--- a/972-0.txt +++ b/972-0.txt @@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ ABORIGINIES, n. Persons of little worth found cumbering the soil of a newly discovered country. They soon cease to cumber; they fertilize. -ABRACADABRA. +ABRACADABRA, By _Abracadabra_ we signify An infinite number of things. @@ -1405,7 +1405,7 @@ Ignores the Law as 't were a straw, And wants to sin--don't let him. -CUI BONO? [Latin] What good would that do _me_? +CUI BONO?, [Latin] What good would that do _me_? CUNNING, n. The faculty that distinguishes a weak animal or person from a strong one. It brings its possessor much mental satisfaction @@ -2571,7 +2571,7 @@ these persons from swift and awful death is one of the most striking proofs of God's mercy to those that hate Him. -FORMA PAUPERIS. [Latin] In the character of a poor person--a +FORMA PAUPERIS, [Latin] In the character of a poor person--a method by which a litigant without money for lawyers is considerately permitted to lose his case. @@ -3074,7 +3074,7 @@ -HABEAS CORPUS. A writ by which a man may be taken out of jail when +HABEAS CORPUS, A writ by which a man may be taken out of jail when confined for the wrong crime. HABIT, n. A shackle for the free. @@ -3539,7 +3539,7 @@ -I is the first letter of the alphabet, the first word of the language, +I, is the first letter of the alphabet, the first word of the language, the first thought of the mind, the first object of affection. In grammar it is a pronoun of the first person and singular number. Its plural is said to be _We_, but how there can be more than one myself @@ -3718,7 +3718,7 @@ Pollo Doncas -IMPOSTOR n. A rival aspirant to public honors. +IMPOSTOR, n. A rival aspirant to public honors. IMPROBABILITY, n. @@ -4252,7 +4252,7 @@ -J is a consonant in English, but some nations use it as a vowel-- +J, is a consonant in English, but some nations use it as a vowel-- than which nothing could be more absurd. Its original form, which has been but slightly modified, was that of the tail of a subdued dog, and it was not a letter but a character, standing for a Latin verb, @@ -4323,7 +4323,7 @@ -K is a consonant that we get from the Greeks, but it can be traced +K, is a consonant that we get from the Greeks, but it can be traced away back beyond them to the Cerathians, a small commercial nation inhabiting the peninsula of Smero. In their tongue it was called _Klatch_, which means "destroyed." The form of the letter was @@ -4767,7 +4767,7 @@ live with. The liver is heaven's best gift to the goose; without it that bird would be unable to supply us with the Strasbourg _pate_. -LL.D. Letters indicating the degree _Legumptionorum Doctor_, one +LL.D., Letters indicating the degree _Legumptionorum Doctor_, one learned in laws, gifted with legal gumption. Some suspicion is cast upon this derivation by the fact that the title was formerly _LL.d._, and conferred only upon gentlemen distinguished for their wealth. At @@ -8612,7 +8612,7 @@ civilization and enlightenment, despite their obvious agency in this incomparable dictionary. -TZETZE (or TSETSE) FLY, n. An African insect (_Glossina morsitans_) +TZETZE FLY or TSETSE FLY, n. An African insect (_Glossina morsitans_) whose bite is commonly regarded as nature's most efficacious remedy for insomnia, though some patients prefer that of the American novelist (_Mendax interminabilis_). @@ -8781,7 +8781,7 @@ -W (double U) has, of all the letters in our alphabet, the only +W, (double U) has, of all the letters in our alphabet, the only cumbrous name, the names of the others being monosyllabic. This advantage of the Roman alphabet over the Grecian is the more valued after audibly spelling out some simple Greek word, like @@ -9040,7 +9040,7 @@ -X in our alphabet being a needless letter has an added invincibility +X, in our alphabet being a needless letter has an added invincibility to the attacks of the spelling reformers, and like them, will doubtless last as long as the language. X is the sacred symbol of ten dollars, and in such words as Xmas, Xn, etc., stands for Christ, not,