WEBSTER ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

“The United States commenced their existence under circumstances wholly novel and unexampled in the history of nations. They commenced with civilization, with learning, with science, with constitutions of free government, and with that best gift of God to man, the Christian religion. Their population is now equal to that of England; in arts and sciences, our citizens are very little behind the most enlightened people on earth; in some respects, they have no superiors; and our language, within two centuries, will be spoken by more people in this country than any other language on earth, except the Chinese, in Asia, and even that may not be an exception.” (Preface, pg. vii)

“If the language can be improved in regularity, so as to be more easily acquired by our own citizens, and by foreigners, and thus be rendered a more useful instrument for the propagation of science, arts, civilization and Christianity ...” (Preface, pg. viii)

Humanities, and so forth

HU'MAN-IST, n.

1. A professor of grammar and rhetoric; a philologist; a term used in the universities of Scotland.
2. One versed in the knowledge of human nature. Shaftesbury.

HU-MAN-I-TA'RI-AN, n. [L. humanus, humanitas.]

One who denies the divinity of Christ, and believes him to be a mere man.

HU-MAN'I-TY, n. [L. humanitas; Fr. humanité.]

1. The peculiar nature of man, by which he is distinguished from other beings. Thus Christ, by his incarnation, was invested with humanity.
2. Mankind collectively; the human race. If he is able to untie those knots, he is able to teach all humanity. [Unusual.] Glanville. It is a debt we owe to humanity. S. S. Smith.
3. The kind feelings, dispositions and sympathies of man, by which he is distinguished from the lower orders of animals; kindness; benevolence; especially, a disposition to relieve persons in distress, and to treat with tenderness those who are helpless and defenseless; opposed to cruelty.
4. A disposition to treat the lower orders of animals with tenderness, or at least to give them no unnecessary pain.
5. The exercise of kindness; acts of tenderness.
6. Philology; grammatical studies. Johnson. Humanities, in the plural, signifies grammar, rhetoric and poetry; for teaching which there are professors in the universities of Scotland. Encyc.

HU-MAN-I-ZA'TION, n.

The act of humanizing.

HU'MAN-IZE, v.t.

To soften; to render humane; to subdue dispositions to cruelty, and render susceptible of kind feelings. Was it the business of magic to humanize our natures? Addison. Witherspoon.

HU'MAN-IZ-ED, pp.

Softened; rendered humane.

HU'MAN-IZ-ING, ppr.

Softening; subduing cruel dispositions.

She sells seashells...

TONGUE-TI'ED, a.
1. Destitute of the power of distinct articulation; having an impediment in the speech. Holder.
2. Unable to speak freely, from whatever cause.
Love and tongue-tied simplicity. Shak.

THUMB, n.

THUMB, n. [Sax. thuma; G. daumen; D. duim; Dan. tomme; Sw. tumme.]
The short thick finger of the human hand, or the corresponding member of other animals.
[The common orthography is corrupt. The real word is thum.]

THREE

THREE, a.
1. Two and one.
I offer thee three things. 2 Sam. xxiv.
2. It is often used like other adjectives, without the noun to which it refers.
Abishai-attained not to the first three. 2 Sam. xxiii.
3. Proverbially, a small number.
Away, thou three-inched fool. Shak.
[I believe obsolete.]

(I like that there are 3 definitions for this word.)

COLLEGE, and related entries

COL-LEG'A-TA-RY, n. [L. con and lego, to send.]

In the civil law, a person who has a legacy left to him, in common with one or more other persons. Chambers. Johnson.

COL'LEGE, n. [L. collegium; con and lego, to gather.]

