Chapter C: D E F G a B C' D' E' F' G' (12)

_Calculate_, to suppose, to believe, to think.

_Camp-meeting_, a meeting held in the fields or woods for religious
purposes, and where the assemblage encamps and remains several days.

_Cane-brake_, a thicket of canes.

_Car_, a carriage or wagon of a railway train. The Englishman 'travels
by rail' or 'takes the train'; the American takes or goes by the
_cars_.

_Carpet-bagger_, a needy political adventurer who carries all his
worldly goods in a carpet-bag.

_Caucus_, a private meeting of the leading politicians of a party to
agree upon the plans to be pursued in an approaching election.

_Chalk_: a _long chalk_ means a great distance, a good deal.

_Clever_, good-natured, obliging.

_Cocktail_, a stimulating drink made of brandy or gin mixed with
bitters, sugar, and water.

_Corn_, maize (in England it means wheat, or grain in general).

_Corn-husking_, or _corn-shucking_, an occasion on which a farmer
invites his neighbours to assist him in stripping the husks from his
Indian corn.

_Cow-hide_, a whip made of twisted strips of raw hide.

_Creek_, a small river or brook; not, as in England, a small arm of the
sea.

_Cunning_, small and pretty, nice, e.g. 'It was such a _cunning_ baby'.

_Dander_; to get one's _dander raised_, to have one's _dander up_, is
to have been worked into a passion.

_Dead-heads_, people who have free admission to entertainments, or who
have the use of public conveyances, or the like, free of charge.

_Depot_, a railway station.

_Down east_, in or into the New England States. A _down-easter_ is a
New Englander.

_Drummer_, a bagman or commercial traveller.

_Dry goods_, a general term for such articles as are sold by
linen-drapers, haberdashers, hosiers, &c.

_Dutch_, the German language.--_Dutchman_, a German.

_Fix_, to; to put in order, to prepare, to adjust. To fix the hair, the
table, the fire, is to dress the hair, lay the table, make up the fire.

_Fixings_, arrangements, dress, embellishments, luggage, furniture,
garnishings of any kind.

_Gerrymander_, to arrange political divisions so that in an election
one party may obtain an advantage over its opponent, even though the
latter may possess a majority of votes in the State; from the deviser
of such a scheme, named _Gerry_, governor of Massachusetts.

_Given name_, a Christian name.

_Guess_, to; to believe, to suppose, to think, to fancy; also used
emphatically, as 'Joe, will you liquor up?' 'I guess I will.'

_Gulch_, a deep abrupt ravine, caused by the action of water.

_Happen in_, to; to happen to come in or call.

_Help_, a servant.

_High-falutin_, inflated speech, bombast.

_Hoe-cake_, a cake of Indian meal baked on a hoe or before the fire.

_Indian summer_, the short season of pleasant weather usually occurring
about the middle of November.

_Johnny Cake_, a cake made of Indian corn meal mixed with milk or water
and sometimes a little stewed pumpkin; the term is also applied to a
New Englander.

_Julep_, a drink composed of brandy or whisky with sugar, pounded ice,
and some sprigs of mint.

_Log-rolling_, the assembly of several parties of wood-cutters to help
one of them in rolling their logs to the river after they are felled
and trimmed; also employed in politics to signify a like system of
mutual co-operation.

_Lot_, a piece or division of land, an allotment.

_Lumber_, timber sawed and split for use; as beams, joists, planks,
staves, hoops, &c.

_Lynch law_, an irregular species of justice executed by the populace
or a mob, without legal authority or trial.

_Mail letters_, to; to post letters.

_Make tracks_, to; to run away.

_Mitten_; to _get the mitten_ is to meet with a refusal.

_Mizzle_, to; to abscond, or run away.

_Mush_, a kind of hasty-pudding.

_Muss_, a state of confusion.

_Notions_, a term applied to every variety of small-wares.

_One-horse_: a one-horse thing is a thing of no value or importance, a
mean and trifling thing.

_Picaninny_, a negro child.

_Pile_, a quantity of money.

_Planks_, in a political sense, are the several principles which
appertain to a party; _platform_ is the collection of such principles.

_Reckon_, to; to suppose, to think.

_Rock_, a stone of any size; a pebble; as to throw _rocks_ at a dog.

_Scalawag_, a scamp, a scapegrace.

_Shanty_, a mean structure such as squatters erect; a temporary hut.

_Skedaddle_, to; to run away; a word introduced during the civil war.

_Smart_, often used in the sense of considerable, a good deal, as a
_smart chance_.

_Soft sawder_, flattering, coaxing talk.

_Span_ of horses, two horses as nearly as possible alike, harnessed
side by side.

_Spread-eagle style_, a compound of exaggeration, bombast, mixed
metaphor, &c.

_Store_, a shop, as a book _store_, a grocery _store_.

_Strike oil_, to; to come upon petroleum: hence to make a lucky hit,
especially financially.

