Chapter I: Part 1

A
SELECT GLOSSARY

A

SELECT GLOSSARY

OF

ENGLISH WORDS USED FORMERLY
IN SENSES DIFFERENT FROM
THEIR PRESENT

BY

RICHARD CHENEVIX TRENCH, D.D.

ARCHBISHOP

‘Res fugiunt, vocabula manent’

_SEVENTH EDITION_

_REVISED BY A. L. MAYHEW, M.A._

LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, & CO., 1 PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1890

(_The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved_)

PREFACE

TO

THE FIRST EDITION.

This volume is intended to be a contribution, though a very slight one at best, to a special branch of the study of our own language. It proposes to trace in a popular manner and for general readers the changes of meaning which so many of its words have undergone; words which, as current with us as they were with our forefathers, yet meant something different on their lips from what they mean on ours. Of my success in carrying out the scheme which I had set before myself, it does not become me to speak, except to say that I have fallen a good deal below my hopes, and infinitely below my desires. But of the scheme itself I have no doubts. I feel sure that, if only adequately carried out, few works of the same compass could embrace matter of more manifold instruction, or in a region of knowledge which it would be more desirable to occupy. In the present condition of education in England, above all with the pressure upon young men, which is ever increasing, to complete their educational course at the earliest possible date, the number of those enjoying the inestimable advantages, mental and moral, which more than any other languages the Latin and the Greek supply, must ever be growing smaller. It becomes therefore a necessity to seek elsewhere the best substitutes within reach for that discipline of the faculties which these languages would better than any other have afforded. And I believe, when these two are set aside, our own language and literature will furnish the best substitutes; such as, even though they may not satisfy perfectly, are not therefore to be rejected. I am persuaded that in the _decomposition_, word by word, of small portions of our best poetry and prose, the compensations which we look for are most capable of being found; even as I have little doubt that in many of our higher English schools compensations of the kind are already oftentimes obtained. _Lycidas_ suggests itself to me, in the amount of _resistance_ which it would offer, as in verse furnishing more exactly what I seek than any other poem, perhaps some of Lord Bacon’s _Essays_ in prose.

In such a decomposition, to be followed by a reconstruction, of some small portions of a great English Classic, matters almost innumerable, and pressing on the attention from every side, would claim to be noticed; but certainly not last nor least the changes in meaning which, on close examination, would be seen to have passed on many of the words employed. It is to point out some of these changes; to suggest how many more there may be, there certainly are, which have not been noticed in these pages; to show how slight and subtle, while yet most real, how easily therefore evading detection, unless constant vigilance is used, these changes often have been; to trace here and there the progressive steps by which the old meaning has been put off, and the new put on, the exact road which a word has travelled; this has been my purpose here; and I have desired by such means to render some small assistance to those who are disposed to regard this as a serviceable discipline in the training of their own minds or the minds of others.

The book is, as its name declares, a _Select_ Glossary. There would have been no difficulty whatever in doubling or trebling the number of articles admitted into it. But my purpose being rather to arouse curiosity than fully to gratify it, to lead others themselves to take note of changes, and to account for them, rather than to take altogether this pleasant labour out of their hands and to do for them what they could more profitably do for themselves, I have consciously left much of the work undone, even as, unconsciously no doubt I have left a great deal more. At the same time it has not been mere caprice which has induced the particular selection of words which has been actually made. Various motives, but in almost every case such as I could give account of to myself, have ruled this selection. Sometimes the past use of a word has been noted and compared with the present, as usefully exercising the mind in the tracing of minute differences and fine distinctions; or, again, as helpful to the understanding of our earlier authors, and likely to deliver a reader of them from misapprehensions into which he might else very easily fall; or, once more, as opening out a curious chapter in the history of manners; or as involving some interesting piece of history, or some singular superstition; or, again, as witnessing for the good or for the evil which have been unconsciously at work in the minds and hearts of those who insensibly have modified in part or changed altogether the meaning of some word; or, lastly and more generally, as illustrating well under one aspect or another those permanent laws which are everywhere affecting and modifying human speech.

And as the words brought forward have been selected with some care, and according to certain rules which have for the most part suggested their selection, so also has it been with the passages adduced in proof of the changes of meaning which they have undergone. A principal value which such a volume as the present can possess, must consist in the happiness with which these have been chosen. Not every passage, which really contains evidence of the assertion made, will for all this serve to be adduced in proof; and this I presently discovered in the many which for one cause or another it was necessary to set aside. There are various excellencies which ought to meet in such passages, but which will not by any means be found in all.

In the first place they ought to be such passages as will tell their own story, will prove the point which they are cited to prove, quite independently of the uncited context, to which it will very often happen that many readers cannot, and of those who can, that the larger number will not, refer. They should bear too upon their front that amount of triumphant proof, which will carry conviction not merely to the student who by a careful observation of many like passages, and a previous knowledge of what was a word’s prevailing use in the time of the writer, is prepared to receive this conviction, but to him also, to whom all this is presented now for the first time, who has no predisposition to believe, but is disposed rather to be incredulous in the matter. Then, again, they should, if possible, be passages capable of being detached from their context without the necessity of drawing a large amount of this context after them to make them intelligible; like trees which will endure to be transplanted without carrying with them a huge and cumbrous bulk of earth, clinging to their roots. Once more, they should, if possible, be such as have a certain intrinsic worth and value of their own, independent of their value as illustrative of the point in language directly to be proved--some weight of thought, or beauty of expression, merit in short of one kind or other, that so the reader may be making a second gain by the way. I can by no means claim this for all, or nearly all, of mine. Indeed, it would have been absurd to seek it in a book of which the primary aim is quite other than that of bringing together a collection of striking quotations; any merit of this kind must continually be subordinated, and, where needful, wholly sacrificed, to the purposes more immediately in view. Still there will be many citations found in these pages which, while they fulfil the primary intention with which they were quoted, are not wanting also in this secondary worth.

In my citations I have throughout acted on the principle that ‘Enough is as good as a feast:’ and that this same ‘Enough,’ as the proverb might well be completed, ‘is better than a surfeit.’ So soon as that earlier meaning, from which our present is a departure, or which once subsisted side by side with our present, however it has now disappeared, has been sufficiently established, I have held my hand, and not brought further quotations in proof. In most cases indeed it has seemed desirable to adduce passages from several authors; without which a suspicion may always remain in the mind, that we are bringing forward the exceptional peculiarity of a single writer, who even in his day stood alone. I suspect that in some, though rare, instances I have adduced exceptional uses of this kind.

One value I may claim for my book, that whatever may be wanting to it, it is with the very most trifling exceptions an entirely independent and original collection of passages illustrative of the history of our language. Of my citations, I believe about a thousand in all, I may owe some twenty at the most to existing Dictionaries or Glossaries, to Nares or Johnson or Todd or Richardson. In perhaps some twenty cases more I have lighted upon and selected a passage by one of them selected before, and have not thought it desirable, or have not found it possible, to dismiss this and choose some other in its room. These excepted, the collection is entirely independent of all those which have previously been made; and in a multitude of cases notes uses and meanings of words which have never been noted before.

WESTMINSTER: _May 25, 1859_.

