Complete Works of Samuel Johnson, page 400
The reason Hudibras gives, why those, who can talk on trifles, speak with the greatest fluency, is, that the tongue is like a racehorse, which runs the faster the less weight it carries. Addison.
Racemátion. n.s. [racemus, Lat.] Cluster, like that of grapes.
A cock will in one day fertilitate the whole racemation or cluster of eggs, which are not excluded in many weeks after. Brown’s Vulgar Errours.
Racemíferous. adj. [racemus and fero, Latin.] Bearing clusters. Rácer. n.s. [from race.] Runner; one that contends in speed.
His stumbling founder’d jade can trot as high
As any other pegasus can fly;
So the dull eel moves nimbler in the mud,
Than all the swift-finn’d racers of the flood. Dorset.
A poet’s form she plac’d before their eyes,
And bade the nimblest racer seize the prize. Pope.
Ráciness. n.s. [from racy.] The quality of being racy. Rack. n.s. [racke, Dutch, from racken, to stretch.]
1. An engine to torture.
Vex not his ghost; O let him pass! he hates him
That would, upon the rack of this rough world. Shakesp. King Lear.
Did ever any man upon the rack afflict himself, because he had received a cross answer from his mistress. Taylor.
Let them feel the whip, the sword, the fire,
And in the tortures of the rack expire. Addison.
2. Torture; extreme pain.
A fit of the stone puts a king to the rack, and makes him as miserable as it does the meanest subject. Temple.
A cool behaviour sets him on the rack, and is interpreted as an instance of aversion or indifference. Addison.
3. Any instrument by which extension is performed.
These bows, being somewhat like the long bows in use amongst us, were bent only by a man’s immediate strength, without the help of any bender or rack that are used to others. Wilkins’s Mathematical Magick.
4. A distaff; commonly a portable distaff, from which they spin by twirling a ball.
The sisters turn the wheel,
Empty the woolly rack, and fill the reel. Dryden.
5. [Racke, Dutch, a track.] The clouds as they are driven by the wind.
That, which is now a horse, even with a thought
The rack dislimns, and makes it indistinct
As water is in water. Shakesp. Antony and Cleopatra.
The great globe itself,
Yea, all, which it inherit, shall dissolve;
And, like this insubstantial pageant, faded,
Leave not a rack behind. Shakesp. Tempest.
We often see against some storm,
A silence in the heav’ns, the rack stand still,
The bold winds speechless, and the orb below
As hush as death. Shakesp. Hamlet.
The winds in the upper region, which move the clouds above, which we call the rack, and are not perceived below, pass without noise. Bacon’s Natural History.
As wint’ry winds contending in the sky,
With equal force of lungs their titles try;
They rage, they roar: the doubtful rack of heav’n
Stands without motion, and the tide undriv’n. Dryden.
6. [hracca, the occiput, Saxon; racca, Islandick, hinges or joints.] A neck of mutton cut for the table.
7. A grate.
8. A wooden grate in which hay is placed for cattle.
Their bulls they send to pastures far,
Or hills, or feed them at full racks within. May’s Virgil.
The best way to feed cattle with it, is to put it in the racks, because of the great quantity they tread down. Mortimer.
He bid the nimble hours
Bring forth the steeds; the nimble hours obey:
From their full racks the gen’rous steeds retire. Addison.
9. Arrack; a spirituous liquor. See Arrack.
To Rack. v.a. [from the noun.]
1. To torment by the rack.
Hold, O dreadful Sir,
You will not rack an innocent old man. Dryden and Lee.
2. To torment; to harrass.
Th’ apostate angle, though in pain,
Vaunting aloud, but rack’d with deep despair. Milton.
3. To harrass by exaction.
The landlords there shamefully rack their tenants, exacting of them, besides his covenants, what he pleaseth. Spenser.
The commons hast thou rack’d; the clergy’s bags
Are lank and lean with thy extortions. Shakesp.
He took possession of his just estate,
Nor rack’d his tenants with increase of rent. Dryden.
4. To screw; to force to performance.
They racking and stretching scripture further than by God was meant, are drawn into sundry inconveniences. Hooker.
