TFehst. Diet,
 
 179 
 
 An English friend observes, that this word " is used licre 
 for a spigot ; and, a ulgarly for a pile." B. Tiic diction- 
 aries liavc not spile but spill ; and under the latter word, 
 Dr. Johnson gives this example : « Have near the bung- 
 hole a little vent-hole, stopped with a spill, Mortimer."* 
 Speigh or Spry. *•' Nimble, brisk, quick in action." Wehsi. 
 Bid. (Mr. Wehster adopts the latter ortliograpluj.J Aleio 
 England. 
 
 This word is very common in conversation. A reviewer 
 of Mr. "Webster's dictionary observes, that it *< is a word 
 which has neither use nor dignity." Month. Jnthol. vol. 
 vli. p. 26*. 
 
 I do not find it in any of the Englisli dictionaries ; but a 
 friend informs me, that it is used " by the common peo])k"; 
 in Somersetshire" in England; and Grose has a word whic h 
 possibly is the same, tbougli with a different orthogra- 
 ])hy : " Sproil ; lively, active. Jrest [of England]." Frov. 
 Gloss. Under this word he retVrs to tlie \\uyi\ Stroilf 
 which, he says, in the Exmore dialect, means " strength 
 and agility." 
 
 SPRINCiT. 
 
 An English friend remarks, that this word i^ »♦ niuch 
 used here by tlie vulgar for active or o^i'e : He is a 
 springy man." B. It is in t!»e dictionaries in the sense of 
 clastic. 
 
 Spunk. 
 
 This is frequently used here, by tlie vulgai-, to denote 
 spirit or courage ; and the same class of jicoplf use it in 
 Englatid ; but probably it is not so common there as Immv. 
 Walker says, it is " used in Scotland for animation, quick 
 sensibility." 
 
 To Squ4LE. To throw a stick, or other tiling, witli viobnre 
 and in such a manner, that it skims ahnig near the 
 ground. ./Yew England.
 
 180 
 
 It is provincial in England : " To sqiiale ; to throw a 
 sti(k, as at a rock. West [of England]." Grose's Frov, 
 libss. In the If est country (Grose observes) it is also 
 pronounced scale ; and in Norfolk cail. 
 To SquAT. To squeeze or press. Ex» The boy has squat 
 his finger. Used by the vulgar in JS'ew England. This 
 is an Englisl) provincial word : " To squat ; to bruise or 
 make flat by letting iall. South." Grose's Prov, Gloss. 
 The dictionaries have to squash, in the same sense. 
 
 SqUATTERS. 
 
 A cant name in New England for those people, who 
 enter upon new lands and cultivate them without permis- 
 sion of the owners. « The large proprietor upon vis- 
 iting his lands, finds his timber cut down and sold, and 
 crops growing, houses built, and possession taken by a 
 race of men (the settlers and lumberers) who, in this view, 
 are called squatters." Kendal's Trav. vol. iii. p. 160. 
 SquAw. An Indian w oman. 
 
 <' The men make the poor squaws, their wives, do all 
 the drudgery for them." John Bunion's Journal ; in the 
 Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. ii. 
 p. 114, JVew series. *' Squaws; woman : Squaws-suck ; 
 women." Roger Williams' Key into the Language of the In- 
 dians of JVew England ; published in the Collect. Mass, 
 Hist. Society, vol. iii. p. 203. 
 To SquiGGLE. To move about like an eel. 
 
 Used in some parts of JYew England; but only in 
 very familiar conversation. It is often used fgurutively 
 in speaking of a man, who evades a bargain, as an eel 
 eludes the grasp. I do not find this word in any of the 
 dictionaries, or glossaries. 
 To SquiRM. To move about like an eel. JSTew England. 
 
 This is an English provincial word : " To move very 
 nimbly about, after the manner of an eel. It is spoken 
 of an eel." Ray's South and East Country Words ; and
 
 181 
 
 Grose's Prov. Gloss. It is in none of the dictionaries ex- 
 cept Bailey's (^octavo edition) and Jsh's ; in tlie latter of 
 wliicli it is erroneously printed squirn. It is never used 
 here except in the most familiar conversation. 
 
 Stage. A stage-coach. Ex. I rode in the stage ; tlie stage 
 is gone, &c. 
 
 In England they never use the word stage by itself, 
 but say, either the coachf or the stage-coach. We say, the 
 mail-s^fl^e ; the English say, the niail-coac/i. The ex- 
 pression is analogous to post-cooc/t, post-c/mfse, kc. 
 
 Staging. Scaffolding. Used in JN^^w England ; and, I be- 
 lieve, in other parts of the United States. 
 
 Stalks. See Corn-stalks. 
 
 To Starve. " To perish or kill with hunger; (with cold ; 
 Enghmd.y Webst. Diet. " This [' with cohl'] applies to 
 conversation only." Month. Jinthol. vol. vil. p. 262. 
 
 Steal (pron. stall). The handle of various implements ; as. 
 a rake-steal, a fork steal, kc. Used by the farmers in 
 some parts of New England. It is a provincial word in 
 England : " The steal of any thing, i. e. manubrium. 
 The handle, or pediculns, the foot-stalk : a Belg. steel, 
 stele : Tent, stiel, petiolus." Ray*s Smith and East Coun- 
 try Words. This term is also mentioned by Mr. Pegge : 
 " Stale, a handle. JVorth. Pronounced Stele." Supplcm. 
 to Grose. 
 
 Stimulus. 
 
 Some persons in this country have doubted whether 
 this word (which is in common use here) is an aulhoriz^-d 
 English word. It is not in tlie dictionaries; l)ut it is 
 constantly used by tlie English reviewers and other 
 writers. See Brit. Crit. vol. ii. p. 362. vol. iii. p. .'jIS. 
 vol. iv. p. 653, &c. 
 
 Stived. (Commonly used with np.J A\-w England. A 
 low word.
 
 183 
 
 '4 'I lis is an Finii;lisli provincialism: ** Siived, a] moni 
 suftorutod. Slived-up, coiifined in a hot place. Mrth,"* 
 Feggc\<i Supplcm. to Grose, 
 
 Stock. Cattle in .^oncral. Used commonly in speaking 
 of the cattle belongins^ to a farm. It is provincial in 
 England : " Stock, cattle in general. J\"brthJ^ Fegge^s 
 Snpplem. to Grose. 
 
 Stockholder. A proprietor, in a Bank or other incorpo- 
 lated Company. 
 
 The terms proprietor and member are sometimes used 
 here ; but stockholder is the most common. In England, 
 \v!ien sp( iiking of the East India Company, they uniform- 
 ly say proprietors or members ; and the same words are 
 also used in most other cases. Sometimes, however, the 
 term s/mre-holdevs is used. The word stock-holder is not 
 in the dictionaries ; nor do I recollect meeting witli it in 
 any British publication, except in the following instance ; 
 where it is used to signify the holders of the public stock 
 or funds : " The stock-holders, who allow inferior capi- 
 talists to derive a profit from commission, will diminish 
 that allowance." Edinb. Rev. vol. iii. p. 475. 
 
