Samuel Johnson selected definitions

Question 0

aggregate

Answer 0

the complex or collective result of the conjunction or acervation of many particulars

Question 1

addle

Answer 1

originally applied to eggs, and signifying such as produce nothing, but grow rotten under the hen; thence transferred to brains that produce nothing.

Question 2

to ake

Answer 2

it is frequently applied, in an improper sense, to the heart; as, the heart akes; to imply grief or fear. shakespeare has used it, still more licentiously, of the soul.

Question 3

alamode

Answer 3

according to the fashion: a low word

Question 4

ambidexter

Answer 4

1. a man who has equally the use of both his hands.

2. a man who is equally ready to act on either side, in party disputes. this sense is ludicrous.

Question 5

beau

Answer 5

a man of dress; a man whose great care is to deck his person

Question 6

bopeep

Answer 6

to look out, and draw back as if frightened, or with the purpose to fright some other

Question 7

bucaniers

Answer 7

a cant word for the privateers, or pirates, of america

Question 8

Cant

Answer 8

1. a corrupt dialect used by beggars and vagabonds
2. a particular form of speaking peculiar to some certain class or body of men
3. a whining pretension to goodness, in formal and affected terms
4. barbarous jargon

Question 9

darkling

Answer 9

[a participle, as it seems, from darkle, which yet i have never found.]
being in the dark; being without light: a word merely poetical

Question 10

dormitory

Answer 10

a burial place

Question 11

eame

Answer 11

[eam, saxon; eom, dutch.] Uncle; a word sill used in the wilder parts of staffordshire

Question 12

encyclopedia, encyclpedy

Answer 12

the circle of sciences; the round of learning

Question 13

enthusiasm

Answer 13

a vain belief of private revelation; a vain confidence of divine favour or communiation

Question 14

Excise

Answer 14

a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid

Question 15

exossated

Answer 15

deprived of bones

Question 16

eyeservant

Answer 16

a servant that works only while watched

Question 17

farce

Answer 17

a dramatick representation written without regularity, and stuffed with wild and ludicrous conceits

Question 18

gambler

Answer 18

[a cant word, I suppose, for game or gamester.]

a knave whose practice it is to invite the unwary to game and cheat them

Question 19

to garble

Answer 19

to sift; to part; to separate the good from the bad

Question 20

grubstreet

Answer 20

originally the name of a street in London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems; whence any mean production is called grubstreet.

Question 21

ink

Answer 21

the black liquor with which men write

Question 22

lexicographer

Answer 22

a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words

Question 23

lich

Answer 23

a dead carcase whence lichwake, the time or act of watching by the dead; lichgate, the gate through which the dead are carried to the grave; lichfield, the field of the dead, a city in Staffordshire, so named from martyred christians. salve magna parens. lichwake is still retained in Scotland i the same sense.

Question 24

liplabour

Answer 24

action of the lips without concurrence of the mind; words without sentiments

Question 25

losel

Answer 25

a scoundrel; a sorry worthless fellow. a word now obsolete.

Question 26

lubber

Answer 26

a sturdy drone; an idle, fat, bulky losel; a booby.

Question 27

lucubration

Answer 27

study by candlelight; nocturnal study; any thing composed by night

Question 28

network

Answer 28

any thing reticulated or decussated, at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections

Question 29

nose

Answer 29

the prominence on the face, which is the organ of scent and the emunctory of the brain

Question 30

oats

Answer 30

a grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people

Question 31

patron

Answer 31

one who countenances, supports or protects. commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery

Question 32

pension

Answer 32

an allowance made to any one without an equivalent. in England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country

Question 33

precipice

Answer 33

a headlong steep; a fall perpendicular without gradual declivity

Question 34

tiny

Answer 34

little; small; puny. a burlesque word

Question 35

tomboy

Answer 35

a mean fellow; sometimes a wild coarse girl

Question 36

whilst

Answer 36

a game at cards, requiring close attention and silence

Question 37

wit

Answer 37

1. the powers of the mind; the mental faculties; the intellects. this is the original signification
2. imagination; quickness of fancy
3. sentiments produced by quickness of fancy
4. a man of fancy
5. a man of genius
6. sense; judgment
7. in the plural, sound mind; intellect not crazed
8. contrivance; stratagem; power of expedients

Question 38

witcracker

Answer 38

a joker; one who breaks a jest

Question 39

witworm

Answer 39

one that feeds on wit; a canker of wit

Question 40

witticism

Answer 40

a mean attempt at wit