* * * * *

In the present edition the ‘Select Glossary’ has been carefully
revised, and a few of the articles have been rewritten. In the
work of revision special attention has been paid to two points,
the etymologies and the Middle English quotations. The aim
of the editor has been to bring this useful and interesting
little book up to date, by purging it of obsolete or doubtful
etymologies, and giving those which commend themselves to
the best modern authorities on the subject. Nearly all the
quotations from the works of Middle English authors have been
collated with the best modern editions, and care has been taken
to make the references in each case as clear and precise as
possible. It is hoped that the Alphabetical Lists of Authors
quoted, and of Philological Works referred to, may be found
useful to the student.

A. L. MAYHEW.

WADHAM COLLEGE, OXFORD: _Oct. 28, 1889_.

_LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED._

The references are to the pages of the ‘Select Glossary.’ Two
dates separated by a hyphen denote the birth and death date of
the author; a date preceded by an obelisk denotes the death
date; a single date unmarked denotes the date of the work.

Adams, Thomas (p. 139): The Devil’s Banquet, 1614.

Allestree, Richard (p. 23): Sermons, 1619-1681.

Andrewes, Bp. (p. 154): Sermons, 1555-1626.

_Articles of the Church_, 1552.

Ascham, Roger (pp. 13, 290): Toxophilus, 1545; Schoolmaster
(1570, published posthumously), † 1568.

A. V., Authorized Version of the Bible, 1611.

Bacon, Francis (pp. 12, 73, 282), 1561-1626.

Bale, Bp. (p. 29): Select Works, 1495-1563.

_Ballad of John de Reeve_ (pp. 135, 162); see Bishop Percy’s
MS. II. 550, ed. Hales and Furnivall, 1868.

Barnes, Robert (p. 102): Works, † 1540.

Barrow, Isaac (pp. 93, 98): Sermons, 1630-1677.

Bates, William (p. 149): Spiritual Perfection, 1625-1699.

Baxter, Richard (p. 98), 1615-1691.

Beaumont and Fletcher (pp. 11, 59); Beaumont, Francis,
1586-1616; Fletcher, John, 1576-1625.

Beaumont, Joseph (p. 153): Psyche, 1616-1699.

Becon, Thomas (pp. 73, 143): Works, 1512-1570.

Berners, Juliana (p. 228): The Book of St. Albans, 1481.

Blount, Charles (pp. 70, 141): Philostratus, 1680, 1654-1693.

Bolton, Edmund (p. 12): Hypercritica, fl. 1620.

Boorde, Andrew (p. 307): The Boke of the Introduction of
Knowledge, 1547, E.E.T.S. X.

Broughton, Hugh (p. 302), 1549-1612.

Browne, Sir Thomas (p. 8), 1605-1682.

Burke, Edmund (p. 194), 1729-1797.

Burton, Robert (pp. 24, 193): Anatomy of Melancholy,
1576-1640.

Butler, Samuel (pp. 48, 199): Hudibras, 1612-1680.

Capgrave, John (p. 232): Chronicle of England, 1460.

Cavendish, George (p. 24): Life of Cardinal Wolsey, † 1562.

Caxton, William (p. 5): Legenda Aurea, † 1491.

Chapman, George (p. 75): translator of Homer, 1557-1634.

Chaucer, Geoffrey (p. 263): The Astrolabe (p. 52), 1328-1400.

Cheke, Sir John (p. 47): The Gospel of St. Matthew, 1514-1557.

Chillingworth, William (pp. 80, 218), 1602-1644.

Clarendon, Lord (p. 139): History of the Rebellion, 1608-1674.

Corbet, Richard (p. 195): Iter Boreale, 1582-1635.

Coryat, Thomas (p. 119): Crudities, 1577-1617.

Cotgrave, Randle (p. 6): Dictionary, 1611.

Cotta, John (p. 304): The Trial of Witchcraft, 1616.

Cotton, Charles (p. 224): Montaigne’s Essays, 1685.

Coverdale, Miles (pp. 40, 63), 1488-1568.

Cowell, John (p. 45): The Interpreter, 1554-1611.

Cowley, Abraham (pp. 33, 140, 220), 1618-1667.

Cranmer, Thomas (p. 33), 1489-1556.

Cudworth, Ralph (p. 210): Intellectual System, 1617-1688.

Daniel, Samuel (p. 198): The Tragedy of Philotas, 1562-1619.

Davenant, Sir William (p. 251), 1605-1668.

Davison, Francis (p. 245): Poetical Rhapsody, 1602.

Denham, Sir John (p. 116), 1615-1668.

_Dodoens, History of Plants_, see Lyte.

Donne, John (p. 20), 1573-1631.

Drayton, Michael (pp. 58, 114, 222), 1563-1631.

Dryden, John (p. 99), 1631-1701.

_Eger and Grine_ (p. 135); see Bishop Percy’s Folio MS. I. 341,
ed. Hales and Furnivall, 1867.

Ellis, Clement (p. 298): Character of a True Gentleman, 1630-1700.

Elyot, Sir Thomas (p. 31), † 1546.

_English Gilds_ (p. 186), E.E.T.S. 40.

Fairfax, Edward (p. 13): Tasso, 1600.

Faringdon, Anthony (p. 199): Sermons, 1596-1658.

Feltham, Owen (p. 116): Resolves, fl. 1650.

Fletcher, Phineas (pp. 5, 95): Purple Island, 1584-1650.

Florio, John (pp. 53, 119): Montaigne, 1603; Italian Dictionary,
1598, † 1625.

Forby, Robert (p. 132): East Anglia, 1830.

Foxe, John (p. 28): Book of Martyrs, 1517-1587.

Frith, John (p. 144), † 1533.

Fuller, Thomas (pp. 4, 7, 11), 1608-1661.

Gascoigne, George (pp. 31, 278), † 1577.

Gauden, John (p. 28): Hieraspistes, 1605-1662.

_Genesis and Exodus_ (p. 277), E.E.T.S. 7.

_Geneva Version of the Bible_ (p. 27), 1560.

Gibbon, Edward (p. 179), 1737-1794.

Glanville, Joseph (p. 279): Sermons, 1636-1680.

Golding, Arthur (pp. 50, 108, 156), fl. 1570.

Gower, John (pp. 40, 233), † 1402.

Grafton, Richard (pp. 118, 273): Chronicle of King Richard III.,
fl. 1550.

Greene, Robert (pp. 227, 271): Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay,
† 1592.

Grenewey, Richard (p. 128): Tacitus, 1598.

Grimeston, Edward (p. 76): History of Lewis XI., 1614.

Grindal, Edmund (p. 81): Articles of Enquiry, 1519-1583.

Gurnall, William (p. 37): The Christian in Complete Armour,
1617-1679.

Habington, William (p. 70): History of Edward IV., 1605-1645.

Hacket, John (p. 30): Life of Archbishop Williams, 1592-1670.

_Hakluyt Society_ (p. 171): Memorials of Japan.

Hales, John (p. 215): Sermons, 1584-1656.

Hall, Bp. (p. 19): Satires, 1574-1656.

Hall, Edward (p. 62): Henry V., † 1547.

Hamilton, William (p. 40): The Braes of Yarrow, 1704-1754.