 Store. A shop. 
 
 " Here are several shops and warehouses, called stores, 
 for the sale of foreign goods," &c. Kend. Trav. vol. i. p. 
 128. " A druggist's shop is sometimes called an apothe- 
 caries STORE." vol. iii. p. 128. This word is used in 
 the same manner in the British province of Canada ; 
 and (as a friend informs me) in the British West-Indies, 
 See also Book-store. 
 
 Stricken*. 
 
 This antirpiated participle is much used in Congress 
 and our other legislative assemblies. A member moves, 
 that certain parts of a bill should be stricken out, &c. 
 It has long been considered as an obsolete word in Eng'
 
 183 
 
 land* Dr. Johnson many years ago called it " the aiicietil 
 participle of strike." But some individuals in that coun- 
 try, as well as in this, occasionally use it. The latest 
 instance I have seen is the following, from a London 
 newspaper : « Many of the foreigners were much stricken 
 with the splendour of the scene." TJw Statesman of June 
 10, 1814 ; in the account of the " Court at Carlton House." 
 Our own critics have all condemned tlie use of it ; and 1 
 do not recollect meeting with it in our best writers. 
 
 I have, in one or two instances, known the still more 
 antiquated participle strucken to be used by individuals in 
 this country ,• but it was always noticed as a singularity 
 in those persons. I have, however, met witli one in- 
 stance of it in a modern English w ork : " Some coins 
 had actually been strucken of this denomination," kc. 
 JWisIi's HudibraSf vol. iii. f JVofesJ p. 35= Notwithstand- 
 ing the fondness, whicli some persons have discovrred 
 for the ancient participles of the verb to strike, yet none 
 have ventured to revive its old pretente stkake, which 
 is used in the New Testament : " And fearing lest they 
 shculd fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were 
 driven." Jlcfs, xxvii. 17. 
 
 The judicious remarks of Dr. Campbell on the sul)ject 
 of reviving obsolete expressions, are deserving of our at- 
 tention. After observing, that it is not by ancient but 
 by 2)resent use, that our style must be regulated, he lias 
 the following (among other) remarks : — »* liut if j)n'sent 
 use is to be renounced for ancient, it will be neressar\ to 
 determine at what precise period anti(|uity is to be re- 
 garded as a rule. One inclines to reui<>v(> (lie standaid 
 to the distance of a century and a half; aiKtthcr may, 
 witli as good reason, 11 x it tlirce rentiirics backwards, 
 and another six. And if the lan^iKige (if any of fhrsi-
 
 184 
 
 periods is to be judged by the use of any other, it will be 
 found, no doubt, entirely barbarous. To me it is so 
 evident, eitlier that the present use must be the standard 
 of the present language, or that the language admits no 
 standard whatsoever, that I cannot conceive a clearer or 
 more indisputable principle, from wliich to brijig an ar- 
 gument to support it." Philos. ofRhet. B. ii. ch. l,sect. 3. 
 (P. 19k Boston edit. J 
 
 SuABtLiTT. " Liability to be sued." WebsL Did. 
 
 Several years ago, when the question, whether a state 
 could be sued, was under discussion, this word was much 
 used. It is now rarely heard. 
 
 SuANT. Even, regular. Ex. The grain is sown suant. 
 Used in some parts of New England. 
 
 This is an English provincialism. Marshall has it 
 among his Provincialisms of the West of England thus : 
 « Sonant ; fair, even, regular. (A hackneyed word)." 
 Grose also has it, with only the change of s into «, which 
 is common in that part of England : ** Zuant; regular 
 sowed. The wheat must be zown zuant." Prov. Gloss. 
 
 Subscriber. 
 
 " Letters signed by princes are a very uncertain 
 test of the talents of (what by a very convenient American 
 innovation is called) the subscriber." Edinb. Rev, No. xli. 
 p. 188. 
 
 To Subserve. 
 
 Tliis is sometimes used by English writers, but is not 
 considered as an authorized word. It is in common use 
 in this country, particularly with our divines. The Eng- 
 lish say to be subservient to, or to serve ; as in the follow- 
 ing example : " We are of opinion, that it may serve the 
 interests of society." Brit. Crit. vol. iii. p. 577. 
 
 Superior. See remarks on Inferior.
 
 185 
 
 Succotash. « A mixture of new soft maiz* and biaus 
 boiled." JFehst. Did. An Indian word. 
 
 7b Swale or S weal. To waste or blaze away T.S(d lure 
 ill this expression only : The candle sweiUs. 
 
 Ray and Grose mention this as provuiclal in England : 
 « Sweal : singe. To sweal a hog. A swealM cat ; a cat 
 whose hair or fur is singed olf by sleeping in the aslies. 
 Sweal is sometimes applied to a candle that droiisrs <\v 
 melts; called in Middlesex ^arein^." Grose's Vrox. Glass. 
 
 To Swap. See To Swop. 
 
 Sweep, n. The same thing which in Yorkshire, in England, 
 is called a swa/?e ; that is, " a long pole turning oii a 
 fulcrum, used in raising water out of a well." .MarsliaH's 
 Trovincialisnis of Yorkshire. It is liarilly necessary to ol)- 
 serve, that it is used only in our country towns. 
 
 To Swop or Swap. " To exchange, or, as they term it, to 
 swap, are the pursuits in which they wish to l)e constant- 
 ly engaged." Kend, Trav. vol. iii. p. 87. A low word, 
 in America. 
 
 This word has been often noticed by Englisli travellers 
 in this country, and may, perhaps, be more conitnoii 
 here than in England; but it is als(» us-^d by the vulgar 
 in that country. Dr. Johnson and the other lexic(»graph- 
 ers call it a low word, but do n(»t speak of it as prnvin- 
 cial. Home Tooke also nipnti(»ns it without any remark 
 of that kind, and gives the following otymcdogy of it : 
 « The Anglo-Saxon verb is swipan, in modern P^nglisb to 
 sweep. Sxvoop and swop are (as we have already seen 
 in so many other instances) its regular past parti( iplr, 
 by the change of the characteristic I to O." Me tl.en 
 adds—" A swop between two persons, is where, by tbc 
 consent of the parties, without any delay, anv re<knning 
 
 * ?Mr. Webster's orthography of .Ifi-//:/-. 
 2^-
 
 186 
 
 or countin.2^, or other adjustment of proportion, something 
 is ncej't (iflT at once by each of them." Dirersions of Pur- 
 leif. Part 2. ]). 217 — 18 Amer. Edit. This word is also 
 much used in Ireland : " He makes me an offer to swop 
 his marey Edgewortli's Castle Rack Rent. The noun 
 Swop is also often used by the same class of speakers 
 that would employ the verh. A friend has pointed out 
 to me the following example of its use in Jddison^s day ; 
 It is taken from a letter in the Spectator. " These had 
 made a foolis!) swop between a couple of thick bandy legs 
 and two long trapsticks that had no calfs to them." Sped, 
 No. 559. 
 To Systemize. 
 
