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 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 \iyhere 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 : • 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. *»« 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«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 . 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?. 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 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 — *\ 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; 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 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 «ttoVe 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 ])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 — 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 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\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 rello\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«Yit 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