Hammond, Henry (p. 23), 1605-1660.

Hampole, Richard Rolle de (pp. 27, 130): The Pricke of Conscience
(Philolog. Soc.); The Psalter (Clar. Press), † 1349.

Harington, Sir John (p. 49): Orlando Furioso, 1561-1612.

_Harleian Miscellany_ (p. 41), published 1808-1812.

Harris, John (p. 120): Voyages, 1702.

Harrison, William (p. 298): Description of England, 1577.

Harvey, Gabriel (pp. 87, 177): Pierce’s Supererogation, 1592.

_Havelok the Dane_ (p. 85), E.E.T.S. IV., ab. 1300.

Hawes, Stephen (p. 46): Pastime of Pleasure, 1506.

Hawkins, Sir Richard (p. 4): Observations, 1593.

Herbert, George (p. 40): The Temple, 1593-1633.

Herbert, Sir Thomas (p. 189): Travels, 1634.

Herrick, Robert (p. 11): 1591-1674.

Heylin, Peter (pp. 39, 41, 102), 1600-1662.

Heywood, Jasper (p. 85): Seneca’s Hercules Furens, 1561.

Hobbes, Thomas (p. 78): Thucydides, 1588-1679.

Hodgson, William (p. 35): Verses on Ben Jonson.

Holland, Philemon (pp. 7, 8, 13, 28, 58, 70), 1551-1636.

Holyday, Barten (p. 146): Technogamia, 1593-1661.

_Homilies_ (p. 6), 1562.

Hooker, Richard (p. 83), † 1600.

Hooper, John (p. 18), 1495-1555.

Howe, John (pp. 39, 93): The Redeemer’s Dominion, 1630-1705.

Howell, James (pp. 32, 88, 137): Letters, Lexicon, † 1666.

Hutchinson, Simon (p. 132): Drainage of Land, 1846.

Isaacson, Henry (p. 217): Life of Lancelot Andrewes, 1650.

Jackson, Thomas (p. 14): Blasphemous Positions of Jesuits,
† 1640.

Jewel, Bp. (p. 13), 1522-1571.

Johnson, Samuel (p. 194), 1709-1784.

Jonson, Ben (p. 48), 1574-1637.

_Joseph of Arimathie_ (p. 40), E.E.T.S. 44.

King, Bp. (p. 134), 1591-1670.

Knolles, Richard (p. 285): History of the Turks, † 1610.

_Kyngdome of Japonia_ (p. 173).

Latimer, Bp. (p. 4), † 1555.

Locke, John (p. 149), 1632-1704.

Lydgate, John (p. 107): fl. 1400.

Lyly, John (p. 120): Euphues, 1579.

Lyndesay, Sir David (p. 122): The Monarchie, 1553.

Lyte, Henry, translator of Dodoens’ History of Plants (p. 307),
1578.

Machyn, Henry (p. 133): Diary, 1550, Camden Soc.

Malory, Sir Thomas (p. 169): Morte d’Arthur, 1469.

Mandeville, Sir John (pp. 52, 229): Travels, 1350.

Marlowe, Christopher (pp. 22, 50), 1564-1593.

Massinger, Philip (pp. 24, 114), 1584-1640.

Mede, Joseph (p. 302): Sermons, 1586-1638.

Middleton, Thomas (p. 88), † 1627.

Milton, John (pp. 2, 5), 1608-1674.

Monro, Robert (p. 230): His Expedition, 1657.

More, Henry (p. 56): Immortality of the Soul, 1662.

More, Sir Thomas (pp. 18, 96), 1480-1535.

_Morte Arthure_ (p. 130), E.E.T.S. 8.

Murray, Lady (p. 166): Life of George Baillie, 1822.

Nashe, Thomas (p. 70): Christ’s Tears over Jerusalem, 1593.

Nelson, Robert (p. 28): Address to Persons of Quality, 1715.

Nicolson, Bp. (p. 183): Exposition of the Catechism, 1671.

North, Thomas (pp. 10, 26, 38): Plutarch’s Lives, fl. 1600.

Oldham, John (p. 184), 1653-1683.

Oley, Barnabas (p. 265), fl. 1650.

Overbury, Sir Thomas (p. 142), 1581-1613.

Palsgrave, John (p. 265): French Grammar, † 1564.

Pecock, Bp. (p. 136): Repressor, 1449, Rolls Series.

Phillips, Edward (p. 280): New World of Words, 1630-1680.

_Piers Plowman_ (p. 40): Clar. Press, ed. Skeat.

Pilkington, Bp. (pp. 18, 82), 1520-1575.

Pinkerton, John (p. 34): Select Scottish Ballads, 1783.

Pope, Alexander (p. 3), 1688-1744.

Preston, John (p. 51): Of Spiritual Death and Life, 1587-1628.

_Promptorium Parvulorum_ (pp. 40, 54), 1440, Camden Soc.

Prynne, William (p. 242), 1600-1699.

Purvey, John (p. 158), fl. 1380.

Puttenham, George (pp. 136, 150): Art of English Poesy, 1589.

Quarles, Francis (p. 246): Emblems, 1592-1644.

Raleigh, Sir Walter (p. 83): History of the World, 1552-1618.

Randolph, Thomas (p. 136), 1605-1634.

Rawley, William (p. 207): Life of Bacon, 1588-1667.

Reynolds, John (p. 31): God’s Revenge against Murder, 1621.

_Rheims Version of the New Testament_, 1582.

_Richeome’s Pilgrim of Loretto_ (p. 61), 1630.

Rogers, Daniel (p. 25): Naaman the Syrian; Matrimonial
Honour, 1642.

_Romaunt of the Rose_ (p. 66), ab. 1400.

R. V., Revised Version of the Bible, 1885.

Rycaut, Sir Paul (pp. 48, 289), † 1700.

Sancroft, William (p. 237): Variorum Shakespeare, 1616-1693.

Sanderson, Bp. (pp. 68, 104), 1587-1663.

_Scoticisms_ (p. 47), 1787.

Selden, John (p. 125), 1584-1654.

_Seven Champions, The_ (p. 19).

Shaftesbury, Lord (p. 138), 1671-1713.

Shakespeare, William (pp. 2, 185), 1564-1616.

Shirley, James (p. 152), † 1666.

_Short Catechism, A_ (p. 20), 1553.

Sidney, Sir Philip (p. 16), 1564-1586.

Skelton, John (p. 277): Manerly Margery, † 1529.

Skinner, Stephen (pp. 48, 165): Etymologicon, 1671.

Smollett, Tobias (p. 57), 1721-1771.

_Somers’ Tracts_ (p. 277).

South, Robert (p. 15), 1633-1716.

Southwell, Robert (p. 193): Lewd Love is Loss, 1560-1595.

_Spectator, The_, 1711-1714.

Spenser, Edmund (pp. 11, 162), † 1599.

Stanyhurst, Richard (p. 283), † 1618.

_State Papers_ (p. 52).

Sterling, Lord (p. 59): Darius, 1603.

Stow, John (p. 143): Annals, 1525-1605.

Strong, William (p. 222): Of the Two Covenants, 1678.

Strype, John (pp. 34, 124), 1643-1737.