The wisest among the heathens racked their wits, and cast about every way, managing every little argument to the utmost advantage. Tillotson’s Sermons.
5. To stretch; to extend.
Nor have I money nor commodity
To raise a present sum;
Try what my credit can in Venice do,
That shall be rack’d even to the uttermost. Shakesp.
6. To defecate; to draw off from the lees. I know not whence this word is derived in this sense; rein, German, is clear, pure, whence our word to rinse; this is perhaps of the same race.
It is common to draw wine or beer from the lees, which we call racking, whereby it will clarify much the sooner. Bacon.
Some roll their cask about the cellar to mix it with the lees, and, after a few days resettlement, rack it off. Mortim.
To Rack. v.n. [from the noun.] To stream as clouds before the wind.
Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun,
Not separated with the racking clouds,
But sever’d in a pale clear-shining sky. Shakesp.
Rack-rent. n.s. [rack and rent.] Rent raised to the uttermost.
Have poor families been ruined by rack-rents, paid for the lands of the church? Swift’s Miscellanies.
S
Has in English the same hissing sound as in other languages, and unhappily prevails in so many of our words that it produces in the ear of a foreigner a continued sibilation.
In the beginning of words it has invariably its natural and genuine sound: in the middle it is sometimes uttered with a stronger appulse of the tongue to the palate, like z; as rose, roseate, rosy, osier, nosel, resident, busy, business. It sometimes keeps its natural sound; as loose, designation; for which I know not whether any rules can be given.
In the end of monosyllables it is sometimes s, as in this; and sometimes z, as in as, has; and generally where es stands in verbs for eth, as gives. It seems to be established as a rule, that no noun singular should end with s single: therefore in words written with diphthongs, and naturally long, an e is nevertheless added at the end, as goose, house; and where the syllable is short the s is doubled, and was once sse, as ass, anciently asse; wilderness, anciently wildernesse; distress, anciently distresse.
Sabáoth.
Sábbath.
n.s. [An Hebrew word signifying rest; sabbat, French; sabatum, Latin.]
1. A day appointed by God among the Jews, and from them established among Christians for publick worship; the seventh day set apart from works of labour to be employed in piety.
Holy Lord God of sabaoth. Common Prayer.
I purpose,
And by our holy sabbath have I sworn,
To have the due and forfeit of my bond. Shakespeare.
Glad we return’d up to the coasts of light,
Ere sabbath ev’ning. Milton.
Here ev’ry day was sabbath: only free
From hours of pray’r, for hours of charity,
Such as the Jews from servile toil releast,
Where works of mercy were a part of rest:
Such as blest angels exercise above,
Vary’d with sacred hymns and acts of love;
Such sabbaths as that one she now enjoys,
Ev’n that perpetual one, which she employs:
For such vicissitudes in heav’n there are,
In praise alternate, and alternate pray’r. Dryden.
2. Intermission of pain or sorrow; time of rest.
Never any sabbath of release
Could free his travels and afflictions deep. Daniel’s Civil War.
Nor can his blessed soul look down from heav’n,
Or break th’ eternal sabbath of his rest,
To see her miseries on earth. Dryden.
Peaceful sleep out the sabbath of the tomb,
And wake to raptures in a life to come. Pope.
Sábbathbreaker. n.s. [sabbath and break.] Violator of the sabbath day by labour or wickedness.
The usurer is the greatest sabbathbreaker, because his plough goeth every Sunday. Bacon’s Essays.
Sabbátical. adj. [sabbaticus, Lat. sabbatique, Fr. from sabbath.] Resembling the sabbath; enjoying or bringing intermission of labour.
The appointment and observance of the sabbatical year, and after the seventh sabbatical year, a year of jubilee, is a circumstance of great moment. Forbes.
Sábbatism n.s. [from sabbatum, Latin.] Observance of the sabbath superstitiously rigid. Sábine. n.s. [sabine, Fr. sabina, Latin.] A plant.
Sabine or savin will make fine hedges, and may be brought into any form by clipping, much beyond any of the sorts of trees commonly made use of for that purpose. Mortimer.
