A dictionary of the English language : in which the words are deduced from… (1755)

Eighth edition, 1799

"Cough: A convulsion of the lungs, vellicated by some sharp serosity.


Distiller: One who makes and sells pernicious and inflammatory spirits.


Dull: Not exhilaterating (sic); not delightful; as, to make dictionaries is dull work.


Excise: A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.


Far-fetch: A deep stratagem. A ludicrous word.


Jobbernowl: Loggerhead; blockhead.


Kickshaw: A dish so changed by the cookery that it can scarcely be known.


Lexicographer: A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words.


Network: Any thing reticulated or decussated, at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections. (See how he defined 'reticulated,' below.)


Oats: A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland appears to support the people.


Pastern: The knee of a horse. (This is wrong. When Johnson was once asked how he came to make such a mistake, Boswell tells us he replied, "Ignorance, Madam, pure ignorance.")


Patron: One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery.


Pension: An allowance made to any one without an equivalent. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country.


Politician: 1. One versed in the arts of government; one skilled in politicks. 2. A man of artifice; one of deep contrivance.


Reticulated: Made of network; formed with interstitial vacuities.


Tory: One who adheres to the ancient constitution of the state, and the apostolical hierarchy of the church of England, opposed to a Whig.


Whig: The name of a faction.


To worm: To deprive a dog of something, nobody knows what, under his tongue, which is said to prevent him, nobody knows why, from running mad."


Seminal. Proves that the OED and The Devil's Dictionary had a common ancestor. ( )

Book Condition: Very Good. To which is prefixed, A Grammar of of the English Language. Printed for T. Longman, B. Law & Son, J. Dodsley, J. Robson, et al, London: 1794, thick 8vo., 10th. edition, unpaginated, [pp. 966] contemporary full tree calf, rebacked, 5 raised bands, fine gilt in compartments, titled in gilt on red label, signature in ink to titlepage, otherwise a very good clean copy. Spotting to e/p's only. Scarce.

b. lichfield 1709: 1794.
johnson's father was a bookseller and former wrestling champion, and both his parents were advanced in years when he was born. tho afflicted by bad eyesight, scrofula and nervous ticks, johnson grew into a raw-boned, powerful man, and was possessed of a phenomenal memory and intense intellectual energy. his staunchness and sturdiness are legendary, yet he suffered physical and emotional torment all his life. he read widely as a boy and was sent to oxford, which he was forced to leave prematurely, as his funds were short. he married, failed as a schoolmaster, and went to london in 1737, where he labored for nearly 20 years in obscurity at translations, poetry, moralistic essays and his famous dictionary of the english languege. the later, which he completed, working alone, in 1755, made him a famous man, but he declared in its preface that, "most of those whom i wished to please, are sunk into the grave." he was pensioned by the government in 1762 and met james boswell in 1763;
these two events were to rescue him from the distress of poverty, and make him famous to posterity as the irrisistaby colorful hero of boswell's life. his writings from the period include: lives of the poets,and journey to the western isles of scotland, and while his style now began to show more restraint than formerly, the characteristic force and vigor, and the careful moralistic sensibility are still in evidence.
both as a writer and as a man Johnson has a courageous solidity and presence which are at once soothing to the mind and thrilling to the heart. to know and love Samuel Johnson, is to belong to a club whose members have in common that they must smile with ineffable satisfaction to immagine him at fullback. ( )

“… a dictionary by which the pronunciation of our language may be fixed, and its attainment facilitated; by which its purity may be preserved, its use ascertained, and its duration lengthened” -- The Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language