Stubbes, Philip (pp. 30, 278): Anatomy of Abuses, 1583.

Surrey, Earl of (p. 165), † 1547.

_Swedish Intelligencer_ (p. 174), 1632-1635.

Swift, Jonathan (p. 264), 1667-1745.

Sydenham, Humphrey (p. 97): The Athenian Babbler, 1627,
† 1650.

Sylvester, Joshua (p. 29), 1563-1618.

Taylor, Bp. (pp. 4, 7, 12), 1613-1667.

Temple, Sir William (p. 7), 1628-1698.

Teonge, Henry (p. 238): Diary, 1675.

_Townley Mysteries_ (p. 189), Surtees Soc.

_Trevelyan Papers_ (p. 86), Camden Soc.

Trevisa (p. 258), Rolls Series, 41.

_Turkish Spy_ (p. 273).

Tusser, Thomas (pp. 31, 208): Points of Good Husbandry,
1516-1580.

Tyndale, William (pp. 49, 54, 65), † 1536.

Waller, Edmund (p. 14), 1605-1687.

Walpole, Horace (p. 256), 1717-1797.

Webster, John (p. 11): Duchess of Malfi, printed 1619

Weever, John (p. 133), 1576-1632.

Whitlock, Richard (p. 8): Zootomia, 1654.

Wiclif, John (pp. 9, 158), † 1384.

_William of Palerne_ (p. 153), E.E.T.S. I.

Wood, Antony à (pp. 87, 188), 1632-1695.

Worthington, William (p. 287): Life of Joseph Mede, 1703-1778.

_PHILOLOGICAL WORKS REFERRED TO._

Davies, Supplementary English Glossary, 1881.

Grimm, J. and W., Deutsches Wörterbuch, 1854 ff.

Halliwell, Dict. of Archaic and Provincial Words, 1874.

Kluge, Etym. Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 1888.

Marsh, Lectures on the English Language, 1861.

Mätzner, Altenglisches Wörterbuch (A-I), 1878 ff.

Mayhew-Skeat, Concise Dict. of Middle English, 1888.

N.E.D., New English Dict., ed. Murray, 1884 ff.

Oliphant, The New English, 1886.

Skeat, Etym. Dict. of Eng. Lang., 1884.

Trench: Study of Words, 1888; English Past and Present,
1889; Synonyms of the New Test., 1886.

Wright-Wülcker: Old English Vocabularies, 1884.

A

SELECT GLOSSARY

ETC.

[=ABANDON.= Now only used in the sense of to give up absolutely, to forsake, or desert; but in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries often found in the sense of to put to the ban, to proscribe, to cast out, reject. O. Fr. _abandoner_, to give up into the power of another, is due to the phrase _mettre à bandon_, to put under anyone’s jurisdiction; O. Fr. _bandon_ (Low Lat. _bandonem_) is a derivative of Low Lat. _bandum_ for older _bannum_; O. H. G. _ban_, an order, decree, proclamation. For O. Fr. _bandon_, used in the sense of free disposal, unfettered authority, compare _Chanson de Roland_, 2703: ‘All Spain will be to-day _en lur bandun_,’ i.e. in their power. The Germanic word _bann_, an open proclamation, survives in our ‘_banns_ of marriage.’ The word _bandit_, It. _bandito_, means properly a proclaimed, proscribed man.]

Blessed shall ye be when men shall hate you, and _abandon_
your name as evil [et _ejecerint_ nomen vestrum tanquam malum,
Vulg.] for the Son of man’s sake.--_Luke_ vi. 22. Rheims.

_Beggar._ Madame wife, they say that I have dreamed
And slept above some fifteen years or more.

_Lady._ Aye, and the time seems thirty unto me,
Being all this time _abandoned_ from thy bed.

SHAKESPEARE, _Taming of the Shrew_, act i. sc. 1.

=ACHIEVEMENT.= Of ‘achievement’ and ‘hatchment’ it need hardly be said that the latter is a contracted and corrupted manner of pronouncing the former. This ‘achievement’ or ‘hatchment’ is an escutcheon or coat of arms erected when a person of distinction has died; originally so called from its being granted in memory of some ‘achievement’ or distinguished feat. In the Heralds’ College there are ‘achievements’ still, as there were for Milton two centuries ago; but in our common language we call them ‘hatchments,’ and have let any such employment of ‘achievement’ go.

As if a herald in the _achievement_ of a king should commit the
indecorum to set his helmet sideways and close; not full-faced
and open, as the posture of direction and command.--MILTON,
_Tetrachordon_.

=ACT.= The verb ‘to actuate’ seems of comparatively late introduction into the language. The first example of it which our Dictionaries give is drawn from the works of the Latinist, Sir Thomas Browne, of Norwich. I have also met it in Jeremy Taylor.[1] But even for some time after ‘actuate’ was introduced--as late, we see, as Pope,--‘act’ did often the work which ‘actuate’ alone does now.

Within, perhaps, they are as proud as Lucifer, as covetous
as Demas, as false as Judas, and in the whole course of
their conversation act and are _acted_, not by devotion, but
design.--SOUTH, _Sermons_, 1737, vol. ii. p. 391.

Many offer at the effects of friendship; but they do not last.
They are promising at the beginning, but they fail and jade
and tire in the prosecution. For most people in the world are
_acted_ by levity and humour, and by strange and irrational
changes.--Id. _Ib._, vol. ii. p. 73.

Self-love, the spring of motion, _acts_ the soul.

POPE, _Essay on Man_, ep 2.

=ADAMANT.= It is difficult to trace the exact motives which induced the transferring of this name to the lodestone; but it is common enough in our best English writers, thus in Chaucer, Bacon, and Shakespeare; as is ‘aimant’ in French, and ‘iman’ in Spanish. See ‘Diamond,’ and the art. ‘Adamant’ in _Appendix_ A to the _Dictionary of the Bible_.

Right as an _adamaund_, iwys,
Can drawen to hym sotylly
The yren, that is leid therby,
So drawith folkes hertis, ywis,
Silver and gold that yeven is.

_Romaunt of the Rose_, 1182 (ed. Morris).

_Demetrius._ Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.

_Helena._ You draw me, you hard-hearted _adamant_;
And yet you draw not iron, for my heart
Is true as steel.

SHAKESPEARE, _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, act ii. sc. 1.

If you will have a young man to put his travel in little room,
when he stayeth in one city or town, let him change his lodging
from one end and part of the town to another; which is a great
_adamant_ of acquaintance.--BACON, _Essays_, 18.

=ADMIRAL.= This was a title often given in the seventeenth century to the principal and leading vessel in a fleet; the ‘admiral-galley’ North (_Plutarch’s Lives_) calls it.

_Falstaff_ (to Bardolph).--Thou art our _admiral_; thou bearest
the lantern in the poop--but ’tis the nose of thee; thou art
the Knight of the Burning Lamp.--SHAKESPEARE, _1 Henry IV._,
act iii. sc. 3.

Lincoln spake what was fit for comfort, and did what he was
able for redress. He looked like the lanthorn in the _admiral_,
by which the rest of the fleet did steer their course.--HACKET,
_Life of Archbishop Williams_, part ii. p. 143.

