Part 1

Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text.

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In this version [=e] signifies "e macron"; [)e] "e breve"; [.e] "e with dot above"; and so forth.

CHAMBERS'S TWENTIETH CENTURY DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

PRONOUNCING, EXPLANATORY, ETYMOLOGICAL, WITH COMPOUND PHRASES, TECHNICAL TERMS IN USE IN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES, COLLOQUIALISMS, FULL APPENDICES, AND COPIOUSLY ILLUSTRATED

EDITED BY REV. THOMAS DAVIDSON ASSISTANT-EDITOR OF 'CHAMBERS'S ENCYCLOPÆDIA' EDITOR OF 'CHAMBERS'S ENGLISH DICTIONARY'

LONDON: 47 Paternoster Row W. & R. CHAMBERS, LIMITED EDINBURGH: 339 High Street 1908

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CHAMBERS'S NEW LARGE TYPE ENGLISH DICTIONARY EDITED BY REV. THOMAS DAVIDSON _Pronouncing_, _Explanatory_, _Etymological_ 1264 pp. Imp. 8vo, cloth, 12/6; hf.-mor., 18/- ------ "The best one volume dictionary in existence." W. & R. CHAMBERS, LIMITED, LONDON AND EDINBURGH.

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PREFACE.

This is the third English Dictionary which the present Editor has prepared, and he may therefore lay claim to an unusually prolonged apprenticeship to his trade. It is surely unnecessary for him to say that he believes this to be the best book of the three, and he can afford to rest content if the Courteous Reader receive it with the indulgence extended to his Library Dictionary, published in the spring of 1898. It is based upon that work, but will be found to possess many serviceable qualities of its own. It is not much less in content, and its greater relative portability is due to smaller type, to thinner paper, and still more to a rigorous compression and condensation in the definitions, by means of which room has been found for many additional words.

The aim has been to include all the common words in literary and conversational English, together with words obsolete save in the pages of Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, and the Authorised Version of the Bible. An attempt has been made also to include the common terms of the sciences and the arts of life, the vocabulary of sport, those Scotch and provincial words which assert themselves in Burns, Scott, the Brontës, and George Eliot, and even the coinages of word-masters like Carlyle, Browning, and Meredith. Numberless compound idiomatic phrases have also been given a place, in each case under the head of the significant word.

Correctness in technical matters has been ensured by consulting such books as Smyth's _Sailor's Word-Book_, Voyle's _Military Dictionary_, Wilson's _Stock-Exchange Glossary_, Lee's _Glossary of Liturgical and Ecclesiastical Terms_, &c. Besides books of this class, the Editor has made constant use of special books such as Schmidt's _Shakespeare-Lexicon_, Calderwood's edition of Fleming's _Vocabulary of Philosophy_, Jamieson's _Scottish Dictionary_, the _Stanford Dictionary of Anglicised Words and Phrases_, Yule and Burnell's _Anglo-Indian Glossary_, Addis and Arnold's _Catholic Dictionary_, and the Dictionaries of the Bible of Sir William Smith and Dr Hastings.

In Latin, his authority is Lewis and Short; in Greek, Liddell and Scott; in Romance Philology, Diez and Scheler; in French, Littré; in Spanish, Velazquez; in German, Weigand and Flügel; in Gaelic, Macleod and Dewar, and M'Bain; in Hebrew, Gesenius.

In English etymology the Editor has consulted Professor Skeat's _Dictionary_ and his _Principles of English Etymology_--First and Second Series; the magistral _New English Dictionary_ of Dr James A. H. Murray and Mr Henry Bradley, so far as completed; and the only less valuable _English Dialect Dictionary_ of Professor Wright (begun 1896).

Two complete American _English Dictionaries_ still hold the first place as works of reference, Professor Whitney's _Century Dictionary_ and Funk and Wagnall's _Standard Dictionary_.

The Editor has great pleasure in acknowledging his personal obligations to his brothers, the Rev. Robert P. Davidson, B.A., of Trinity College, Oxford, and David G. Davidson, M.D., Edinburgh; and to his equally capable and courteous colleagues, Mr J. R. Pairman and David Patrick, LL.D., Editor of _Chambers's Encyclopædia_.