1. In its primary sense, a collection, or assembly. Hence,
2. In a general sense, a collection, assemblage or society of men, invested with certain powers and rights, performing certain duties, or engaged in some common employment, or pursuit.
3. In a particular sense, an assembly for a political or ecclesiastical purpose; as, the college of Electors, or their deputies at the diet in Ratisbon. So also, the college of princes, or their deputies; the college of cities, or deputies of the Imperial cities; the college of Cardinals, or sacred college. In Russia, the denomination, college, is given to councils of state, courts or assemblies of men intrusted with the administration of the government, and called Imperial Colleges. Of these, some are supreme, and others subordinate; as, the Supreme Imperial College; the college of foreign affairs; the college of war; the admiralty college; the college of justice; the college of commerce; the medical college. Wm. Tooke, ii. 335, 356. In Great Britain and the United States of America, a society of physicians is called a college. So, also, there are colleges of surgeons; and in Britain, a college of philosophy, a college of heralds, a college of justice, &c. Colleges of these kinds are usually incorporated or established by the supreme power of the state.
4. An edifice appropriated to the use of students who are acquiring the languages and sciences.
5. The society of persons engaged in the pursuits of literature, including the officers and students. Societies of this kind are incorporated and endowed with revenues.
6. In foreign universities, a public lecture.
7. A collection or community; as, a college of bees. [Unusual.] Dryden.

COL'LEGE-LIKE, a.

Regulated after the manner of a college.

COL-LE'GI-AL, a.

Relating to a college; belonging to a college; having the properties of a college.

COL-LE'GI-AN, n.

A member of a college, particularly of a literary institution so called; an inhabitant of a college. Johnson.

COL-LE'GI-ATE, a.

1. Pertaining to a college; as, collegiate studies.
2. Containing a college; instituted after the manner of a college; as, a collegiate society. Johnson.
3. A collegiate church is one that has no bishop's see; but has the ancient retinue of a bishop, canons and prebends. Of these, some are of royal, others of ecclesiastical foundation; and each is regulated, in matters of divine service, as a cathedral. Some of these were anciently abbeys which have been secularized. Encyc.

COL-LE'GI-ATE, n.

The member of a college. Burton.

DEAN, and related entries

DEAN, n. [Fr. doyen, the eldest of a corporation; Arm. dean; Sp. dean, decano; Port. deam, decano; It. decano; from L. decanus, the leader of a file ten deep, the head of a college, from decem, Gr. {}, W. deg, ten; so named because originally he was set over ten canons or prebendaries. Ayliffe.]

1. In England, an ecclesiastical dignitary in cathedral and collegiate churches, and the head of a chapter; the second dignitary of a diocese. Ancient deans are elected by the chapter in virtue of a conge d'elire from the king and letters missive of recommendation; but in the chapters founded by Henry VIII, out of the spoils of dissolved monasteries, the deanery is donative, and the installation merely by the king's letters patent. Encyc.
2. An officer in each college of the universities in England. Warton.
3. In the United States, a registrar in a medical school. Rural dean, or arch-presbyter, had originally jurisdiction over ten churches; but afterward he became only the bishop's substitute, to grant letters of administration, probate of wills, &c. His office is now lost in that of the archdeacon and chancellor. Encyc. Dean of a monastery, a superior established under the abbot, to ease him in taking care of ten monks. Hence his name. Encyc. Dean and Chapter, are the bishop's council, to aid him with their advice in affairs of religion, and in the temporal concerns of his see. Encyc.

DEAN'ER-Y, a.

1. The office or the revenue of a dean. Clarendon. Swift.
2. The house of a dean.
3. The jurisdiction of a dean. Each archdeaconry is divided into rural deaneries, and each deanery is divided into parishes. Blackstone.

DEAN'SHIP, n.

The office of a dean.

DEC'A-NAL, a. [See Dean.]

Pertaining to a deanery.

My all time favorite I think

FOG'GI-NESS, n. [from foggy.]

The state of being foggy; a state of the air filled with watery exhalations.

Ticklish Thursday

TICKLE, v. t.
1. To touch lightly and cause a peculiar thrilling sensation, which can not be described. A slight sensation of this kind may give pleasure, but when violent it is insufferable.

My favorite Webster quote of today.

TERM-ON-OL'O-GY, n.
This is a more correct word than Terminology and is preferred by the best authors.