His spear--to equal which the tallest pine
Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast
Of some great _ammiral_, were but a wand--
He walked with, to support uneasy steps
Over the burning marle.

MILTON, _Paradise Lost_, i. 292.

The _admiral_ of the Spanish Armada was a Flemish
ship.--HAWKINS, _Observations_, &c., 1622, p. 9.

=ADMIRE=, }
ADMIRABLE, }
ADMIRATION. }

It now always implies to wonder _with approval_; but was by no means restrained to this wonder _in bonam partem_ of old.

Neither is it to be _admired_ that Henry [the Fourth], who was
a wise as well as a valiant prince, should be pleased to have
the greatest wit of those times in his interests, and to be the
trumpet of his praises.--DRYDEN, _Preface to the Fables_.

Let none _admire_
That riches grow in hell; that soil may best
Deserve the precious bane.

MILTON, _Paradise Lost_, i. 690.

It may justly seem _admirable_ how that senseless religion
[Mahometanism] should gain so much on Christianity.--FULLER,
_Holy War_, part i. c. 6.

In man there is nothing _admirable_ but his ignorance and
weakness.--Bishop TAYLOR, _Dissuasive from Popery_, part ii. b.
i. § 7.

I understand that you be in great _admirations_ of me, and take
very grievously my manner of writing to you.--LATIMER, _Sermons
and Remains_, vol. ii. p. 419.

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints ...
and when I saw her I wondered with great _admiration_.--_Rev._
xvii. 6. (A.V.)

=ALCHYMY.= By this we always understand now the pretended art of transmuting other metals into gold; but it was often used to express itself a certain mixed metal, which, having the appearance of gold, was yet mainly composed of brass. Thus the notion of falseness, of show and semblance not borne out by reality, frequently underlay the earlier uses of the word. Compare the second quotation under ‘Bullion.’

As for those gildings and paintings that were in the palace of
Alcyna, though the show of it were glorious, the substance of
it was dross, and nothing but _alchymy_ and cosenage.--Sir J.
HARINGTON, _A brief Allegory of Orlando Furioso_.

Whereupon out of most deep divinity it was concluded, that
they should not celebrate the sacrament in glass, for the
brittleness of it; nor in wood, for the sponginess of it, which
would suck up the blood; nor in _alchymy_, because it was
subject to rusting; nor in copper, because that would provoke
vomiting; but in chalices of latten, which belike was a metal
without exception.--FULLER, _Holy War_, b. iii. c. 13.

Toward the four winds four speedy Cherubim
Put to their mouths the sounding _alchymy_.

MILTON, _Paradise Lost_, ii. 516.

Such were his arms, false gold, true _alchemy_.--P. FLETCHER,
_Purple Island_, vii. 39.

=ALLOW=, }
ALLOWANCE, }
ALLOWABLE. }

‘To allow,’ from the French ‘allouer,’ and through it from the Latin ‘allaudare,’--and not to be confounded with another ‘allow,’ derived from another ‘allouer,’ the Latin ‘allocare,’--had once a sense very often of praise or approval, which may now be said to have departed from it altogether. Thus in Cotgrave’s _French and English Dictionary_, an invaluable witness of the force and meanings which words had two centuries ago, ‘allow’ is rendered by ‘allouer,’ ‘gréer,’ ‘approuver,’ ‘accepter,’ and ‘allowable’ by ‘louable.’

Mine enemy, say they, is not worthy to have gentle words or
deeds, being so full of malice or frowardness. The less he
is worthy, the more art thou therefore _allowed_ of God, and
the more art thou commended of Christ.--_Homilies_; _Against
Contention_.

The hospitality and alms of abbeys is not altogether to be
_allowed_, or dispraised.--PILKINGTON, _The Burning of Paul’s_,
§ 12.

Truly ye bear witness that ye _allow_ [συνευδοκεῖτε] the deeds
of your fathers.--_Luke_ xi. 48. (A. V.)

A stirring dwarf we do _allowance_ give
Before a sleeping giant.

SHAKESPEARE, _Troilus and Cressida_, act ii. sc. 3.

Though I deplore your schism from the Catholic Church, yet I
should bear false witness if I did not confess your decency,
which I discerned at the holy duty, was very _allowable_ in
the consecrators and receivers.--HACKET, _Life of Archbishop
Williams_, part ii. p. 211.

=AMIABLE.= This and ‘lovely’ have been so far differentiated that ‘amiable’ never expresses now any other than _moral_ loveliness; which in ‘lovely’ is seldom or never implied. There was a time when ‘amiable’ had no such restricted use, when it and ‘lovely’ were absolutely synonymous, as, etymologically, they might claim still to be.

Come sit thee down upon this flow’ry bed,
While I thy _amiable_ cheeks do coy.

SHAKESPEARE, _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, act iv. sc. 1.

How _amiable_ are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts.--_Ps._
lxxxiv. 1. (A.V.)

Groves whose rich trees wept odorous gums and balm,
Others whose fruit, burnished with golden rind,
Hung _amiable_.

MILTON, _Paradise Lost_, iv. 248.

=AMUSE=, }
AMUSEMENT. }

The notion of diversion, entertainment, is comparatively of recent introduction into the word. ‘To amuse’ was to cause to muse, to occupy or engage, and in this sense indeed to _divert_, the thoughts and attention. The quotation from Phillips shows the word in transition to its present meaning. [O. Fr. _amuser_ is a compound of _muser_, to muse, study, linger about a matter, to sniff as a hound, from *_muse_, a muzzle, nose of an animal (whence Mod. Fr. _museau_). Compare Florio’s Italian Dictionary: ‘_Musare_, to muse, to muzzle, to gape, to hold one’s _muzle_ or snout in the air.’ The O. Fr. *_muse_ is the same word as the Lat. _morsus_, see Mayhew-Skeat, _Dict. of Middle English_.]

Camillus set upon the Gauls, when they were _amused_ in
receiving their gold.--HOLLAND, _Livy_, p. 223.

Being _amused_ with grief, fear, and fright, he could not find
a house in London (otherwise well known to him), whither he
intended to go.--FULLER, _Church History of Britain_, b. ix. §
44.

A siege of Maestricht or Wesel (so garrisoned and resolutely
defended), might not only have _amused_, but endangered the
French armies.--Sir W. TEMPLE, _Observations on the United
Provinces_, c. 8.

To _amuse_, to stop or stay one with a trifling story, to make
him lose his time, to feed with vain expectations, to hold in
play.--PHILLIPS, _New World of Words_.

In a just way it is lawful to deceive the unjust enemy, but
not to lie; that is, by stratagems and semblances of motions,
by _amusements_ and intrigues of actions, by ambushes and
wit, by simulation and dissimulation.--Bishop TAYLOR, _Ductor
Dubitantium_, b. iii. c. 2.

=ANATOMY.= Now the act of dissection, but it was often used by our elder writers for the thing or object dissected, and then, as this was stripped of its flesh, for what we now call a skeleton. ‘Skeleton,’ which see, had then another meaning.

Here will be some need of assistants in this live, and to the
quick, dissection, to deliver me from the violence of the
_anatomy_.--WHITLOCK, _Zootomia_, p. 249.

