Complete Works of Samuel Johnson

by Samuel Johnson

  Some there are, as camels and sheep, which carry no name in ichthyology. Brown’s Vulgar Errours.

  Ichthyóphagy. n.s. [ἰχθὺς and φάγω.] Diet of fish; the practice of eating fish. Ícicle. n.s. [from ice.] A shoot of ice hanging down from the upper part.

  If distilled vinegar or aqua-fortis be poured into the powder of loadstone, the subsiding powder, dried, retains some magnetical virtue; but if the menstruum be evaporated to a consistence, and afterwards doth shoot into icicles, or crystals, the loadstone hath no power upon them. Brown’s Vulgar Err.

  From locks uncomb’d, and from the frozen beard,

  Long icicles depend, and crackling sounds are heard. Dryd.

  The common dropstone consists principally of spar, and is frequently found in form of an icicle, hanging down from the tops and sides of grotto’s. Woodward’s Nat. History.

  Íciness. n.s. [from icy.] The state of generating ice. Ícon. n.s. [ἐικὼν.] A picture or representation.

  Boysardus, in his tract of divination, hath set forth the icons of these ten, yet added two others. Brown’s Vulg. Err.

  Some of our own nations, and many Netherlanders, whose names and icons are published, have deserved good commendation. Hakewill on Providence.

  Icónoclast. n.s. [iconoclaste, French; ἔικονοκλαστης.] A breaker of images. Iconólogy. n.s. [iconologie, French; ἐικὼν and λέγω.] The doctrine of picture or representation. Ictérical. n.s. [icterique, French; icterus, Latin.]

  1. Afflicted with the jaundice.

  In the jaundice the choler is wanting, and the icterical have a great sourness, and gripes with windiness. Floyer.

  2. Good against the jaundice.

  J

  To Jábber. v.n. [gabberen, Dutch.] To talk idly; to prate without thinking; to chatter.

  We scorn, for want of talk, to jabber

  Of parties. Swift.

  Jábberer. n.s. [from jabber.] One who talks inarticulately or unintelligibly.

  Out cant the Babylonian labourers

  At all their dialects of jabberers. Hudibras, p. iii.

  Jácent. adj. [jacens, Latin.] Lying at length.

  So laid, they are more apt in swagging down to pierce than in the jacent posture. Wotton’s Architect.

  Jacínth. n.s. [for hyacinth, as Jerusalem for Hierusalem.]

  1. The same with hyacinth.

  2. A gem of a deep redish yellow approaching to a flame colour, or the deepest amber. Woodward’s Met. Foss.

  Jack. n.s. [Probably by mistake from Jaques, which in French is James.]

  1. The diminutive of John. Used as a general term of contempt for saucy or paltry fellows.

  I am in estimation:

  You will perceive that a Jack gardant cannot

  Office me from my son Coriolanus. Shakespeare.

  I have in my mind

  A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks,

  Which I will practise. Shakes. Merchant of Venice.

  Every Jack slave hath his belly-full of fighting, and I must go up and down like a cock that nobody can match. Shakesp.

  2. The name of instruments which supply the place of a boy, as an instrument to pull off boots.

  Foot-boys, who had frequently the common name of jack given them, were kept to turn the spit, or to pull off their masters boots; but when instruments were invented for both those services, they were both called jacks. Watt’s Logick.

  3. An engine which turns the spit.

  The excellencies of a good jack are, that the jack frame be forged and filed square; that the wheels be perpendicularly and strongly fixed on the squares of the spindles; that the teeth be evenly cut, and well smoothed; and that the teeth of the worm-wheel fall evenly into the groove of the worm. Moxon.

  The ordinary jacks, used for roasting of meat, commonly consist but of three wheels. Wilkin’s Math. Magick.

  Clocks and jacks, though the screws and teeth be never so smooth, yet, if not oiled, will hardly move. Ray.

  A cookmaid, by the fall of a jack weight upon her head, was beaten down. Wiseman’s Surgery.

  Some strain in rhyme; the muses on their racks

  Scream, like the winding of ten thousand jacks. Pope.

  4. A young pike.

  No fish will thrive in a pond where roach or gudgeons are, except jacks. Mortimer’s Husbandry.

  5. [Jacque, French.] A coat of mail.

  The residue were on foot, well furnished with jack and skull, pike, dagger, bucklers made of board, and slicing swords, broad, thin, and of an excellent temper. Hayward.

