OCR Text |
Show E fied them very clearly, it muft be remembered that I am fpeaking ' of that which words are I have fiot expr infufficient to explain The original fenfe of words is often driven out of ufe by their metaphorical acceptations, yet muft b inferted for the fake of a'regular origination. Thus I know not whether ardour is ufed for material beat or whether fagrant, in Englifb, evet fignifies the fame with durning; yet fuch are the primitive ideas of thef words, which are therefore fet firft, though without examples, that the figurative fenfes may be commo dioufly deduced .~ Such is the exuberance of fignification which many words have obtained, that it was fcarcely pofiible t colle& all their fenfes; fometimes the meaning of derivatives muft be fought in the mother term, an rl!fl ) {fi:‘} o Mt Wi o q " The folution of all difficulties," and.-the fupply of all defects, muft be fought in the examples; fubjoine to the various {enfes of each word, and ranged according to the time of their authors When I firft collected thefe authorities, I was defirous that every quotation thould be ufeful to fom other end than the illuftration of a word; I therefore extracted from ‘philofophers principles of {cience from hiftorians remarkable facts; from chymifts complete procefles; from divines ftriking exhortations e f an fro poet beautiful defcriptions is defign Suc whil it is ye at a diftance fro execution "When the time called upon me to range this accumulation of elegance and wifdom into an alphabetica feries, I foon difcovered that the bulk of my volumes would fright away the ftudent, and was forced t ‘depart from my {cheme of including all that was pleafing or ufeful in Engli/b literature, and reduce m ‘tranfcripts very often to clufters of words, in which fcarcely any meaning is retained ; thus to the wearinef Some paffages I have yet fpared, whic of copying, I was condemned to add the vexation of expunging may relieve the labour of verbal fearches, and interfperfe with verdure and flowers the dufty defarts o barren philology -The examples, thus mutilated, are-no-longer to be cenfidered as conveying the {entiments or do¢trin of their authors ; the word for the {ake. of which they are inferted, with all its appendant claufes, has bee carefully preferved ; but it may fometimes happen, by hafty detruncation, that the general tendency o the fentence may be changed : the divine may defert his tenets, or the philofopher his {yftem Some of the examples have been taken from writers who were never mentioned. as matters of eleganc or models of ftyle ; but words muft be fought where they are ufed ; and in what pages, eminent for purity can terms of manufaGture or agriculture be found? Many quotations ferve no other purpofe, than tha of proving the bare exiftence of words, and are therefore felected with lefs {ferupuloufnels' than thofe whic are to teach their ftruétures and relations My purpofe was to admit no teftimony of living authors, that I might not be mifled by partiality, an gn lut ref thi fro rte dep hav no lai com t o rea hav mig ari mpo cot m o that non u e ---- b ture or interment, drier into deficcative, drynefs into ficcity or aridity, fit into paroxyfm ; for the eafieft word whatever it be, can never be tranflated into one more eafy. But eafinefs and difficulty are merely relative and if the prefent prevalence of our language thould invite foreigner to this dictionary, many will be affifted by thofe words which now feem only to increafe or produce obfcurity. For -this reafon I have endeavoured frequentl to join a Tentonick and Roman interpretation, as to CHEER, to gladden, or exhilarate that every learner of Engli/b may be affifted by his own tongue G i ~ All the interpretations of words are not written with the fame fkill, or the fame happinefs : things equall eafy in themfelves, are not all equally eafy to any fingle mind. Every writer of a long work commit errours, where there appears neither ambiguity to miflead, nor obfcurity to confound him ; and in a fearc like this, many felicities of expreflion will be cafually overlooked, many convenient parallels will b forgotten, and many particulars will admit improvement from a mind utterly unequal to the whol performance - But many feeming faults are to be imputed rather to the nature of the undertaking, than the negligenc of the performer. Thus fome explanations are unavoidably reciprocal or circular, as bind, the female o the flag5 fag, the male of the hind : fometimes eafier words are changed into harder, as durial into fepul e fupplied in the train of derivation. In any caf all the words of the fame race ; for fome word eafier and clearer explanation than others, and al variety of ftructures and relations = fometimes deficient explanations of the primitive may b of doubt or difficulty, it will be always proper to examin are {lightly paffed over to avoid repetition, fome admitte will be better underftood, as they are confidered in greate |