Antiquity held too light thoughts from objects of mortality,
while some drew provocatives of mirth from _anatomies_,
and jugglers showed tricks with skeletons.--Sir T. BROWNE,
_Hydriotaphia_.

A hungry lean-faced villain,
A mere _anatomy_, a mountebank,
A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch,
A living deadman.

SHAKESPEARE, _Comedy of Errors_, act v. sc. 1.

=ANIMOSITY.= While ‘animosus’ belongs to the best period of Latin literature, ‘animositas’ is of quite the later silver age. It was used in two senses; in that, first, of spiritedness or courage (‘equi _animositas_,’ the courage of a horse), and then, secondly, as this spiritedness in one particular direction, in that, namely, of a vigorous and active enmity or hatred (_Heb._ xi. 27, Vulg.) Of these two meanings the latter is the only one which our ‘animosity’ has retained; yet there was a time when it had the other as well.

When her [the crocodile’s] young be newly hatched, such as give
some proof of _animosity_, audacity, and execution, those she
loveth, those she cherisheth.--HOLLAND, _Plutarch’s Morals_, p.
977.

Doubtless such as are of a high-flown _animosity_ affect
_fortunas laviniosas_, as one calls it, a fortune that sits not
strait and close to the body, but like a loose and a flowing
garment.--HACKET, _Life of Archbishop Williams_, part i. p. 30.

In these cases consent were conspiracy; and open
contestation is not faction or schism, but due Christian
_animosity_.--HALES, _Tract concerning Schism_.

Cato, before he durst give the fatal stroke, spent part of the
night in reading the Immortality of Plato, thereby confirming
his wavering hand unto the _animosity_ of that attempt.--Sir T.
BROWNE, _Hydriotaphia_.

=ANNOY=, }
ANNOYANCE. }

Now rather to vex and disquiet than seriously to hurt and harm. But until comparatively a late day, it admitted no such mitigation of meaning. [The subst. _annoy_ is the O. Fr. _anoi_ (Mod. Fr. _ennui_), Sp. _enojo_, O. It. _inodio_, from Lat. _in odio_, lit. in hatred, used in the phrase _in odio habui_, I had in hatred, _i.e_. I was sick and tired of.]

For the Lord Almygti _anoyede_ [_nocuit_, Vulg.] hym, and
bitook him into the hondes of a womman.--_Judith_ xvi. 7.
WICLIF.

Thanne cometh malignité, thurgh which a man _annoieth_ his
neighebor, as for to brenne his hous prively, or empoysone him,
or sleen his bestis, and semblable thinges.--CHAUCER, _The
Persones Tale_ (Morris, p. 306).

Against the Capitol I met a lion,
Which glared upon me, and went surly by,
Without _annoying_ me.

SHAKESPEARE, _Julius Cæsar_, act i. sc. 3.

Look after her,
Remove from her the means of all _annoyance_,
And still keep eyes upon her.

Id. _Macbeth_, act v. sc. 1.

=ANTICS.= Strange gestures now, but the makers of these strange gestures once.

Behold, destruction, fury, and amazement,
Like witless _antics_, one another meet.

SHAKESPEARE, _Troilus and Cressida_, act v. sc. 4.

Have they not sword-players, and every sort
Of gymnic artists, wrestlers, riders, runners,
Jugglers and dancers, _antics_, mummers, mimics?

MILTON, _Samson Agonistes_, 1323.

=APPARENT=, }
APPARENTLY. }

With the exception of the one phrase ‘heir _apparent_,’ meaning heir evident, manifest, undoubted, we do not any longer employ ‘apparent’ for that which appears, because it _is_, but always either for that which appears and is not, or for that which appears, leaving in doubt whether it is or no.

It is _apparent_ foul play; and ’tis shame
That greatness should so grossly offer it.

SHAKESPEARE, _King John_, act iv. sc. 2.

At that time Cicero had vehement suspicions of Cæsar, but no
_apparent_ proof to convince him.--NORTH, _Plutarch’s Lives_,
p. 718.

The laws of God cannot without breach of Christian liberty,
and the _apparent_ injury of God’s servants, be hid from
them in a strange language, so depriving them of their best
defence against Satan’s temptations.--FULLER, _Twelve Sermons
concerning Christ’s Temptations_, p. 59.

Love was not in their looks, either to God
Or to each other, but _apparent_ guilt,
And shame and perturbation and despair.

MILTON, _Paradise Lost_, x. 111.

At that time [at the resurrection of the last day], as the
Scripture doth most _apparently_ testify, the dead shall be
restored to their own bodies, flesh and bones.--_Articles of
the Church_ (1552).

=APPREHENSIVE.= As there is nothing which persons lay hold of more readily than that aspect of a subject in which it presents matter for fear, ‘to apprehend’ has acquired the sense of to regard with fear; yet not so as that this use has excluded its earlier; but it _has_ done so in respect of ‘apprehensive,’ which has now no other meaning than that of fearful, a meaning once quite foreign to it.

See their odds in death:
Appius died like a Roman gentleman,
And a man both ways knowing; but this slave
Is only sensible of vicious living,
Not _apprehensive_ of a noble death.

WEBSTER, _Appius and Virginius_, act v. sc. 3.

She, being an handsome, witty, and bold maid, was both
_apprehensive_ of the plot, and very active to prosecute
it.--FULLER, _The Profane State_, b. v. c. 5.

My father would oft speak
Your worth and virtue; and as I did grow
More and more _apprehensive_, I did thirst
To see the man so praised.

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER, _Philaster_, act v. sc. 1.

=ARK.= The ark of Noah, and ark of the covenant, were not the only ‘arks’ of which our ancestors spoke. Indeed, in Lancashire at this day a press to keep clothes in is an ‘ark,’ a large bin for holding meal a ‘meal-ark.’

Then first of all came forth Sir Satyrane,
Bearing that precious relicke in an _arke_
Of gold.

SPENSER, _Fairy Queen_, iv. 4, 15.

In the riche _arke_ Dan Homers rimes he placed.

EARL OF SURREY, _Poems_, p. 35 (ed. 1717).

You have beheld how they
With wicker _arks_ did come,
To kiss and bear away
The richer cowslips home.

HERRICK, _Hesperides_.

=ARTIFICIAL=, }
ARTIFICIALLY. }

That was ‘artificial’ once which wrought, or which was wrought, according to the true principles of art. The word has descended into quite a lower sphere of meaning; such, indeed, as the quotation from Bacon shows, it could occupy formerly, though not then exactly the same which it occupies now.

Queen Elizabeth’s verses, some extant in the elegant, witty,
and _artificial_ book of _The Art of English Poetry_, are
princely as her prose.--BOLTON, _Hypercritica_.

We, Hermia, like two _artificial_ gods,[2]
Have with our neelds created both one flower.

SHAKESPEARE, _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, act iii. sc. 2.

This is a demonstration that we are not in the right way, that
we do not enquire wisely, that our method is not _artificial_.
If men did fall upon the right way, it were impossible that
so many learned men should be engaged in contrary parties
and opinions.--Bishop TAYLOR, _A Sermon preached before the
University of Dublin_.

