AN AMERICAN GLOSSARY BEING AN ATTEMPT TO ILLUSTRATE CERTAIN BY RICHARD H. THORNTON OF THE PHILADELPHIA BAR LAW PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, 1884-1906 VOL. I. AL "The new circumstances under which we are placed call for new words, new phrases, PHILADELPHIA : J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. LONDON: FRANCIS & CO. 1912 SCOT 28 APR '36 An old author has said that "A definition, like the barke with the tree, is to be neither straiter nor larger than the thing defined; and, so it comprehend all, the shorter it is the better." It would be difficult, and indeed impossible, to construct a definition of an Americanism which should be comprehensive and concise. I, at any rate, will not attempt the task. But in this compilation I have included : I. Forms of speech now obsolete or provincial in England, which survive in the U.S., such as allow, bureau, fall, gotten, guess, likely, professor, shoat. II. Words and phrases of distinctly American origin: such as belittle, lengthy, lightning-rod; to darken one's doors, to bark up the wrong tree, to come out at the little end of the horn; blind tiger, cold snap, gay Quaker, gone coon, long sauce, pay dirt, small potatoes, some pumpkins. III. Nouns which indicate quadrupeds, birds, trees, articles of food, &c., that are distinctively American such as ground-hog, hang-bird, hominy, live-oak, locust, opossum, persimmon, pone, succotash, wampum, wigwam. IV. Names of persons and classes of persons, and of places such as Buckeye, Cracker, Greaser, Hoosier, Old Bullion, Old Hickory, the Little Giant, Dixie, Gotham, the Bay State, the Monumental City. V. Words which have assumed a new meaning, such as card, clever, fork, help, penny, plunder, raise, rock, sack, ticket, windfall. VI. Words and phrases of which I have found earlier examples in American than in English writers. These are inserted with the caveat that further research may reverse * 'Barlow on Timothie,' 1832, pt. ii. p. 150. the claim. To this class belong alarmist, capitalize, eruptiveness, horse of another colour, the jig's up, nameable, omnibus bill, propaganda, whitewash. There are curious instances of survival which have not taken root, and which it seems better to insert here than in the body of the glossary :— 66 Aha! (used once by Charles Reade). 'Ah, hah, you threaten, do you? Do you threaten?"-Mr. Widgery in Congress, Massachusetts Spy, Dec. 30, 1812. Away with. "I can away with chewing, for it seems natural.". Franklin Herald, Greenfield, Mass., April 20, 1824. Bonify. To benefit. 1603, Florio's Montaigne' (N.E.D.). Capital diplomacy, for a treaty to be ratified or rejected by Senators representing States thus bonified!"—Mr. C. J. Ingersoll of Pennsylvania, House of Representatives, Aug. 26, 1842 Congressional Globe, p. 954, Appendix. Brack. A cliff or rock. Then keep the south brack aboard [sic] until they get to the point of South Beach."-Gazette of the U.S., Phila., Sept. 10, 1796. Circulate. To encircle. 15711685, N.E.D. "[With his tail] he circulated twice the neck of the horse, and at the same time seized a large tree with his fore feet."-Mass. Spy, Dec. 30, 1818. Clevis. An iron loop to which tackle may be attached. 1592, N.E.D. "Here he left gopher, geers, singletree, and a klevis, all mixed up, not worth a durn."-Oregon Weekly Times, May 12, 1855. Clinch-work. This is the clincher-work of Falconer's 'Dict.,' 1769, N.E.D. "[The schooner has] a small clinch-work boat."-Advt., Maryland Journal, Sept. 9, 1788. Clomb. "In the heroism of the moment, she clomb the window." -San Francisco Call, May 29, 1857. Coldly. Dispassionately. 1526-1873, N.E.D. "A high-spirited valiant man took a small ox goad, and, coldly belaboured one of the officers."-Mass. Spy, May 14, 1772. Daw. To play the fool. 1596, N.E.D. "Most men have but one talent; the Irish tapster had two,-a talent to daw, and a talent to drink."-Mr. Cooper of Pennsylvania, House of Repr., July 2, 1841: Congressional Globe, p. 143. 66 Defy. A challenge. Sidney, 1580, to North, 1734, N.E.D [A serjeant of police] recently issued a defy to the city police force, to eat a thousand oysters with him in a week. Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 28, 1907. Den. To occupy a den. G. Fletcher, 1610, N.E.D. "How a she-bear denned in his rock-dwelling, the first winter after he commenced clearing his land."-Lowell Offering,' i. 227. (1841.) |