 An English friend has reminded me of this corruption 
 of the verb to Systematize ; which, as he observes, is 
 *< a common error in some parts of this country." ^. 
 To Tackle. To harness. J\''ew England. 
 
 I never heard this word used in England, and it is 
 not in Johnson^s dictionary, as a rer6, in any sense. Ash 
 calls it " a local word, from the substantive Tackle, and 
 defines it — " To accoutre ; to put the saddle and bi'idle 
 on a horse." Entick also has it with tliis definition : 
 " To saddle, accoutre, fit out, prepare." In England how- 
 ever (as a friend observes) to harness " is universally 
 used, where in New England, they say to tackle.** J. 
 To Tarry. To stay, to stop. JVfw England. 
 
 This verb is entirely obsolete in England ; and it 
 s;»unds as strangely to the ear of an Englishman, as / 
 wist not^ I wot not, and a thousand other antiquated ex- 
 pressions would to us. An English friend remarks, that 
 ** if it were not used in our translation of the Bible, it 
 would be in a manner out of recollection among the Eng- 
 lish." A.
 
 187 
 Taverv. 
 
 " By the word tavern in America is meant an inn, oi 
 public house of any description." Jinnual Rev. \\,\. i. p. 
 106, note. This word is also noticed in KendaCs Travels, 
 vol. i. p. 122 ; and the exprcssi'm to keep tavern, in the 
 same work, vol. ii. p. 148. In Great Brituin (as an 
 obliging English friend observes) « a tavern is a mere 
 eating house ,• an inn is a house with accommodalions 
 for man and horse." B. Tiie word tavern is used in the 
 British Province of Canada just as it is in the U. Stat s. 
 See Lambert's Travels. A friend informs me, tbat •' it is al- 
 so used in the same manner in the British Jf'est Indies." .1. 
 Tedium. « Irksome ness, wearisomeness." Bailey, fol. edit. 
 
 An American reviewer of Bancroft'.^ Life of frasliim;- 
 ton (where this word is used) observes, that " tedium is 
 not English." Monthhj Anthol. vol. iv. p. C^Gh. The oidy 
 English dictionary, in which 1 have found it, is the folio 
 edition o^Baileifs; the octavo edition of that work (of the 
 year 1761) omits it. It is not in Mr. Webster's diction- 
 ary ; and it is extremely rare in the writings of American'^. 
 I never met with it except in the instance above alhiili-d 
 to by the reviewer. 
 Temper. 
 
 This word (as an English friend jusfly ohsei-vcs) when 
 standhig alone, has often a bad sense aflixed to it in .V* vr 
 England. Thus, < the book shews temper* means ' f le book 
 manifests warmth of temper.* Jl. In JCw:;land it is invari- 
 ably used in its original sense of coolness or moderation : 
 " The loyal associations, conducted as they hav.- Ixcri w itii 
 ie7n77cr, judgment and a strict attention to tlie laws." \r. 
 Brit. Crit. vol. i. p. 4 it. " /rr/.s/j/n'^'/o/i conducted binisi II 
 with great coolness and temper under ;dl the irritating 
 circumstances of citizen Genet's (oiKhid." •'////'. Ilev. v<d. 
 vii. p. 339. " As long as we urg- our own opinions with
 
 188 
 
 temper,'" kc. ({unrt. Rev. vol. xii. p. 282. The derivatives 
 temperate, intemperate, Kc. arc used by us as they are by 
 the Ki:glish. 
 
 To Tssr. " To compare with a standard, try, prove." 
 Tfeb.it.IJict. 
 
 This verb is now in general use with American wri- 
 ters. " An occasion presented itself for testing the firmness 
 of the resolution he had deliberately taken," &c. Marsh. 
 Life of Wa<ih. vol. v. p. 400. [p. 469. Lond. 8ro. eilit.'] 
 " Let us testi\\'\H dogma by plain fact." First Ripe Fruits, 
 ^c. bij the Rev. John Mason, JVew York. " In order to 
 test tlip correctness of this Fr ^nch system of sermonizing," 
 &c. Jdams* Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratorij, vol. i. p. 
 334. The use of test as a verb is condemned by the Eng- 
 lish reviewers. The Jnnual Review vol. vii. p. 241) 
 mcntioiis, among the instances of " incorrect language" 
 in Marshall's Life of Washington, the use of <• testing for 
 putting to the tad,'* in the example above quoted from 
 that work. The Christian Observer (vol ii. p. 664) in the 
 review of Dr. Mason's First Ripe Fruits, gives the ex- 
 pression above qu(;ted from it, as one instance of the 
 << occasional rnlgarisms, posribly Anglo- Americanisms," of 
 that work. Some of our own writers have also expres- 
 eed the strongest disapprobation of the use of this verb ; 
 *' Test is a verb only in writers of an inferior rank, who 
 disregard all the land-marks of language." Monthly An- 
 ihol. vol. vii. p. 264. 
 
 Tidy. Neat, cleanly. JSTexv England. 
 
 This coll'iquial word is in all the dictionaries ; but 
 in tlie Gentleman's Magazine (vol. Ixiii. p. 1084) it is 
 classed anir)ng the local words of the Tfest of England, 
 It is also ranked amor.g English provincialisms by Mr. 
 Pegge, in his Supplement to Grose. An Englisli friend, 
 however, says, " it is used in Old England, in those cases
 
 189 
 
 in which it is employed in Xew En.2;lan(l." A. 
 
 To AND AGAIN. Biickvvards and forwards. 
 
 A low expression, used by the illiti rate in New fin- 
 gland. It is an English jjrorindalwn : '* To and again ; 
 backwards and forwards. York and Derb." i'eggc's 
 Supplem, to Grose, 
 
 To for At. 
 
 "I have been to Philadelpliia, for at or in Pliiladel- 
 phia ; I have been to dinner, for 1 have dined." If'ith- 
 ersp. Dndd, No. 6. Expressions like the folhtwiiig 
 (vvhicli have been noted by an obliging English fii ml) 
 are very common with the illiterate : »* He livi-s fo \'<\ k ; 
 he is to his store. 1 have even heard, He isn*! to homi." 
 B. Dr. Witherspoon classes this use of fo among his 
 " Vulgarisms in JmericaJ' The f >llo\viiig instance is 
 from an *3mencan edition of Robert so n^s C'narKs >' : •• Ilr 
 put himself io the head of the men at arms," ^.c. Hook iii. 
 A. D. 152i (vol. ii. p. 175, Philadelphia edition of 1801.) 
 The English quarto edition, p. 203, has — He put himself 
 at the head, &c. A writer in the Gciitleviau's Mr^dzinc 
 saj's, to IS used for at, " all oxcv Devon in Enghind." vol. 
 Ixiii. p. 1084. 
 