  6. A cup of waxed leather.

  Dead wine, that stinks of the borrachio, sup

  From a foul jack, or greasy mapple cup. Dryden’s Pers.

  7. A small bowl thrown out for a mark to the bowlers.

  ’Tis as if one should say, that a bowl equally poised, and thrown upon a plain bowling-green, will run necessarily in a direct motion; but if it be made with a byass, that may decline it a little from a straight line, it may acquire a liberty of will, and so run spontaneously to the jack. Bentley’s Sermons.

  8. A part of the musical instrument called a virginal.

  In a virginal, as soon as ever the jack falleth, and toucheth the string, the sound ceaseth. Bacon’s Natural History.

  9. The male of animals.

  A jack ass, for a stallion, was bought for three thousand two hundred and twenty-nine pounds three shillings and four pence. Arbuthnot on Coins.

  10. A support to saw wood on. Ainsworth.

  11. The colours or ensign of a ship. Ainsworth.

  12. A cunning fellow who can turn to anything.

  Jack of all trades, show and sound;

  An inverse burse, an exchange under ground. Cleaveland.

  Jack Boots. n.s. [from jack, a coat of mail.] Boots which serve as armour to the legs.

  A man on horseback, in his breeches and jack boots, dressed up in a commode and a night-rail. Spectator.

  Jack by the Hedge. n.s. An herb.

  Jack by the hedge is an herb that grows wild under hedges, is eaten as other sallads are, and much used in broth. Mortim.

  Jack Pudding. n.s. [jack and pudding.] A zani; a merry Andrew.

  Every jack pudding will be ridiculing palpable weaknesses which they ought to cover. L’Estrange.

  A buffoon is called by every nation by the the name of the dish they like best: in French jean pottage, and in English jack pudding. Guardian.

  Jack pudding, in his party-colour’d jacket,

  Tosses the glove, and jokes at ev’ry packet. Gay.

  Jack with a Lantern. An ignis fatuus. Jackál. n.s. [chacal, French.] A small animal supposed to start prey for the lyon.

  The Belgians tack upon our rear,

  And raking chase-guns through our sterns they send:

  Close by their fireships, like jackals, appear,

  Who on their lions for the prey attend. Dryd. Ann. Mirab.

  The mighty lyon, before whom stood the little jackal, the faithful spy of the king of beasts. Arbuth. and Pope’s M. Scrib.

  Jackalént. n.s. [Jack in Lent, a poor starven fellow.] A simple sheepish fellow.

  You little jackalent, have you been true to us?

  — Ay, I’ll be sworn. Shakesp. Merry Wives of Windsor.

  Jáckanapes. n.s. [jack and ape.]

  1. Monkey; an ape.

  2. A coxcomb; an impertinent.

  Which is he?

  — That jackanapes with scarfs. Shakesp.

  People wondered how such a young upstart jackanapes should grow so pert and saucy, and take so much upon him. Arbuth.

  Jackdáw. n.s. [jack and daw.] A cock daw; a bird taught to imitate the human voice.

  To impose on a child to get by heart a long scroll of phrases, without any ideas, is a practice fitter for a jackdaw than for any thing that wears the shape of man. Watts.

  Jácket. n.s. [jacquet, French.]

  1. A short coat; a close waistcoat.

  In a blue jacket, w
ith a cross of red. Hubberd’s Tale.

  And hens, and dogs, and hogs a feeding by;

  And here a sailor’s jacket hangs to dry. Swift.

  Jack pudding, in his party-colour’d jacket,

  Tosses the glove, and jokes at ev’ry packet. Gay.

  2. To beat one’s Jacket, is to beat the man.

  She fell upon the jacket of the parson, who stood gaping at her. L’Estrange.

  Jácob’s Ladder. n.s. The same with Greek valerian. Jácob’s Staff. n.s.

  1. A pilgrim’s staff.

  2. Staff concealing a dagger.

  3. A cross staff; a kind of astrolabe.

  Jácobine. n.s. A pidgeon with a high tuft. Ainsworth.

  Jactitátion. n.s. [jactito, Latin.] Tossing; motion; restlessness; heaving.

  If the patient be surprised with jactitation, or great oppression about the stomach, expect no relief from cordials. Harv.

  Jaculátion. n.s. [jaculatio, jaculor, Latin.] The act of throwing missive weapons.