T. D.

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CONTENTS.

PAGE

PREFACE iii

EXPLANATIONS TO THE STUDENT v

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS DICTIONARY vii

THE DICTIONARY 1-1150

PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES 1151

ETYMOLOGY OF NAMES OF PLACES, ETC. 1158

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, TOGETHER WITH SIGNS AND SYMBOLS USED IN MEDICINE AND MUSIC 1161

CORRECT CEREMONIOUS FORMS OF ADDRESS 1174

PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF SCRIPTURE PROPER NAMES 1176

THE MORE COMMON ENGLISH CHRISTIAN NAMES, WITH THEIR ORIGIN AND MEANING 1178

WORDS AND PHRASES IN MORE OR LESS CURRENT USE FROM LATIN, GREEK, AND MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES 1184

ADDENDA 1208

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EXPLANATIONS TO THE STUDENT.

THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE WORDS.--Every word is given in its _alphabetical_ order, except in cases where, to save space, derivatives are given after and under the words from which they are derived. Each uncompounded verb has its participles, when irregular, placed after it. Exceptional plurals are also given. When a word stands after another, with no meaning given, its meanings can be at once formed from those of the latter, by adding the signification of the affix: thus the meanings of _Darkness_ are obtained by prefixing the meaning of _ness_, _state of being_, to those of _Dark_.

Many words from French and other tongues, current in English usage, but not yet fairly Anglicised, are inserted in the list of Foreign Phrases, &c., at the end, rather than in the body of the Dictionary.

THE PRONUNCIATION.--The Pronunciation is given immediately after each word, by the word being spelled anew. In this new spelling, every consonant used has its ordinary unvarying sound, _no consonant being employed that has more than one sound_. The same sounds are always represented by the same letters, no matter how varied their actual spelling in the language. No consonant used has any mark attached to it, with the one exception of _th_, which is printed in common letters when sounded as in _thick_, but in italics when sounded as in _th_en. _Unmarked vowels_ have always their short sounds, as in _lad_, _led_, _lid_, _lot_, _but_, _book_. The _marked vowels_ are shown in the following line, which is printed at the top of each page:--

f[=a]te, fär; m[=e], h[.e]r; m[=i]ne; m[=o]te; m[=u]te; m[=oo]n; _th_en.

The vowel _u_ when marked thus, _ü_, has the sound heard in Scotch _bluid_, _gude_, the French _du_, almost that of the German _ü_ in _Müller_. Where more than one pronunciation of a word is given, that which is placed first is more accepted.

THE SPELLING.--When more than one form of a word is given, that which is placed first is the spelling in current English use. Unfortunately our modern spelling does not represent the English we actually speak, but rather the language of the 16th century, up to which period, generally speaking, English spelling was mainly phonetic, like the present German. The fundamental principle of all rational spelling is no doubt the representation of every sound by an invariable symbol, but in modern English the usage of pronunciation has drifted far from the conventional forms established by a traditional orthography, with the result that the present spelling of our written speech is to a large extent a mere exercise of memory, full of confusing anomalies and imperfections, and involving an enormous and unnecessary strain on the faculties of learners. Spelling reform is indeed an imperative necessity, but it must proceed with a wise moderation, for, in the words of Mr Sweet, 'nothing can be done without unanimity, and until the majority of the community are convinced of the superiority of some one system unanimity is impossible.' The true path of progress should follow such wisely moderate counsels as those of Dr J. A. H. Murray:--the dropping of the final or inflexional silent _e_; the restoration of the historical _-t_ after breath consonants; uniformity in the employment of double consonants, as in _traveler_, &c.; the discarding of _ue_ in words like _demagogue_ and _catalogue_; the uniform levelling of the agent _-our_ into _-or_; the making of _ea = [)e]_ short into _e_ and the long _ie_ into _ee_; the restoration of _some_, _come_, _tongue_, to their old English forms, _sum_, _cum_, _tung_; a more extended use of _z_ in the body of words, as _chozen_, _praize_, _raize_; and the correction of the worst individual monstrosities, as _foreign_, _scent_, _scythe_, _ache_, _debt_, _people_, _parliament_, _court_, _would_, _sceptic_, _phthisis_, _queue_, _schedule_, _twopence-halfpenny_, _yeoman_, _sieve_, _gauge_, _barque_, _buoy_, _yacht_, &c.