This he did the rather, because having at his coming out
of Britain given _artificially_, for serving his own turn,
some hopes in case he obtained the kingdom, to marry Anne,
inheritress to the duchy of Britany.--BACON, _History of Henry
VII._

=ARTILLERY.= Leaving the perplexed question of the derivation of this word,[3] it will be sufficient to observe, that while it is now only applied to the heavy ordnance of modern warfare, in earlier use any engines for the projecting of missiles, even to the bow and arrows, would have been included under this term.

The Parthians, having all their hope in _artillery_, overcame
the Romans ofter than the Romans them.--ASCHAM, _Toxophilus_,
p. 106 (ed. 1761).

So the Philistines, the better to keep the Jews thrall and
in subjection, utterly bereaved them of all manner of weapon
and _artillery_, and left them naked.--JEWEL, _Reply to Mr.
Harding_, article xv.

The Gods forbid, quoth he, one shaft of thine
Should be discharged ’gainst that discourteous knight;
His heart unworthy is, shootress divine,
Of thine _artillery_ to feel the might.

FAIRFAX, _Tasso_, b. 17, s. 49.

And Jonathan gave his _artillery_ (weapons, R.V.) unto his lad,
and said unto him, Go, carry them to the city.--_1 Sam._ xx.
40. (A.V.)

=ARTISAN=, }
ARTIST, }
ARTFUL. }

‘Artisan’ is no longer either in English or in French used of him who cultivates one of the _fine_ arts, but only those of common life. The fine arts, losing this word, have now claimed ‘artist’ for their exclusive property; which yet was far from belonging to them always. An ‘artist’ in its earlier acceptation was one who cultivated, not the _fine_, but the _liberal_ arts. The classical scholar was eminently the ‘artist.’ ‘Artful’ did not any more than ‘cunning,’ which see, imply art which had degenerated into artifice or trick.

He was mightily abashed, and like an honest-minded man yielded
the victory unto his adversary, saying withal, Zeuxis hath
beguiled poor birds, but Parrhasius hath deceived Zeuxis, a
professed _artisan_.--HOLLAND, _Pliny_, vol. ii. p. 535.

Rare _artisan_, whose pencil moves
Not our delights alone, but loves!

WALLER, _Lines to Van Dyck_.

For then the bold and coward,
The wise and fool, the _artist_ and _unread_,
The hard and soft, seem all affined and kin.

SHAKESPEARE, _Troilus and Cressida_, act i. sc. 3.

Nor would I dissuade any _artist_ well grounded in Aristotle
from perusing the most learned works any Romanist hath written
in this argument. In other controversies between them and us it
is dangerous, I must confess, even for well-grounded _artists_
to begin with their writings, not so in this.--JACKSON,
_Blasphemous Positions of Jesuits_, Preface.

Some will make me the pattern of ignorance for making this
Scaliger [Julius] the pattern of the general _artist_,
whose own son Joseph might have been his father in many
_arts_.--FULLER, _Holy State_, b. ii. c. 8.

Stupendous pile! not reared by mortal hands;
Whate’er proud Rome or _artful_ Greece beheld,
Or elder Babylon its fame excelled.

POPE, _Temple of Fame_.

=ASCERTAIN.= Now to acquire a certain knowledge of a thing, but once to render the thing itself certain. Thus, when Swift wrote a pamphlet having this title, ‘A Proposal for correcting, improving, and _ascertaining_ the English Tongue,’ he did not propose to obtain a subjective certainty of what the English language was, but to give to the language itself an objective certainty and fixedness.

Sometimes an evil or an obnoxious person hath so secured
and _ascertained_ a mischief to himself, that he that
stays in his company or his traffic must also share in his
punishment.--Bishop TAYLOR, _The Return of Prayers_.

Success is intended him [the wicked man] only as a
curse, as the very greatest of curses, and the readiest
way, by hardening him in his sin, to _ascertain_ his
destruction.--SOUTH, _Sermons_, vol. v. p. 286.

=ASPERSION.= Now only used figuratively, and in an evil sense; being that which one _sprinkles_ on another to spot, stain, or hurt him: but subject to none of these limitations of old.

The book of Job, and many places of the prophets, have great
_aspersion_ of natural philosophy.--BACON, _Fiium Labyrinthi_.

No sweet _aspersion_ shall the heavens let fall
To make this contract grow.

SHAKESPEARE, _Tempest_, act iv. sc. 1.

=ASSASSIN=, }
ASSASSINATE. }

It is difficult to say at what date the name of ‘assassin,’ given first to the emissaries of the ‘Old Man of the Mountain,’ who were sent forth on his errands of blood, and who bore this name because maddened with ‘haschisch,’ a drink drawn from hemp, was transferred to other secret slayers. The word does not occur in Shakespeare (‘assassination’ once), and only once in Milton’s verse. Neither is it found in our English Bible; although it may be a question whether ‘assassins’ would not be an apter, as it would certainly be a closer, rendering of σικάριοι, on the one occasion of this word’s appearing (Acts xxi. 38), than the ‘murderers’ which we have actually adopted.[4] The verb ‘to assassinate,’ as used by Milton, obtained a meaning which still survives in the French ‘assassiner’ and the Italian ‘assassinare,’ and signifies, as these often do, treacherously to assault, extremely to maltreat, without suggesting the actual taking away of life, which ‘to assassinate’ now always implies for us. Doubtless it was the Italian use of the word which influenced him.

These _assassins_ were a precise sect of Mahometans, and had in
them the very spirits of that poisonous superstition.--FULLER,
_Holy War_, b. ii. c. 34.

As for the custom that some parents and guardians have of
forcing marriages, it will be better to say nothing of such a
savage inhumanity, but only thus, that the law which gives not
all freedom of divorce to any creature endued with reason, so
_assassinated_, is next in cruelty.--MILTON, _The Doctrine and
Discipline of Divorce_, b. i. c. 12.

Such usage as your honourable lords
Afford me, _assassinated_ and betrayed.

MILTON, _Samson Agonistes_, 1108.

=ASSURE=, }
ASSURANCE. }

Used often in our elder writers in the sense of ‘to betroth,’ or ‘to affiance.’ See ‘Ensure,’ ‘Sure.’

_King Philip._ Young princes, close your hands.

_Austria._ And your lips too; for I am well assured
That I did so, when I was first _assured_.

SHAKESPEARE, _King John_, act ii. sc. 2.

I myself have seen Lollia Paulina, only when she was to go unto
a wedding supper, or rather to a feast when the _assurance_
was made, so beset and bedeckt all over with emeralds and
pearls.--HOLLAND, _Pliny_, vol. i. p. 256.

But though few days were before the day of _assurance_
appointed, yet Love, that saw he had a great journey to make
in a short time, hasted so himself, that before her word could
tie her to Demagoras, her heart hath vowed her to Argalus.--Sir
PHILIP SIDNEY, _Arcadia_, p. 17.

=ASTONISH.= ‘To astonish’ has now loosened itself altogether from its etymology. The man ‘astonished’ can now be hardly said to be ‘thunderstruck,’ either in a literal or a figurative sense. But continually in our early literature we shall quite fall below the writer’s intention unless we read this meaning into the word.[5]

Stone-still, _astonished_ with this deadly deed,
Stood Collatine and all his lordly crew.