  So hills amid’ the air encounter’d hills,

  Hurl’d to and fro with jaculation dire. Milt. Parad. Lost.

  Jade. n.s. [The etymology of this word is doubtful: Skinner derives it from gaad, a goad, or spur.]

  1. A horse of no spirit; a hired horse; a worthless nag.

  Alas, what wights are these that load my heart!

  I am as dull as Winter-starved sheep,

  Tir’d as a jade in overloaden cart. Sidney.

  When they should endure the bloody spur,

  They fall their crest, and, like deceitful jades,

  Sink in the tryal. Shakesp. Julius Cæsar.

  The horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks,

  With torchstaves in their hand; and their poor jades

  Lob down their heads, dropping the head and hips. Shakes.

  To other regions

  France is a stable, we that dwell in’t jades;

  Therefore to th’ war. Shakes. All’s well that ends well.

  So have I seen with armed heel

  A wight bestride a commonweal,

  While still the more he kick’d and spurr’d,

  The less the sullen jade has stirr’d. Hudibras, p. i.

  The plain nag came upon the trial to prove those to be jades that made sport with him. L’Estrange.

  False steps but help them to renew their race,

  As, after stumbling, jades will mend their pace. Pope.

  2. A sorry woman. A word of contempt noting sometimes age, but generally vice.

  Shall these, these old jades, past the flower

  Of youth, that you have, pass you. Chapman’s Iliads.

  But she, the cunning’st jade alive,

  Says, ’tis the ready way to thrive,

  By sharing female bounties. Stepney.

  Get in, huffy: now will I personate this young jade, and discover the intrigue. Southerne’s Innocent Adultery.

  In di’monds, pearl, and rich brocades,

  She shines the first of batter’d jades,

  and flutters in her pride. Swift.

  3. A young woman: in irony and slight contempt.

  You see now and then some handsome young jades among them: the sluts have very often white teeth and black eyes. Add.

  K.

  A letter borrowed by the English from the Greek alphabet. It has before all the vowels one invariable sound: as, keen, ken, kill; but is not much in use, except after c at the end of words: as, knock, clock, crack, back, brick, stick, pluck, check, which were written anciently with e final: as, clocke, checke, tricke. It is also in use between a vowel and the silent e final: as, cloke, broke, brake, pike, duke, eke. It likewise ends a word after a diphthong: as, look, break, shook, leek. The English never use c at the end of a word. K is silent in the present pronunciation before n: as, knife, knee, knell.

  Kálendar. n.s. [now written calendar.] An account of time.

  Let this pernicious hour

  Stand as accursed in the kalendar. Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

  Káli. n.s. [an Arabick word.] Sea-weed, of the ashes of which glass was made, whence the word alkali.

  The ashes of the weed kali is sold to the Venetians for their glass works. Bacon.

  Kam. adj. Crooked.

  Kam, in Erse, is squint-eyed, and applied to any thing awry: clean kam signifies crooked, athwart, awry, cross from the purpose. A-schembo, Italian, hence our English a-kimbo. Clean kam is, by vulgar pronunciation, brought to kim kam.

  The blood he hath lost, he dropt it for his country:

  And what is left, to lose it by his country,

  Were to us all that do’t and suffer it,

  A brand to th’ end o’ th’ world.

  — This is clean kam.

  — Meerly awry. Shakespeare.

  Kaw. n.s. [from the verb.] The cry of a raven or crow.

  The dastard crow that to the wood made wing,

  With her loud kaws her craven-kind doth bring,

  Who, safe in numbers, cuff the noble bird. Dryden.

  To Kaw. v.n. [from the sound.] To cry as a raven, crow, or rook. See Caw.

  Jack-daws kawing and fluttering about the nests, set all their young ones a gaping; but having nothing in their empty mouths but noise and air, leave them as hungry as before. Locke.

  Kayle. n.s. [quille, French.]

  1. Ninepin; kettlepins, of which skittles seem a corruption.

  And now at keels they try a harmless chance,

  And now their cur they try to fetch and dance. Sidney.

  The residue of the time they wear out at coits, kayles, or the like idle exercises. Carew’s Survey of Cornwall.

  2. A kind of play still retained in Scotland, in which nine holes ranged in three’s are made in the ground, and an iron bullet rolled in among them.

  To Keck. v.n. [kecken, Dutch.] To heave the stomach; to reach at vomiting.