Already in America a moderate degree of spelling reform may be said to be established in good usage, by the adoption of _-or_ for _-our_, as _color_, _labor_, &c.; of _-er_ for _-re_, as _center_, _meter_, &c.; _-ize_ for _-ise_, as _civilize_, &c.; the use of a uniform single consonant after an unaccented vowel, as _traveler_ for _traveller_; the adoption of _e_ for _oe_ or _æ_ in _hemorrhage_, _diarrhea_, &c.

THE MEANINGS.--The current and most important meaning of a word is usually given first. But in cases like _Clerk_, _Livery_, _Marshal_, where the force of the word can be made much clearer by tracing its history, the original meaning is also given, and the successive variations of its usage defined.

THE ETYMOLOGY.--The Etymology of each word is given after the meanings, within brackets. Where further information regarding a word is given elsewhere, it is so indicated by a reference. It must be noted under the etymology that whenever a word is printed thus, BAN, BASE, the student is referred to it; also that here the sign--is always to be read as meaning 'derived from.' Examples are generally given of words that are cognate or correspond to the English words; but it must be remembered that they are inserted merely for illustration. Such words are usually separated from the rest by a semicolon. For instance, when an English word is traced to its Anglo-Saxon form, and then a German word is given, no one should suppose that our English word is derived from the German. German and Anglo-Saxon are alike branches from a common Teutonic stem, and have seldom borrowed from each other. Under each word the force of the prefix is usually given, though not the affix. For fuller explanation in such cases the student is referred to the list of Prefixes and Suffixes in the Appendix.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS DICTIONARY.