 To Tote. To carry, convey, remove, kc. (Virginia ^r.)" 
 Webst. Did. 
 
 A r 'Viewer of Mr. Webster's dictionary savs — "I'otr 
 is marked by Mr. Webster, Virg. {^Virginia J but we 
 brlieve it a native vulgarism of .MfissarhusiHs." Moulh- 
 lij JnthoL vol. vii. p. 26i. Dr. irUhcrspmn. howcv.r, 
 many years ago noted it as a word pcridiar to '• soin- of 
 the Southern States." See his Druid, No. 7. It is a nr re 
 vule-arism, and is mucli more usi-d in the b'oitllirru fliaii 
 in the JVorthern States. 
 
 Town. " A collerticm of houses, a distrid r,f mlj-iii liinitu, 
 tne inhabitants or the legal voters of a tow n." h chst. JUd.
 
 190 
 
 « Jl collection of houses joining, or nearly joining each 
 otlin; is I he first requisite in the definition of a town^ 
 thoiii^h the word betaken in the loosest sense that is ad- 
 missible in Europe. In JSTcw FMgland, however, a toxcn 
 is XQvy commonly described as containing two or three 
 villages ; and these are frequently separated from each 
 otiier by two or three lakes, and two or three tracts of 
 
 forest A fown, then, in Connecticut and the other 
 
 parts of New Ens;land, is first, a district or geographic- 
 al subdivision, in which sense is the phrase * Inhabitants 
 
 of towns;' secondly, it is a body corporate In truth, 
 
 the society^ town and county in these countries, are new 
 modifications of the parish, hundred and shire, in which 
 the powers and immunities are differently distributed.*' 
 KcndaVs Trav. vol. i. pp. 12, 85, 113. 
 
 The word town, in the sense of a district, is used in 
 Ireland : " The word town in Ireland does not mean as it 
 docs here [in EngUmd] houses inhabited, but is merely a 
 technical description of a particular district, and is noto- 
 rious there." See the case of Massey vs. Rice ; Cowper^s 
 Reports, 318. 
 Township. " The territory or land of a town." Webst, Diet, 
 
 This word is seldom used now in England, I believe, 
 except to signify " tlie corporation of a town," wliich is 
 Johnson's first sense of it. His secojid signification, how- 
 ever, is — " the district belonging to a town ;" and his 
 authority is Sir Walter Raleigh. The following instance 
 is from a modern English author : " The common field 
 townships were divided into a certain number of livings, 
 i. e. tenements or farms." Marshall's Rural Econ. of Mid- 
 land Counties; word Living. 
 Trade. Doctor's trade ; that is, drugs or medicines. Used 
 by the vulgar in .A'ew England. In the county of JS^or-
 
 191 
 
 folk in England, they have the name of Doctor's geer. See 
 Grose's Prov. Gloss. 
 
 Transient. In this expression—" He is a transient 
 person;" that is, one who has not a fixed residence 
 in a town. It is noticed by th^ English nvicwn-s (in 
 their account of StoddariVs Sketches of Lonisianu) by being 
 put in Italics in the following quotation from tliat work : 
 " The accounts of Indian traders and other transient pcr- 
 s«ms," &c. See the Eclectic Rev. for M^. ISIS, p. 11<1. 
 
 Tricky. Trickislu Jlowivord. Ex. Ho is a /nVA;/ fcljuw. 
 
 Turnpike. " A toll-gate set on a road ; a road on -u-ltich 
 a turnpike is erected.''* JVebst. Diet. 
 
 This word (says an English friend) is always used 
 in America ** to signify the road. It is unf|uc.stionab]y 
 the gate^ and in England they always say, the turnjiike 
 road, and by turnpike alone they mean the gate.'* B. " 'I'hr 
 turnpike roads of England are placed under tlie manage- 
 ment and direction of certain bodies of trustees," Jcr. 
 Hawkins* Pleas of the Crorwn, hy I^ach^ IJ. I. cb. rn. 
 ** The passage of carriages or horses tbrougb a?iy hinijhhr, 
 toll-gate, or bar, at wbich any toll is ((tllec te(l,"\c. Slut. 
 35. Geo. 3. c. 57, cited in the same chapter of that vork. 
 
 Ugly. lU-tomjjen'd, bad. fJVeiv Englnud.) Ex. He is wu 
 ugly fellow ,• that is, of a bad disposition, \\i( ked. Tli»« 
 compound ugly -tempered is sometimes used. 'Iliey nir 
 both heard only among tlie illiterate. 
 
 Unpeeling, n. Want of feeling. Tbis word isjusflyrrn- 
 sured in the Monthly Mlho'o!j;y, vol. iv. p. -^sl. I n«Y<r 
 saw it in any other instance tiian tlie (tix- Ihi re relVrred 
 
 to. 
 Unlocated. See To Locate; second Kignificalion. 
 
 To Variate. 
 
 A friend has reminded mo, tb;it tliis is u r.ivoiiiiir 
 word with a fow of our < lergymen. in llie following rx-
 
 i02 
 
 pivssion, wliir'i is much us'd in their prayers : ** Vari- 
 air of thy nirrcios according to our circimistances and 
 wants." It is hardly necessary to rcmaik, that this verb 
 is not in any of the dictionaries. 
 
 Vendue. Auction. J\'ew England. 
 
 This word was foimeily more common than auction. 
 It is now chiefly used in legal proceedings, in conformity 
 witJi the pljrascology of ancient statutes of the difFs rent 
 States. It is neither in Mr. ffebster^s^ nor the English 
 dictionaries ; but it has been added to some of the Amer- 
 ican editi<ms of Johnson and Walker. << It is used (says 
 a friend) in the British West Indies; whose similar rir- 
 cumstanccs or similar personages, have often produced a 
 correspondence with the phrases of the United States." A. 
 
 To Wage. " To lay a wager ; to bet." Tfebst. Did. 
 
 The English use the verb to bet. Dr. Johnson indeed 
 says, that the verb to xvage " is now only used in the 
 phrase to wage war ; and does not give it in the sense 
 of latjing a wager ; but has only the verb to wager. Bai- 
 ley, however, and Entick, and some others have to wage 
 in this sense. An English friend observes, that if an 
 Englishman were to use a verb of tl»is derivation, " he 
 would say, to wager.** J. 
 
 Wap. See Whop. 
 
 "Went /or Gone. 
 