  All those diets do dry up humours and rheums, which they first attenuate, and while the humour is attenuated it troubleth the body a great deal more; and therefore patients must not keck at them at the first. Bacon’s Nat. Hist. № 68.

  The faction, is it not notorious?

  Keck at the memory of glorious. Swift’s Miscel.

  To Kéckle a cable. To defend a cable round with rope. Ainsworth. Kécksy. n.s. [commonly kex, cigue, French; cicuta, Latin. Skinner.] Skinner seems to think kecksy or kex the same as hemlock. It is used in Staffordshire both for hemlock, and any other hollow jointed plant.

  Nothing teems

  But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burs,

  Losing both beauty and utility. Shakesp. Henry V.

  Kécky. adj. [from kex.] Resembling a kex.

  An Indian sceptre, made of a sort of cane, without any joint, and perfectly round, consisteth of hard and blackish cylinders, mixed with a soft kecky body; so as at the end cut transversly, it looks as a bundle of wires. Grew.

  To Kedge. v.a. [kaghe, a small vessel, Dutch.]

  In bringing a ship up or down a narrow river, when the wind is contrary to the tide, they set the fore-sail, or fore-top-sail and mizzen, and so let her drive with the tide. The sails are to flat her about, if she comes too near the shore. They also carry out an anchor in the head of the boat, with a hawser that comes from the ship; which anchor, if the ship comes too near the shore, they let fall in the stream, and so wind her head about it; then weigh the anchor again when she is about, which is called kedging, and from this use the anchor a kedger. Harris.

  Kédger. n.s. [from kedge.] A small anchor used in a river. See Kedge. Kédlack. n.s. A weed that grows among corn; charlock. Tusser.

  Kee, the provincial plural of cow, probably kine.

  A lass that Cic’ly hight had won his heart,

  Cic’ly the western lass that tends the kee. Gay’s Past.

  Keel n.s. [cœle, Saxon; kiel, Dutch; quille, Fr.] The bottom of the ship.

  Portunus

  Heav’d up his lighten’d keel, and sunk the sand,

  And
steer’d the sacred vessel. Dryden.

  Her sharp bill serves for a keel to cut the air before her; her tail she useth as her rudder. Grew’s Cosmol. b. i.

  Your cables burst, and you must quickly feel

  The waves impetuous ent’ring at your keel. Swift.

  To Keel. v.a. [cælan, Saxon.] This word, which is preserved in Shakespeare, probably signifies to cool, though Hanmer explains it otherwise.

  To keel seems to mean to drink so deep as to turn up the bottom of the pot, like turning up the keel of a ship. Hanmer.

  While greasy Joan doth keel the pot. Shakespeare.

  Kéelfat. n.s. [cœlan, Saxon, to cool, and fat or vat, a vessel.] Cooler; tub in which liquor is let to cool. To Kéelhale. v.a. [keel and hale.] To punish in the seamens way, by dragging the criminal under water on one side of the ship and up again on the other. Keels, the same with kayles, which see. Kéelson. n.s. The next piece of timber in a ship to her keel, lying right over it next above the floor timber. Harris.

  L

  A liquid consonant, which preserves always the same sound in English. In the Saxon it was aspirated a hlaf, loaf; hlœfdiʒ, lady.

  At the end of a monosyllable it is always doubled; as, shall; still; full, except after a diphthong; as, fail; feel; veal; cool. In a word of more syllables it is written single; as, channel; canal; tendril. It is sometimes put before e, and sounded feebly after it; as bible; title.

  La. interject. [corrupted by an effeminate pronunciation from lo.] See; look; behold.

  La you! if you speak ill of the devil,

  How he takes it at heart. Shakes. Twelfth Night.

  Lábdanum. n.s. A resin of the softer kind, of a strong and not unpleasant smell, and an aromatick, but not agreeable taste. This juice exsudates from a low spreading shrub, of the cistus kind, in Crete, and the neighbouring islands; and the Grecian women make balls of it with a small admixture of ambergrease, by way of a perfume. It was formerly used externally in medicine, but is now neglected. Hill.

  To Lábefy. v.a. [labefacio, Latin.] To weaken; to impair. Dict. Lábel. n.s. [labellum, Latin.]

  1. A small slip or scrip of writing.

  When wak’d, I found

  This label on my bosom; whose containing

  Is so from sense in hardness, that I can

  Make no collection of it. Shakespeare’s Cymbeline.