_aor._ aorist. _abbrev._ abbreviation. _abl._ ablative. _acc._ according. _accus._ accusative. _adj._ adjective. _adv._ adverb. _agri._ agriculture. _alg._ algebra. _anat._ anatomy. _app._ apparently. _arch._ archaic. _archit._ architecture. _arith._ arithmetic. _astrol._ astrology. _astron._ astronomy. _attrib._ attributive. _augm._ augmentative. _B._ Bible. _biol._ biology. _book-k._ book-keeping. _bot._ botany. _c._ (_circa_) about. _c._, _cent._ century. _carp._ carpentry. _cf._ compare. _chem._ chemistry. _cog._ cognate. _coll._, _colloq._ colloquially. _comp._ comparative. _conch._ conchology. _conj._ conjunction. _conn._ connected. _contr._ contracted. _cook._ cookery. _corr._ corruption. _crystal._ crystallography. _dat._ dative. _demons._ demonstrative. _der._ derivation. _dial._ dialect, dialectal. _Dict._ Dictionary. _dim._ diminutive. _dub._ doubtful. _eccles._ ecclesiastical history. _e.g._ for example. _elect._ electricity. _entom._ entomology. _esp._ especially. _ety._ etymology. _fem._ feminine. _fig._ figuratively. _fol._ followed; following. _fort._ fortification. _freq._ frequentative. _fut._ future. _gen._ genitive. _gener._ generally. _geog._ geography. _geol._ geology. _geom._ geometry. _ger._ gerundive. _gram._ grammar. _gun._ gunnery. _her._ heraldry. _hist._ history. _hort._ horticulture. _hum._ humorous. _i.e._ that is. _imit._ imitative. _imper._ imperative. _impers._ impersonal. _indic._ indicative. _infin._ infinitive. _inten._ intensive. _interj._ interjection. _interrog._ interrogative. _jew._ jewellery. _lit._ literally. _mach._ machinery. _masc._ masculine. _math._ mathematics. _mech._ mechanics. _med._ medicine. _metaph._ metaphysics. _mil._ military. _Milt._ Milton. _min._ mineralogy. _mod._ modern. _Mt._ Mount. _mus._ music. _myth._ mythology. _n._, _ns._ noun, nouns. _nat. hist._ natural history. _naut._ nautical. _neg._ negative. _neut._ neuter. _n.pl._ noun plural. _n.sing._ noun singular. _N.T._ New Testament. _obs._ obsolete. _opp._ opposed. _opt._ optics. _orig._ originally. _ornith._ ornithology. _O.S._ old style. _O.T._ Old Testament. _p._, _part._ participle. _p.adj._ participial adjective. _paint._ painting. _paleog._ paleography. _paleon._ paleontology. _palm._ palmistry. _pa.p._ past participle. _pass._ passive. _pa.t._ past tense. _path._ pathology. _perf._ perfect. _perh._ perhaps. _pers._ person. _pfx._ prefix. _phil._, _philos._ philosophy. _philol._ philology. _phon._ phonetics. _phot._ photography. _phrenol._ phrenology. _phys._ physics. _physiol._ physiology. _pl._ plural. _poet._ poetical. _pol. econ._ political economy. _poss._ possessive. _Pr.Bk._ Book of Common Prayer. _pr.p._ present participle. _prep._ preposition. _pres._ present. _print._ printing. _priv._ privative. _prob._ probably. _Prof._ Professor. _pron._ pronoun; pronounced; pronunciation. _prop._ properly. _pros._ prosody. _prov._ provincial. _q.v._ which see. _R.C._ Roman Catholic. _recip._ reciprocal. _redup._ reduplication. _refl._ reflexive. _rel._ related; relative. _rhet._ rhetoric. _sculp._ sculpture. _Shak._ Shakespeare. _sig._ signifying. _sing._ singular. _spec._ specifically. _Spens_. Spenser. _subj._ subjunctive. _suff._ suffix. _superl._ superlative. _surg._ surgery. _term._ termination. _teleg._ telegraphy. _Tenn._ Tennyson. _Test._ Testament. _theat._ theatre; theatricals. _theol._ theology. _trig._ trigonometry. _ult._ ultimately. _v.i._ verb intransitive. _voc._ vocative. _v.t._ verb transitive. _vul._ vulgar. _zool._ zoology.

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Amer. American. Ar. Arabic. A.S. Anglo-Saxon. Austr. Australian. Bav. Bavarian. Beng. Bengali. Bohem. Bohemian. Braz. Brazilian. Bret. Breton. Carib. Caribbean. Celt. Celtic. Chal. Chaldean. Chin. Chinese. Corn. Cornish. Dan. Danish. Dut. Dutch. Egypt. Egyptian. Eng. English. Finn. Finnish. Flem. Flemish. Fr. French. Fris. Frisian. Gael. Gaelic. Ger. German. Goth. Gothic. Gr. Greek. Heb. Hebrew. Hind. Hindustani. Hung. Hungarian. Ice. Icelandic. Ind. Indian. Ion. Ionic. Ir. Irish. It. Italian. Jap. Japanese. Jav. Javanese. L. Latin. Lith. Lithuanian. L. L. Low or Late Latin. M. E. Middle English. Mex. Mexican. Norm. Norman. Norw. Norwegian. O. Fr. Old French. Pers. Persian. Peruv. Peruvian. Pol. Polish. Port. Portuguese. Prov. Provençal. Rom. Romance. Russ. Russian Sans. Sanskrit. Scand. Scandinavian. Scot. Scottish. Singh. Singhalese. Slav. Slavonic. Sp. Spanish. Sw. Swedish. Teut. Teutonic. Turk. Turkish. U.S. United States. W. Welsh.

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CHAMBERS'S TWENTIETH CENTURY DICTIONARY.

