Definitions on this page are drawn from the first edition (1755) of
Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language. This is
not a representative sampling, just a small selection of some
of the more amusing entries.
list below might lead you to think that Johnson's Dictionary
is some bizarre collection of witticisms and oddities, but nothing
could be further from the truth: on the whole, it is a very sensible
book, and it stood as the standard for over a hundred years.
A convulsion of the lungs, vellicated by some sharp serosity.
One who makes and sells pernicious and inflammatory spirits.
Not exhilaterating (sic); not delightful; as, to make
dictionaries is dull work.
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.
A deep stratagem. A ludicrous word.
A dish so changed by the cookery that it can scarcely be known.
A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge that busies himself in
tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words.
Any thing reticulated or decussated, at equal distances, with
interstices between the intersections. (See
he defined 'reticulated,' below.)
A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in
Scotland appears to support the people.
The knee of a horse. (This is wrong. When Johnson was once asked
how he came to make such a mistake, Boswell tells us he replied,
"Ignorance, Madam, pure ignorance.")
One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who
supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery.
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.
1. One versed in the arts of government; one skilled in politicks.
2. A man of artifice; one of deep contrivance.
Made of network; formed with interstitial vacuities.
One who adheres to the ancient constitution of the state, and the
apostolical hierarchy of the church of England, opposed to a Whig.
The name of a faction.
To worm: To deprive a dog of something, nobody knows what,
under his tongue, which is said to prevent him, nobody knows why,
from running mad.