Sáble. adj. [Fr.] Black. A word used by heralds and poets.
By this the drooping daylight ‘gan to fade,
And yield his room to sad succeeding night,
Who with her sable mantle ‘gan to shade
The face of earth, and ways of living wight. Fairy Queen.
With him inthron’d
Sat sable vested night, eldest of things,
The consort of his reign. Milton’s Paradise Lost.
They soon begin that tragick play,
And with their smoaky cannons banish day:
Night, horrour, slaughter, with confusion meet,
And in their sable arms embrace the fleet. Waller.
Adoring first the genius of the place,
And night, and all the stars that gild her sable throne. Dryd.
Sáble n.s. [zibella, Latin.] Fur.
Sable is worn of great personages, and brought out of Russia, being the fur of a little beast of that name, esteemed for the perfectness of the colour of the hairs, which are very black. Hence sable, in heraldry, signifies the black colour in gentlemens arms. Peacham on Blazoning.
Furiously running in upon him, with tumultuous speech, he violently raught from his head his rich cap of sables. Knolles.
The peacocks plumes thy tackle must not fail,
Nor the dear puchase of the sable’s tail. Gay.
Sábliere. n.s. [French.]
1. A sandpit. Bailey.
2. [In carpentry.] A piece of timber as long, but not so thick, as a beam. Bailey.
Sábre. n.s. [sabre, French; I suppose, of Turkish original.] A cymetar; a short sword with a convex edge; a faulchion.
To me the cries of fighting fields are charms;
Keen by my sabre, and of proof my arms;
I ask no other blessing of my stars,
No prize but fame, no mistress but the wars. Dryden.
Seam’d o’er with wounds, which his own sabre gave,
In the vile habit of a village slave,
The foe deceiv’d. Pope’s Odyssey.
Sabulósity. n.s. [from sabulous.] Grittiness; sandiness. Sábulous. adj. [sabulum, Latin.] Gritty; sandy. Saccáde. n.s. [French.] A violent check the rider gives his horse, by drawing both the reins very suddenly: a correction used when the horse bears heavy on the hand. Bailey.
Sáccharine. adj. [saccharum, Latin.] Having the taste or any other of the chief qualities of sugar.
Manna is an essential saccharine salt, sweating from the leaves of most plants. Arbuthnot on Aliments.
Sacerdótal. adj. [sacerdotalis, Latin.] Priestly; belonging to the priesthood.
They have several offices and prayers, especially for the dead, in which functions they use sacerdotal garments. Stillingfl.
He fell violently upon me, without respect to my sacerdotal orders. Dryden’s Spanish Friar.
If ample powers, granted by the rulers of this world, add dignity to the persons intrusted with these powers, behold the importance and extent of the sacerdotal commission. Atterbury.
Sáchel. n.s. [sacculus, Lat.] A small sack or bag. Sack. n.s. [,שק Hebrew; σάκκος; saccus, Latin; sæc, Sax. It is observable of this word, that it is found in all languages, and it is therefore conceived to be antediluvian.]
1. A bag; a pouch; commonly a large bag.
Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city,
And we be lords and rulers over Roan. Shak. Henry VI.
Vastius caused the authors of that mutiny to be thrust into sacks, and in the sight of the fleet cast into the sea. Knolles.
2. The measure of three bushels.
3. A woman’s loose robe.
Sack. n.s. [from the verb.]
1. Storm of a town; pillage; plunder.
If Saturn’s son bestows
The sack of Troy, which he by promise owes,
Then shall the conqu’ring Greeks thy loss restore. Dryden.
2. A kind of sweet wine, now brought chiefly from the Canaries. [Sec, French, of uncertain etymology; but derived by Skinner, after Mandeslo, from Xeque, a city of Morocco.]
Please you drink a cup of sack. Shakespeare.
The butler hath great advantage to allure the maids with a glass of sack. Swift.
To Sack. v.a. [from the noun.]
1. To put in bags.
Now the great work is done, the corn is ground,
The grist is sack’d, and every sack well bound. Betterton.