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the first letter in our alphabet, its corresponding symbol standing first also in many other alphabets derived from the Phoenician. It originated in the hieroglyphic picture of an eagle (Old Egyptian _ahom_), the cursive hieratic form of which was the original of the Phoenician _aleph_, an ox, from a fancied resemblance to its head and horns.--A, as a note in music, is the major sixth of the scale of C; A1, the symbol by which first-class vessels are classed in Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping, hence first-rate.

A, the indefinite article, a broken-down form of An, and used before words beginning with the sound of a consonant. [_An_ was a new development, after the Conquest, of the A.S. numeral _án_, one.]

A, ä or [=a], a _prep._, derived from the old prep. _on_, and still used, as a prefix, in _a_foot, _a_field, _a_part, _a_sleep, now_a_days, twice-_a_-day; also with verbal nouns, as _a_-building, to be _a_-doing, to set _a_-going. It is now admitted only colloquially. [Short for A.S. _an_, a dialectic form of _on_, on, in, at. See PREFIXES.]

A, ä, a dialectic corruption of _he_ or _she_, as in quoth_a_, (_Shak._) '_A_ babbled of green fields.'--A, usually written _a'_, Scotch for _all_; A, a form of the L. prep. _ab_, from, of, used before consonants, as in Thomas _à_ Kempis, Thomas _à_ Becket, &c.

AARDVARK, ard'vark, _n._ the ground-hog of South Africa. [Dut. _aarde_, earth; _vark_, found only in dim. _varken_, a pig.]

AARDWOLF, ard'w[=oo]lf, _n._ the earth-wolf of South Africa, a carnivore belonging to a sub-family of the Hyænidæ. [Dut. _aarde_, earth, _wolf_, wolf.]

AARONIC, -AL, [=a]-ron'ik, -al, _adj._ pertaining to AARON, the Jewish high-priest, or to his priesthood.--_n._ AA'RON'S-ROD (_archit._), a rod having one serpent twined round it.--AARON'S BEARD, a popular name for a number of cultivated plants--among the best known, a species of Saxifrage (_S. sarmentosa_), usually grown in hanging pots, from which hang long stems, bearing clumps of roundish, hairy leaves.

AB, ab, _n._ the eleventh month of the Jewish civil year, and the fifth of the ecclesiastical year, answering to parts of July and August. [Syriac.]

ABA, ab'a, _n._ a Syrian woollen stuff, of goat's or camel's hair, usually striped; an outer garment made of this. [Ar.]

ABACA, ab'a-ka, _n._ the native name of the so-called Manilla hemp of commerce--really a plantain, much grown in the Philippine Islands.

ABACK, a-bak', _adv._ (_naut._) said of sails pressed backward against the mast by the wind--hence (_fig._) TAKEN ABACK, taken by surprise, [A.S. _on bæc._ See ON and BACK.]

ABACOT. See BYCOCKET.

ABACTINAL, ab-ak'ti-nal, _adj._ (_zool._) remote from the actinal area, without rays.--_adv._ ABAC'TINALLY.

ABACTION, ab-ak'shun, _n._ (_law_) the stealing of a number of cattle at once.--_n._ ABAC'TOR, one who does this. [L. _abig[)e]re_, _abactum_, to drive off.]

ABACUS, ab'a-kus, _n._ a counting-frame or table: (_archit._) a level tablet on the capital of a column, supporting the entablature:--_pl._ AB'AC[=I].--_ns._ ABACIS'CUS, ABAC'ULUS, dims. of ABACUS; AB'ACIST, one who counts with the abacus. [L.--Gr. _abax_, _abakos_, a board for reckoning on.]

ABADDON, a-bad'don, _n._ the destroyer, or angel of the bottomless pit: (_Milton_) the bottomless pit, or abyss of hell itself. [Heb., from _[=a]bad_, to be lost.]

ABAFT, a-baft', _adv._ and _prep._ on the aft, hind, or stern part of a ship: behind. [Pfx. _a-_, for A.S. _on_, on, and _bæftan_, after, behind; itself made up of pfx. _be-_, and _æftan_. See AFT.]

ABALIENATE, ab-[=a]l'yen-[=a]t, _v.t._ Same as ALIENATE.