PREFACE.

diligently sought, and sometimes have been emitted, when I had no authority that invited me to insertthem; not that they are not genuine and regular offsprings of English roots, but because their relationto the primitive being always the same, their signification cannot be mistaken.

The verbal nouns in mg, such as the keeping of the castle, the leading of the army, are alwaysneglected, or placed only to illustrate the sense of the verb, except when they signify things as well asactions, and have therefore a plural number, as dwelling, living.; or have an absolute and abstractsignification, as colouring, painting, learning ,

The participles are likewise omitted, unless, by signifying rather habit or quality than action, theytake the nature of adjectives; as a thinking man, a man of prudence; a pacing horse, a horse thatcan pace: these I have ventured to call participial adjectives. But neither are these always inserted,because they are commonly to be understood, without any danger of mistake, by consulting the verb.

Obsolete words are admitted, when they are found in authors not obsolete, or when they have anyforce or beauty that may deserve revival.

As composition is one of the chief characteristicks of a language, I have endeavoured to make somereparation for the universal negligence of my predecessors, by inserting great numbers of compoundedwords, as may be found under after, jore, new, night, fair, and many more. These, numerous asthey are, might be multiplied, but that use and curiosity are here satisfied, and the frame of our lan-guage and modes of our combination amply discovered.

Of some forms of composition, such as that by which re is prefixed to note repetition, and un tosignify contrariety or privation, all the examples cannot be accumulated, because the use of these par-ticles, if not wholly arbitrary, is so little limited, that they are hourly affixed to new wqrds as occasionrequires, or is imagined to require them.

there is another kind of composition more frequent in our language than perhaps in any other, fromwhich arises to foreigners the greatest difficulty. We modify the signification of many words by a par-ticle subjoined; as to come off, to escape by a fetch; to fall on, to attack; to fall of, to apostatize ; torea )off, to stop abruptly ; to bear out, to justify ;■ to fall in, to comply; to give over, to cease ; toV’j,} 0 embellish; to set in, to begin a continual tenour; to set out, to begin a course or journey ; toe Wi to copy; -with innumerable expressions of the same kind, of which some appear widely irre-^ ar ’ being so far distant from the sense of the simple words, that no sagacity will be able to traceeps by which they arrived at the present use. These I have noted with great care; and though Iannot flatter myself that the collection is complete, I believe I have so far assisted the students of our• nguage, that this kind of phraseology will be no longer insuperable; and the combinations of verbsfound artlC ^ eS ’ ^ c b &n ce omitted, will be easily explained by comparison with those that may he

Many words yet stand supported only by the name of Bailey, Ainsworth, Philips, or the contractedic . or Dictionaries subjoined ; of these I am not ahvays certain that they are read in any book butman"^ 1? °* . ex * co § ra phers. Of such I have omitted many, because I had never read them; andhmve ave inserted, because they may perhaps exist, though they have escaped my notice: they are,conside^ d° 6 1 cons ^ erc d as resting only upon the credit of former dictionaries. Others, which II have ^fF aS j t ! se ^ u ’ ° r know to be proper, though I could not at present support them by authorities,k.; n SU e f. e ° S ^ a nd upon my own attestation, claiming the same privilege with my predecessors, ofbemg sometimes credited without proof. 1 b J 1

different f 11 * 8 s ^ ecte d and disposed, are grammatically considered; they are referred to theanrl ui, S ]°, s P e ] ec b i traced, when they are irregulary inflected, through their various terminations;norp^enrl? y ° servations, not indeed of great or striking importance, separately considered, butThat W r G UC1 a b° n our language,and hitherto neglected or forgotten by English grammarians,in wbirh^T 1 ° I "y. W ° rk ° n ^bich I expect malignity most frequently to fasten, is the Explanation ;alwavs 1° satls fy those, who are perhaps not inclined to be pleased, since I have not

cannot hn PV nl f °i ^sfy m y se lf- Fo interpret a language by itself is very difficult; many wordstion- nnr ^ s ynonimes, because the idea signified by them has not more than one appella-

unknown m- !"- aSe ’ because simple ideas cannot be described. When the nature of things is

such notions; n ° 1011 ^ nSett e ^. an ! Indefinite, and various in various minds, the words by whichconveye , oi such things denoted, will be ambiguous and perplexed. And such is