 This inaccuracy is sometimes heard in conversation; 
 but the use of it is confined to those people who are whol- 
 ly inattentive to their language. It is a London vulgar- 
 ism. Mr. Pegge has the following remarks upon it, in 
 connexion with his observations upon covi*d for came : 
 •■< The Londoner, if asked, wlien he returned to town ? 
 will answer, I coined yesterday ; and if asked, why he 
 returned so unexpectedly ? v ill t'll you, he had not 
 com'd but on particular business Tiius much, sir, for
 
 193 
 
 the Cockney's coming to town :— anil now let us hear him 
 on tlie subject of his going into the country ,• wlicn lie 
 will tell you that, except for such a reason, »• he had not 
 went." Anecdotes of the English Lang. p. 232—3. 
 
 Wharves, plur. of Wharf. 
 
 Americans always make the plural of this noun, 
 'wharves i the English say wharfs. " Thei-e were n>it in 
 London used so many wharfs or keys for the landing of 
 merchants' goods." Child, as cited by Johnson. ♦• Soim-- 
 thing that is artificial, as keys and wJuirfs," Ace. Lord 
 Hale, De Portubus Maris, ch. 2. " This occasioned the 
 statutes which enahle tlie crown by commission to as- 
 certain the limits of all ports, aud to assign proptr whurfs 
 and quays in each port," &c. Blackst. Com. i. ^Oi. •• Tlic 
 Legislature must have supposod that tlie wanliouscs, 
 quays, and wharfs would not be so constructed," kv. 
 Lord Ellenborough, in the case of Harden vs. Smith, 8 
 EasVs Reports, 20. The word quay ('uniformly pronounc- 
 ed keyj is in more common use in London, than wharf. 
 In the Colony and Province Laws of Massa( liusttts, 
 I have observed the plural wharfs (or wharfesj as hid- 
 as the year 1735 j but after that period tli«' plural 
 wharves is used. 
 
 Whop, Whap, n. ; Awhap, ad. "An ohl wdid fm- a li»a\_\ 
 fall, or the manner of falling ; still used by the n uIgur." 
 Webst. Diet. 
 
 A reviewer of Mr. Webster's dicticmary (.bscrv.H— 
 " Whap never fell under our notice before." Month. .In- 
 thol. vol. vii. 26*. (1809) In a late Englisli work lb.- 
 noun and verb are both metUioncd as provinruilisms ..I 
 Somersetshire : « W7<0]7, a heavy l)h)W. irhop, v. '\\> strikr 
 with heavy blows." Month. Mag. vol. xxxviii. p. .5.53. 
 (1814) I have never met with any account ol the ad- 
 verb awhap; nor have I heard it used in this tounlry.
 
 194 
 
 To Wilt. To witlicr. 
 
 This is provincial in the South and West of England : 
 " To wilt, or wilter ; to wither. These flowers are all 
 wilted.^* Grose's Prov, Gloss, It is not in the diction- 
 aries. 
 WocXD for Should : In tliis expression — " It would seem. 
 
 This is the common idiom in the United States. The 
 Scottish wiiters also generally use it : "But these people, 
 it would seem, need to be informed," &c. Campb. Philos. 
 Rhet. B. ii. cli. 3, (p. 255. Jmer. edit.J. The English 
 more commonly say, it should seem : " He could not, it 
 should seem, have tp.ken a more agreeable or, perhaps, a 
 more modest method of transmitting himself to posterity." 
 Melmoth^s Pliny^ pre/, p. 1. " The want of correspond- 
 ence is to be imputed sometimes, it should seem, to inad- 
 vertency, and sometimes to design." Review of Combe's 
 Horace (written by Dr. Parr) in the Brit. Cnt. vol. iii, 
 p. 53. " It should seem, that literature is not neglected. 
 Brit. Crif. vol vii. pref. p. 9. ** With an intention, as it 
 should seem, to provoke inquiry." ^uart. Rev. vol. iv. 
 p. 157. But the practice of English writers is not inva- 
 riable ; as will be seen by the following examples of their 
 use of if would seem : The first point, however, it would 
 seem, embraces," kc. ^uart. Rev. vol. vii. p. 2. <* It would 
 seem, however, that we have," &c. vol. viii. p. 273. See 
 the same work, vol. v. p. 374 & 388 ; vol. ix. p. 431. 
 
 The expression it should seem (as Mr. Pegge observes) 
 " is a modest and common way of expressing < it seems* 
 among various WTiters, where any diffidence is intended."* 
 But this use oi should for would appears to be an an«imaly 
 in our language at the present day. Dr. Johnson observes 
 — " There is another signification now little in use, in 
 whicli should has scarcely any distinct or explicable mean- 
 
 * Anecdotes of the En,^lish Lang^uag-e, p. 168.
 
 195 
 
 ing. It should le differs in this sense very little 'Voni i7 
 is : < There is a fabulous narration, that in the northern 
 countries there shmild he an herb that groweth in tlie like- 
 ness of a lamb, and feedeth upon the grass.' Bacon,'* 
 Johiis. Did. V. Should. 
 
 It should be observed that, although English w ritei-s 
 generally use should^ with the verb seem, yet with thr m i h 
 appear in similar cases they use woii'd — *< Thus it icouUl 
 appear, that the annual increment of the coin is not one 
 twenty seventh part of that of our stock of the precious 
 metals." Biit. Crit. vol. vi. p. 139. «* Or, as it woh/J ap- 
 pear, thought of at all." ib. p. 521. *•' He read, as it tconlil 
 appear, among other reasons, for the purpose of a«^cer:aiii- 
 rng what had been written, quart. Uev. vol. vii. p. r.'.M*,
 
 SUPPLEMENT, 
 
 Containing several additional Words, and Corrections and 
 Jldditioas to the articles in the Vocabulary. 
 
 To JlDvocAfE, (See Fbca&.J 
 
 To this article add — It may be observed, that if the Amer- 
 icans have n(»t a right to " plume themselves*' on this word 
 as a " discovery," they may justly claim the merit (if there is 
 any in the case) of reviving it. 
 AhrijyiJLisM. Sensuality. 
 
 " The brute must have predominated, in the writer, over 
 the man, and held the pen, as well as controuled the heart, 
 when this effusion of animalism was poured out upon the 
 world." Remarks on the Quarterly Revieiv of Inchiquin^s 
 Letters; p. 152. (Boston, 1815.) 
 
 This word is not in general use in America ; but is pecu- 
 liar to the writer here quoted. 
 .Ippellate. 
 
 English writers in some cases use appellant where we 
 should employ appellate : " The part his Lordship took in the 
 revival of the appellant jurisdiction of the House of Peers in 
 Ireland." Brit. Crit. vol. ix. p. 298. " The proper province 
 of their members [i. e. the members of the French Parliaments! 
 was that of judges ; in all matters of law, they had both an 
 original and an appellant jurisdiction." Gifford^s Life of 
 Fitt, vol. ii. p. 4. 
 
 Johnson has appellant as a substantive only ; but Mr. 
 Toddhas it as an adjective also: "Appellant, ctdj. Appeal- 
 ing; relating to an appeal, or to the appealer.'> Todies 
 Johnson.
 