2. [From sacar, Spanish.] To take by storm; to pillage; to plunder.
Edward Bruce spoiled and burnt all the old English pale inhabitants and sacked and rased all cities and corporate towns. Spenser on Ireland.
I’ll make thee stoop and bend thy knee,
Or sack this country with a mutiny. Shakesp. Henry VI.
What armies conquer’d, perish’d with thy sword?
What cities sack’d? Fairfax.
Who sees these dismal heaps, but would demand
What barbarous invader sack’d the land? Denham.
The pope himself was ever after unfortunate, Rome being twice taken and sacked in his reign. South’s Sermons.
The great magazine for all kinds of treasure is the bed of the Tiber: when the Romans lay under the apprehensions of seeing their city sacked by a barbarous enemy, they would take care to bestow such of their riches this way as could best bear the water. Addison.
Sáckbut. n.s. [sacabuche, Spanish; sambuca, Latin; sambuque, French.] A kind of pipe.
The trumpets, sackbuts, psalteries and fife,
Make the sun dance. Shakesp. Coriolanus.
Sáckcloath. n.s. [sack and cloath.] Cloath of which sacks are made; coarse cloath sometimes worn in mortification.
A sort of coarse stuff made of goats hair, of a black or dark colour, worn by soldiers and mariners; and used as a habit among the Hebrews in times of mourning and distress. It was called sackcloth, either because sacks were made of this sort of stuff, or because haircloaths were straight and close like a sack. Calmet.
To augment her painful penance more,
Thrice every week in ashes she did sit,
And next her wrinkled skin rough sackcloth wore. F. Queen.
Thus with sackcloath I invest my woe,
And dust upon my clouded forehead throw. Sandys.
Being clad in sackcloath, he was to lie on the ground, and constantly day and night to implore God’s mercy for the sin he had committed. Ayliffe’s Parergon.
Sácker. n.s. [from sack.] One that takes a town. Sáckful. n.s. [sack and full.] Top full.
Wood goes about with sackfuls of dross, odiously misrepresenting his prince’s countenance. Swift.
T
A consonant, which, at the beginning and end of words, has always the same sound nearly approaching to the d; but before an i, when followed by a vowel, has the sound of an obscure s: as, nation, salvation, except when s precedes t: as, Christian, question.
Tábby. adj. Brindled; brindled; varied with different colours.
A tabby cat in the chimney-corner. Addison.
On her tabby rival’s face,
She deep will mark her new disgrace. Prior.
Tábby. n.s. [tabi, tabino, Italian; tabis, French.] A kind of waved silk.
Brocades, and tabies, and gauses. Swift.
Tabefáction. n.s. [tabefacio, Latin.] The act of wasting away. Tábefy. v.n. [tabefacio, Latin.] To waste; to be extenuated by disease. In the following example it is improperly a verb active.
Meat eaten in greater quantity than is convenient tabefies the body. Harvey on Consumption.
Táchygraphy. n.s. [ταχὺς and γράφω.] The art or practice of quick writing. Tail. n.s. [tæʒl, Saxon.]
1. That which terminates the animal behind; the continuation of the vertebræ of the back hanging loose behind.
Oft have I seen a hot o’er-weening cur,
Run back and bite, because he was with-held,
Who, having suffer’d with the bear’s fell paw,
Hath clapt his tail betwixt his legs and cry’d. Shakespeare.
This sees the cub, and does himself oppose,
And men and boats his active tail confounds. Waller.
The lion will not kick, but will strike such a stroke with his tail, that will break the back of his encounter. More.
Rouz’d by the lash of his own stubborn tail,
Our lion now will foreign foes assail. Dryden.
The tail fin is half a foot high, but underneath level with the tail. Grew.
2. The lower part.
The Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail, and thou shalt be above, and not beneath. Deut. xxviii. 13.
3. Any thing hanging long; a cat-kin.
Duretus writes a great praise of the distilled water of those tails that hang upon willow trees. Harvey on Consumptions.
4. The hinder part of any thing.
With the helm they turn and steer the tail. Butler.
5. To turn Tail. To fly; to run away.