SHAKESPEARE, _Lucrece_.

The knaves that lay in wait behind rose up and rolled down two
huge stones, whereof the one smote the king upon the head, the
other _astonished_ his shoulder.--HOLLAND, _Livy_, p. 1124.

The cramp-fish [the torpedo] knoweth her own force and
power, and being herself not benumbed, is able to _astonish_
others.--Id. _Pliny_, vol. i. p. 261.

In matters of religion, blind, astonished, and struck with
superstition as with a planet; in one word, monks.--MILTON,
_History of England_, b. ii.

=ASTROLOGY=, }
ASTROLOGER. }

As ‘chemist’ only little by little disengaged itself from ‘alchemist,’ and that, whether we have respect to the thing itself, or the name of the thing, so ‘astronomer’ from ‘astrologer,’ ‘astronomy’ from ‘astrology.’ It was long before the broad distinction between the lying art and the true science was recognized and fixed in words.

If any enchantress should come unto her, and make promise to
draw down the moon from heaven, she would mock these women and
laugh at their gross ignorance, who suffer themselves to be
persuaded for to believe the same, as having learned somewhat
in _astrology_.--HOLLAND, _Plutarch’s Morals_, p. 324.

The _astrologer_ is he that knoweth the course and motion
of the heavens, and teacheth the same; which is a virtue
if it pass not his bounds, and become of an _astrologer_
an _astronomer_, who taketh upon him to give judgment and
censure of these motions and courses of the heavens, what they
prognosticate and destiny unto the creature.--HOOPER, _Early
Writings_, Parker Society’s Edition, p. 731.

=ASTRONOMY=, }
ASTRONOMER. }

See ‘Astrology.’

Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck,
And yet, methinks, I have _astronomy_,
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, of seasons’ quality.

SHAKESPEARE, _Sonnets_, 14.

Bowe ye not to _astronomyers_, neither axe ye onything of fals
dyvynours.--_Levit._ xix. 31. WICLIF.

If _astronomers_ say true, every man at his birth by his
constellation hath divers things and desires appointed
him.--PILKINGTON, _Exposition upon the Prophet Aggeus_, c. i.

=ATONE=, }
ATONEMENT. }

The notion of _satisfaction_ lies now in these words rather than that of _reconciliation_. An ‘atonement’ is the _satisfaction_ of a wrong which one party has committed against another, not the _reconciliation_ of two estranged parties. This last, however, was its earlier meaning; and is in harmony with its etymology; for which see the quotation from Bishop Hall.

He and Aufidius can no more _atone_
Than violentest contrarieties.

SHAKESPEARE, _Coriolanus_, act iv. sc. 6.

His first essay succeeded so well, Moses would adventure on a
second design, to _atone_ two Israelites at variance.--FULLER,
_A Pisgah Sight of Palestine_, vol. ii. p. 92.

Having more regard to their old variance than their new
_atonement_.--Sir T. MORE, _History of King Richard III._

Ye witless gallants I beshrew your hearts,
That set such discord twixt agreeing parts
Which never can be set _at onement_ more.

Bishop HALL, _Sat._ 3. 7.

If Sir John Falstaff have committed disparagements unto you,
I am of the Church, and will be glad to do my benevolence, to
make _atonements_ and compromises between you.--SHAKESPEARE,
_Merry Wives of Windsor_, act i. sc. 1.

=ATTIRE.= In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries specially head-dress, head-gear. ‘Attired with stars’ in Milton’s beautiful lines _On Time_ is not, _clothed_ with stars, but, _crowned_ with them; compare Rev. xii. 1: ‘upon her head a crown of twelve stars.’

She tore her _attire_ from her head, and rent her golden
hair.--_The Seven Champions_, b. ii. c. 13.

With the linen mitre shall he be _attired_.--_Lev._ xvi. 4. (A.
V.)

Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed
_attire_ upon their heads.--_Ezek._ xxiii. 15 (A. V.)

The heralds call the Horns of a Stag or Buck his
_Attire_.--BRADLEY, _Fam. Dict._ s. v.

=ATTORNEY.= Seldom used now except of the attorney _at law_; being one, according to Blackstone’s definition, ‘who is put in the place, stead, or _turn_ of another to manage his matters of law;’ and even in this sense it is going out of honour, and giving way to ‘solicitor.’ But formerly any who in any cause acted in the room, behalf, or turn of another would be called his ‘attorney;’ thus Phillips (_New World of Words_) defines attorney, ‘one appointed by another man to do anything in his stead, or to take upon him the charge of his business in his absence;’ and in proof of what high use the word might have, I need but refer to the quotation which immediately follows:

Our everlasting and only High Bishop; our only _attorney_,
our mediator, only peacemaker between God and men.--_A Short
Catechism_, 1553.

_Attorneys_ are denied me,
And therefore _personally_ I lay my claim
To my inheritance of free descent.

SHAKESPEARE, _King Richard II._ act ii. sc. 3.

Tertullian seems to understand this baptism for the dead
[1 Cor. xv. 29] de vicario baptismate, of baptism by an
_attorney_, by a proxy, which should be baptized for me when I
am dead.--DONNE, _Sermons_, 1640, p. 794.

=AUTHENTIC.= A distinction drawn by Bishop Watson between ‘genuine’ and ‘authentic’ has been often quoted: ‘A _genuine_ book is that which was written by the person whose name it bears as the author of it. An _authentic_ book is that which relates matters of fact as they really happened.’ Of ‘authentic’ he has certainly not seized the true force, neither do the uses of it by good writers bear him out. The true opposite to αὐθεντικός in Greek is ἀδέσποτος, and ‘authentic’ is properly original, independent, and thus coming with authority, authoritative.[6] Thus, an ‘authentic’ document is, in its first meaning, a document written by the proper hand of him from whom it professes to proceed. In all the passages which follow it will be observed that the word might be exchanged for ‘authoritative.’

As doubted tenures, which long pleadings try,
_Authentic_ grow by being much withstood.

DAVENANT, _Gondibert_, b. ii.

Should men be admitted to read Galen or Hippocrates, and
yet the monopoly of medicines permitted to some one empiric
or apothecary, not liable to any account, there might be a
greater danger of poisoning than if these grand physicians
had never written; for that might be prescribed them by such
an _authentic_ mountebank as a cordial, which the other
had detected for poison.--JACKSON, _The Eternal Truth of
Scriptures_, b. ii. c. 23.

Which letter _in the copy_ his lordship read over, and carried
the _authentic_ with him.--HACKET, _Life of Archbishop
Williams_, part ii. p. 24.

It were extreme partiality and injustice, the flat denial
and overthrow of herself [i.e. of Justice], to put her own
_authentic_ sword into the hand of an unjust and wicked
man.--MILTON, Εἰκονοκλάστης. c. 28.

[A father] to instil the rudiments of vice into the unwary
flexible years of his poor children, poisoning their tender
minds with the irresistible _authentic_ venom of his base
example!--SOUTH, _Sermons_, vol. ii. p. 190; cf. vol. viii. p.
171.

Men ought to fly all pedantisms, and not rashly to use all
words that are met with in every English writer, whether
_authentic_ or not.--PHILLIPS, _New World of Words_, Preface.