 197 
 
 AjiK. « A lumber vessel or ship." TFebst. Diet. (Southern and 
 Western States.) 
 
 " These boats [on tlie river Ohio] are generally called 
 ^Irks ,-.... They are square and flat-bottomed ; about forty feet 
 by fifteen, with sides six feet deep, covered with a roof of thin 
 boards, and accommodated with a fire place. Tliey vill Iiold 
 from 200 to 500 barrels of flour. They require but four bandi 
 to navigate them ; carry no sail, and are wafted down by the 
 current.'' Tour into the TerHtm'y JVorthivest of the JUe>- 
 ghany Mountains^ by Thad. INI. Hai-ris. p. SO. 
 
 JlrrRiBU'Tio}}. "The act of ascribing.-' JVehst. Diet. "It la 
 the attribution of these iniquities to the ^mericaiiii, with an 
 intention to make them a characteristical disgrace peculiar to 
 them, of which I complain." liemarkii on the Cluurtevlif Ifn-ieio 
 (art. Inchiquin's Letters,) p. 81. 
 
 A correspondent remarks, that lie has never seen attrilm- 
 tion thus used, except in the work here (pioted. It is not in 
 general use in this country; and is very rarely to be found in 
 Enf>lish authors. Dr. Johnson has it (on tlie authorifv nf alil 
 ivriters) only in the sense of " commendation" and " cpiali- 
 ties ascribed." Mr. Todd, however, has added to tlu-se the. 
 signification in question ; on the authority of JFarton : " 'I'lie 
 attribution of prophetical language to birds was cominoii among 
 the orientals." Warton's Hist. £ng. Poet. i. Uiss. \. 
 
 BeTHUS'TMENT'. 
 
 I never knew this extraordinary word to he usrd in any 
 publication, except in the following instance : " ».• i.!i|.irs.rd 
 with a sense of this interesting beivustmeiit, and un.ln- ih« 
 double excitement of duty and of interest, he prcpan-.l to ait 
 with firmness and fidelity." Letters to the J'eojdr ; /;// « luir- 
 mer. Lett. i. The Enstisk dictionaries have the verb lu l>f- 
 trust; but I believe the substantive betrustment is not noticed 
 by any lexicographer, except our countryman, Mr. /IV/.^/.r. 
 
 Big. 
 
 This adjective is generally used by the people of the .sv,«//,- 
 cm States, in cases where a Mw Ev^tander would une ^rrat
 
 198 
 
 or l/irgf. Kv. A big' man, &,c. We sh<)uUl say in JS'ew Eng- 
 land, a large man. 
 Call. Occasion; necessity. " He has no call to act upon the 
 vill of his hearers." Jidam-s Lectures on lihetoric and OratO' 
 ri/y vol. i. p. '254. 
 
 This use of the nonn call is noticed by Grose, as provin- 
 cial in England: ^^ Call. Occasion, obligation. He had no 
 call to do it. Derb.*' Prov. Gloss. 
 To Commerce. A correspondent has pointed out to me the fol- 
 lowing instance of the use of this word : " The profit that 
 would arise to Virginia from commercing with China.." JSTortk 
 ,9merican Heview, vol, i. p. 3. 
 
 This verb has long been considered as obsolete in England. 
 I have not, however, seen it expressly mentioned as out of use, 
 in any of the dictionaries, except the " AVic Universal Eng- 
 lish Biciionary," by William Hider ; London, 1759. 
 To Compare, v. neut. E.v. This does not comjmre with that. 
 AVe sometimes hear the verb compare used in this manner in 
 cmiversation ; but there is no authority for it. I never saw 
 it in this sense, in any of our //wWica^ions. 
 To CoMPROMir. (See Vucah.J 
 
 Mr. Todd has admitted this verb into his edition of John- 
 son ; but with the following remarks : " This is our old word 
 for compromise. ' To compromit or put unto compromise.' 
 Sherwood. It has been of late revived, especially by Ameri- 
 can writers."* 
 ConflagraTive. 
 
 This word is noticed (among otliers) in the well known 
 review of Inchiquiifs Letters published in the Quarterly 
 Review ; where the use of such words by certain individuals 
 in the United States, is considered as evidence of a design in 
 
 * The preceding sheets of the present work were all printed, before I 
 had an opportunity of seeing' any more than the First Part of Mr. Todd's 
 edition of Johnson^ comprehending the whole of the letter A and a small 
 part of B. I have just seen the four subsequent Parts, which extend as far 
 as the word Inert ,• and the reader will find, in the following articles of this 
 Supplement, such of his remarks on some of the Words above uoticed,. as 
 upon a cursory examination appeared to be most important.
 
 199 
 
 tliis country, to make an entire change in our language. The 
 Reviewers say — " The President of Yale College talks of a 
 conflagrative brand, and President Jefferson of belittling the 
 productions of nature." ^iiart. Rev. vol. x. p. 528. 
 
 One of our writers, in his reply to that Review, admits 
 the word in question to have been used ; and defends the 
 author, by producing instances of individuals in England, who 
 have made use of very ridiculous expressions. See Remarks 
 on the Quarterly Review, Boston 1815. 
 Demoralizjit'ion. (See Vocab.J 
 
 Notmthstanding the unqualified manner, in which tlxis 
 word is condemned by the Edinburgh Revieivers, it is admitted 
 into Mr. Todd's edition of Johnson ; and the ^luirterly Review, 
 for Nov. 1810, is cited as the autliority. The editor however 
 observes, tiiat it is " of very recent usage only." 
 To Demoralize. 
 
 This verb, as well as the preceding noun, is admitted into 
 Mr. ToddPs work ; with the following remarks : " Tliis verb is 
 of late introduction into our language. It may be defined the 
 opposite to our old word moralize ; which, however, has not 
 hithei-to been explained agreeably to its usage by the excel- 
 lent author of the Christian Life : ' Those laws and cir- 
 cumstances, which do moralize human actions, and render 
 them reasonable and holy and good.' Scott's (for^^s, fol. ii. 1^29. 
 To demoralize is to render them unreasonable, unholy and un- 
 just." 
 
 DEPARtMENfAL. (ScC Vocob.) 
 
 Mr. Todd has admitted this word into his dictionary, upon 
 the authoi'ity of Burke ; by whom it is used (in speaking of 
 French affairs only) in his Preface to Jirissot^s Jddress. 
 
 To Derasge. (See Vocah.j 
 
 Mr. Todd observes, that about twenty years since tiiis was 
 condemned as a Gallicism ; and he then quotes the remark of 
 the British Critic (upon this and other Gallicisms) which I 
 cited under the word Debark. But he adds, that " Derange 
 has gained ground ; and is now common." 
 