_Stump speech_, a bombastic speech calculated to please the popular
ear, such speeches in newly-settled districts being often delivered
from stumps of trees.

_Sun-up_, sunrise.

_Tall_, great, fine (used by Shakespeare much in the same sense); _tall
talk_ is extravagant talk.

_Ticket_: to vote the _straight ticket_ is to vote for all the men or
measures your party wishes.

_Truck_, the small produce of gardens; _truck patch_, a plot in which
the smaller fruits and vegetables are raised.

_Ugly_, ill-tempered, vicious.

_Vamose_, to; to run off (from the Sp. _vamos_, let us go).

BIBLIOGRAPHY: T. Pickering, _Vocabulary of Words and Phrases Supposed to be Peculiar to America_; J. R. Bartlett, _Dictionary of Americanisms_; Schele de Vere, _Americanisms_.

AMERICAN JUTE. See _Abutilon_.

AMERICAN ORGAN. See _Organ_.

AMER'ICUS, a town of the United States, Georgia, in a good cotton and corn district. Pop. 11,000.

AMERIGO VESPUCCI ([.a]-mer-[=e]'go vesp[u:]t'ch[=e]), a maritime discoverer, after whom America has been named, born, 1451, at Florence; died, 1512, at Seville. In 1499 he coasted along the continent of America for several hundred leagues, and the publication of his narrative, while the prior discovery of Columbus was yet comparatively a secret, led to the giving of his name to the new continent.

AMERONGEN, a village in Holland. Here, at the chateau belonging to Count Goddard Bentinck, the ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II took up his residence after signing his letters of abdication at Spa on 9th Nov., 1918.

AMERSFOORT ([:a]'merz-f[=o]rt), a town in Holland, province of Utrecht, communicating by the Eem with the Zuider-Zee; manufactures woollen goods, tobacco, glass, and silk yarn. Pop. 28,777.

AMES, Fisher, American statesman, born 1758, died 1808; studied law, and became prominent in his profession--distinguished as a political orator and essayist.

AMES, Joseph, English antiquary, born at Yarmouth, 1689, died 1759. He became a ship-chandler at Wapping, devoted himself to antiquarian pursuits, and was for many years secretary to the Society of Antiquaries. His chief publication is, _Typographical Antiquities: being an historical account of Printing in England_ (1749).

AMETAB'OLA (Gr. _ametabolos_, unchangeable), a division of insects, including only the apterous or wingless insects, as lice, spring-tails, &c., which do not undergo any metamorphosis, but which escape from the egg nearly under the same form which they preserve through life.

AM'ETHYST, a violet-blue or purple variety of quartz, generally occurring crystallized in hexahedral prisms or pyramids, also in rolled fragments, composed of imperfect prismatic crystals. It is wrought into various articles of jewellery. The _oriental amethyst_ is a rare violet-coloured gem, a variety of alumina or corundum, of much brilliance and beauty. The name is generally said to be of Greek origin, and expresses some supposed quality in the stone of preventing or curing intoxication. The gem was one of the twelve stones in the breastplate of the Jewish high-priest.

AMHARA ([.a]m-h[:a]'r[.a]), a district of Abyssinia, lying between the Tacazze and the Blue Nile, but of which the limits are not well defined. The Amharic language, developed from the ancient Gheez, and written since the sixteenth century, has gradually gained ground in Southern and Central Abyssinia, and has also become the Court language.

AMHERST (am'[.e]rst), a seaport of Canada, in Nova Scotia, on an arm of Chignecto Bay, with flourishing industries, and trade by railway and sea. Pop. 10,320. Also a port of Burmah, 31 miles south of Moulmein, a health resort of Europeans. Pop. 3750.

AMHERST, Jeffrey, Lord, born 1717, died 1797; distinguished British general, who fought at Dettingen and Fontenoy, and commanded in America, where he took Louisburg, Ticonderoga, and Quebec, and restored the British prestige in Canada. He was raised to the peerage, became commander-in-chief, and ultimately field-marshal.

AMHERST, William Pitt, first earl, nephew of the above; Governor-General of India, 1823; prosecuted the first Burmese war, and suppressed the Barrackpore mutiny. Born 1773, died 1857.

AMIAN'THUS, a kind of flexible asbestos. See _Asbestos_.

AMICE (am'is), an oblong piece of linen with an embroidered apparel sewed upon it, worn under the alb by priests of the Roman Catholic Church when engaged in the sacrifice of the mass.

AMIDE, or AMINE (am'id, am'in), names used in chemistry. The amines are compounds formed by the introduction of alcohol radicles into ammonia, e.g. C_2H_5NH_2, which is known as ethylamine. They closely resemble ammonia in properties. The amides are formed by replacing one of the hydrogen atoms of ammonia by an acid radicle, e.g. C_2H_3ONH_2, which is called acetamide. They are not strongly basic, and are usually crystalline, and have high boiling-points.

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