Samuel Johnson’s great dictionary of 1755 has just been re-issued (Amazon description) and Frank brought me one as a present.
Editor Jack Lynch has usefully created an index that lists all Johnsonian insults–so beware, if you are a fatwitted finical flagitious footlicking fop of a foutra fribbling fustilarian fub.
Samuel Johnson had just the word for you.
And now I have it too.
Johnson is sometimes modest (“headgargle–a disease, I suppose, in cattle”) and sometimes lofty (“thro’ –contracted by barbarians from through.”)
He has lots of words no longer in use (“spraints–the dung of an otter”), tho the dairy industry might like “agalaxy,” which means “want of milk.”
Johnson’s definition of “network” is rightly famous for its badness:
- Network
- Anything reticulated or decussated, at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections.
But if you’re planning to look up his 1755 viewpoint on web or post or search don’t bother–if they exist, they aren’t in the abridged version.