 DisoRGANUAi'ioNand Disonc^AhiizE. (See Vncah.\. Orgavixc )
 
 TliOJK' aro both admilUnl into Mr. Todd's work, v\ith no 
 otlier roiuark, tliati tins ; tliat tliey are modern words. 
 DoMisAsf. (See Vocab.J 
 
 Though this word was objected toby t)\e English Reviewers 
 twenty years ago, yet it is now adinilted into Mr. Todd's woik, 
 where the following authority is cited : " By the then dominant 
 party it [Milton's Eiconoclastcs] was esteemed an excellent 
 piece!" Ji. Wood^ of Milton, Fasti O.von. sub ann. 1635. 
 
 ELLC-r JON BERING. 
 
 Mr. Todd has tliis noun, but not the verb to electioneer. 
 He, however, calls it " a low word." 
 To Enbrgizr. (See Vocab.J 
 
 Mr. Todd has admitted this into his work, upon the au- 
 thority of Harris (the author of Hermes J and Bishop Horshy. 
 He also has the substantiv(i Energizer, upon the authority of 
 Harris. 
 EuLOGiuM. (See Vocab.J 
 
 Tliis is not in Mr. Todd's work. I presume it was not 
 an intentional omission. 
 Evidential. (See Vocab.J 
 
 Mr. Todd has admitted this word, upon the authority of 
 Bp. Fleetwood, Essay on Miracles, p. 2£9. 
 To Evoke. (See Vocab.J 
 
 Mr. Todd says — " This verb is in Cockerain's old Vocab- 
 ulary, but I have not found it in use till a century after it." 
 He then cites fFarburton''s Letters to Hard, 1749, Lett. vi. 
 (wliich, I have observed, a friend had pointed out to me) and 
 Wurton''s Hist. Eng. Poetry, W. 362. 
 To Expatriate ; Expatriated ; Expatriation. 
 
 These words have been much used here, both in the sense 
 of merely quitting one^s country (which is the original French 
 signification) and of throwing off one's allegiance ; but more 
 commonly in the latter sense. The only English dictionary 
 in which J have observed either of them is Entick's ; which 
 has only the participle exjiatriated, in the first of these signi- 
 fications. The words are but little used in England,
 
 201 
 
 Factor r. (See Vocah.) 
 
 To the two significations which Dr. Johnson has given of 
 this word Mr. Todd adds — ."S. A place where any tiling is 
 made ;" in which sense it is commonly employed in this coun- 
 try. He cites the following example from an old writer : 
 " Our corrupted hearts are the factoHes of the Devil, which 
 may be at work without his presence." 
 
 To Feat HER. v. neut. 
 
 A friend has reminded me of this colloquial word, which is 
 used in some parts ot New England, to denote the appearance 
 of curdled cream, when it rises upon tlie surface of a cup of 
 tea or coiFee, in the form of little flakes, somewhat resembling 
 feathers. We say — Tlie cream feathers. I do not find this 
 signification of the word in the English dictionaries or glossa- 
 ries. In the Southern States, 1 believe, they use the verb to 
 curdle. 
 
 To Felloivship. 
 
 A friend has given me the following instances of the use of 
 this verb ; which is new to me : " We considered him heretic- 
 al, essentially unsound in the faith ; and on this ground refus- 
 ed to felloivship with him." Address to the Christian Public, 
 by a number of the Clergy and Laity of Hampshire County ; 
 printed at Greenfield, 1813. " This Council recommend to t'le 
 charity of any regular church where it may be consistent with 
 their convenience and their wishes to felloivship.^^ Result of 
 an Ecclesiastical Council holden at Salisbury, J^ew JIamp' 
 shire, October 1814. 
 
 Fix. n. 
 
 A correspondent informs me, that this word is in common 
 use, as a noun, in JVorth Carolina, Vir^nia, and Kentucky ; 
 in expressions of this kind : " That hri(lj:e in in a had fi.x' ;" or 
 (if it has been repaired) " it is in a good^vT." I never heard 
 it in J^eiv England. 
 
 Grade. (See Vocab.) 
 
 " This word (says Mr. Todd) has been brought forward in 
 some modern pamphlets, but it will hardly be adoptad." 
 26
 
 ^0)d 
 
 To QRADUAtF. (Sec Vocal). J 
 
 Dr. Johnson (as I have remarked) has this only as a verb 
 actire. Mr. Todd has it as a verb neuter also : " To gradu- 
 
 ^ ate. i: n. To take^ii academical degree ; to become a gradu- 
 ate : as, he graduated at Oxford." 
 
 Great. See remarks on Big. 
 
 To Gsoir. v.a. (See Vocah. v. To liaise.) 
 
 This is noticed by Mr. Todd, as " an agricultural term.** 
 He also has the noun grower, which he defines — " A consid- 
 erable farmer. Now common in many parts of England." 
 
 To Gus. (See Vocab.v. Gunning.) 
 
 This verb is in Mr. Todd's work, upon the authority of 
 Beaumont and Fletcher, Rule a Wife, 8fc. 1 presume, howev- 
 er, it is not now used in England. 
 
 Had nW ought and Had ought. 
 
 These expressions are often heard (in conversation) from 
 people, who would avoid every other vulgarism. The vulgar 
 also frequently say, don't ought ; as, you don't ought to do it. 
 
 Illt. (See Vocab.) 
 
 This adverb is not in Mr. Todd's work. 
 
 To Immigrate and Immigration. (See Vocab.) 
 
 Both of these words are in Mr. Todd's work. For the 
 first, he cites Cockeram^s Vocabulary, and J^Tovels, S^c. 1668 ; 
 and for the other, IVartoii's Hist. Eng. Poet. vol. i. sign. C. 3. b. 
 and 101. The noun Immigrant is not noticed by him. 
 
 Imperious ; in tlie phrase, i/njsmojis necessity. 
 
 This Gallicism has been much used by our writers since 
 the French Revolution. The English commonly say — over- 
 ruling necessity : " A grave and over-ruling necessity obliged 
 them to take the step they took." Burke's Reflections j p. 44, 
 Jlmer. edit. 
 
 Large. See remarks on Big. 
 
 I.F.cTuRE-VAr. Used in New England for holiday j from the 
 custom of excusing l>oys from going to school on those week- 
 days, when there was a public Lecture : " All Constables may 
 and sliall from time t« time duely make search, tliroughout
 
 the limits of their townes upon Lord's dayes and Ledure-dayes 
 in times of exercise. ...for all offenders against this law.'' Jla^sa. 
 Colony Laws, tit. Innkeepers, p. 46. edit. 1660. 
 
 OPPUGNAflON. 
 
 This word was first brouglit into notice in the fallowing 
 passage of a well known pamphlet, published in New England : 
 *' Adverse combinations, oppugnaiioiis, disrespect, i-eproacli 
 and systematic revilings, are (in the essence and nature of the 
 crimes) sedition, treason and rebellion." Letters to the People, 
 by a Farmer, 1802. Since the time of that publication, the 
 word has been used only by way of ridicule. 
 
 To PtASf. 
 
 We often use this verb, where the English would employ 
 the verb to sow, and sometimes (more teclmically) to set. AVe 
 always say to plant corn (that is, Indian corn), to plant pota- 
 toes, &c. But, in speaking of all the smaller kinds of seeds, 
 we say, as the English do, to sow. 
 Prairie. (vSee Vocab.J 
 
 The (luurterly Review (in the account ofLeivis Sf darkens 
 Travels) makes the following remark on the word Prairie : 
 " If this word be merely a French synonyme for savannah, 
 which has long been naturalized, the Americans display little 
 taste in preferring.it. But perhaps it may designate open land 
 in a woody country, whatever be the inequalities of tiie ground, 
 •whereas savannah (literally a sheet of land) can properly apply 
 only to a level." ^uart. Rev. vol. xii. p. 528, note. 
 
 The most particular description of these />rfl tries, which I re- 
 collect to have seen in any of our publications, is in the Rev. Dr. 
 Harrises Journal of a Tour into the Territory A''oylhirei>t of 
 the Alleghany mountains ,• from which the reader will be able to 
 judge of the necessity of this new name. This accurate trav- 
 eller desciibes tliem thus : 
 
 " The immense Prairies may be classed among tlic nafuial 
 curiosities of this country. They are of two kinds : First, 
 large level spots of ground, where for several miles tberi- is no 
 rise of the surface, nor any other vcgetati(>n <hnn woods, a
 
 204 
 
 coarse <rra^"^ a^^fl cane. These grow hixurianllj, often higher 
 than I in.in's hca-l. The soil is dec|iaii(l ricli ; hut, l)cing of a 
 clayey nature, retains the water after heavy rains so as to 
 a; jiear floodotl. in some are little clumps of trees on higher 
 ground, w' ich are calleil islands. Herds of bufialocs are seen 
 gra/.ing on these plains; sometimes more tlian a hundred head 
 t ' ether. These prairies may have been occasioned by theex- 
 siccati'j'i of lakes or vast morasses. 
 
 " The second kind are similar level spots, but not in the low 
 lands: These are rather immense plains, of a black soil, which 
 at once absorbs the rain that falls upon it, so as never to be mud- 
 dy. These entirely resemble the vast steppes in the upper 
 parts of Russia and Siberia, which are described as ' extensive 
 jdains, ilry, elevated, aid destitute of water;' there is not a 
 solitary shrub to l)e seen ou tliem, much less any wood, but they 
 are covered with a coarse kind of grass."* p 178, 
 ScooL or School (for Shoal j offish. J^ew England. 
 
 Tiie English, at the present day, always say shoals offish; 
 and, accordingly we find, in a late English review of an Amer- 
 ican work, the word schools (which probably should be written 
 scuUsJ is noticed by being put in Italics. See the review of 
 Farter's Cruise in the Pacific ocean / Quart. Rev. vol. xiii. p. 
 358. But, though most JVew England men would probably 
 employ the term schools in conversation, yet in writing tliey 
 would make use of shoals. The word in question, however, is 
 not of Jimerican origin ; but we may in this instance (as well 
 as in the case of the words to advocate and freshet J plead the 
 authority of Milton. He, however, as well as the older au- 
 thors, tvrote it sculls or souls ; but it was, perhaps, pro- 
 nonnced scooi, in his time, as it is in J\"ew England at the pre- 
 sent day : 
 
 With fry innumerable swarm, and shoals 
 Of fish, that with theii- fins and shining scales 
 Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft 
 Bank the mid-sea." Milton, as cited by Johnson. 
 
 * ♦ Tooke's Russia, vol. i. p. 74 and 145, 8vo edition. Pallas's Travels, 
 vol. ii. p. 75.^
 
 Dr. Johnson speaks of this use of the word as a peculiarity of 
 " Milton's style." Home Tooke cites several other writers, 
 who have employed the word ; and, after quoting a passage 
 from Shakspeare, where it occurs, he adds the following note 
 of Mr. Steevens upon it : " Sculls are great numbers of fish- 
 es swimming together. The modern editors, not being ac- 
 quainted with the term, changed it into shoals,^^ &c. Diversions 
 of Purley, Part ii. p. 194, Jimer. edit. Mr. Tooke himself af- 
 terwards observes (p. 197)-—*' The fislies come in shoals^ sholes, 
 or SCUL3, which is the same participle; so [in the Saxon] 
 being differently pronounced, as sh or sk." 
 
 Shingle. 
 
 Mr. Burnaby in his Travels in America (3d edit. London, 
 1798) observes, that the houses in this country ai"e covered with 
 shingles ; and then, as if the term would not be understood by 
 his English readers, subjoins an explanation of it — ^' These are 
 formed in the shape of tiles, and are generally made of white 
 cedar." 
 
 To So IV. See remarks on To Plant, in this Supplement. 
 
 STALLED. 
 
 A correspondent remarks, tliat " when a waggon has been 
 broken down, or fast set in the clay or mud, so that it cannot 
 be moved by the team, they say in the Southern States, that it 
 is stalled In such cases the waggoner takes the rails from the 
 fences to pry it out ; and tliese rails are called in such cases 
 (in Kentucky, Ohio and the Western parts of Pennsylvania) 
 " Yankee screws." 
 SfAfioNEsr (with an e) for Stationary. The goods of a sta- 
 tioner. 
 
 This orthography of stationary was adopted many years 
 ago in our ^cts of Congress,* upon the supposition that it 
 was more strictly in analogy with other words of the kind ; as, 
 by the same rule that we form ■milllner-y from milliner, cut- 
 ler-y from cutler, &c. we ought to make stationer-y from sta- 
 
 » See the Acts, making the anrual appropriations of monry tf) defray 
 the expenses of govemraent, since 1797.
 
 2oe 
 
 tioner. It may, however, be considered as an elliptical expres- 
 hion, for stationary icares ; in which case there would be no 
 need of changing; the cstablisl^cd English orthography of the 
 word ; which. 1 may add, is the Jhuerican also, except in the 
 instance abovemcntioncd. 
 
 ViLiFicAfioy. " The vilijication of government." 
 
 I recollect seeing this extraordinary expression once in an 
 ofikial paper, published under the autiiority of one of the South' 
 em States ; but, I presume it is not in general use there, any 
 more than it is in the JS''oi'thern iStates. 
 
 l'jRD-irA}iD. Commonly pronounced yard-wun. 
 
 This term is still sometimes used, by old people, for what 
 we now call a yard-stick. Anciently (according to llorne 
 Tooke) it was called a mete-yard. " By common use, he adds, 
 when we talk of mensuration, we now omit the preceding word ~ 
 mete^ and tlie subsequent icand ; and say singly a yard.^^ Di' 
 versions ofPtirley, part ii. p. 157". 
 
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