To make answer, or disclose otherwise a consciousness of having inspired an interest in what Herbert Spencer calls "external coexistences," as Satan "squat like a toad" at the ear of Eve, responded to the touch of the angel's spear. To respond in damages is to contribute to the maintenance of the plaintiff's attorney and, incidentally, to the gratification of the plaintiff.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

(v.) Conducting disputes over minor marginal issues, while overlooking more serious ones.
Derived from the scenario of people arguing over what color to paint the bicycle shed while the house is not finished.

(also: pedantry)
(also: law of triviality)
(also: peter's principle)

(also: grammar nazi)

n. (Reporterese.) Milk.

(also: milk)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

In American politics, another throw of the dice, accorded to the player against whom they are loaded.
(also: america)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

(v.) a revolt against the authority of upper case and all formal, social-signalling tomfoolery.

(also: upper case)

(n.) something untrue that people will nonetheless believe in, and thus the exact reverse of scientific research

A mistake is only an error, it becomes a mistake when you fail to correct it
(also: error)

n. An act or event out of the order of nature and unaccountable, as beating a normal hand of four kings and an ace with four aces and a king.

(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
― Oscar Wilde
(also: Oscar Wilde quotes)

(1881-1955) Scottish biologist who discovered penicillin.
(also: 100 most influential people in the world)
(also: alexander fleming quotes)

A young person of the unfair sex addicted to clewless conduct and views that madden to crime. The genus has a wide geographical distribution, being found wherever sought and deplored wherever found. The maiden is not altogether unpleasing to the eye, nor (without her piano and her views) insupportable to the ear, though in respect to comeliness distinctly inferior to the rainbow, and, with regard to the part of her that is audible, beaten out of the field by the canary — which, also, is more portable.

---

A lovelorn maiden she sat and sang —
This quaint, sweet song sang she:
"It's O for a youth with a football bang
And a muscle fair to see!
The Captain he
Of a team to be!
On the gridiron he shall shine,
A monarch by right divine,
And never to roast on it — me!"
—Opaline Jones
(also: the devils dictionary)

something like this
(also: link isn't broken)

The feeling that one has for the plate after he has eaten its contents, madam.

(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

To bother about the best method of accomplishing an accidental result.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)

(n.) a tarot character. someone who can see the dirt beneath her feet, and the roots, and the rocks, and the bugs. as a result, she can make very good soup.

(n.) when you think copyright ain't quite alright..
this tells people they can pass along your work, eg. a helpful program, but only if they don't become middlemen that restrict its access. Copyleft guarantees every user has freedom.

https://www.gnu.org/licenses/copyleft.en.html
https://www.arl.org/copyright-timeline/
https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2009/04/01/why-copyright-extensions-are-bad-for-artists/
https://www.eff.org/issues/copyright-trolls

(also: copyright)

(noun): A single-syllable demand for the entirety of a given object or experience. Used to convey both greed and impatience, as well as a childlike sense of entitlement. May induce eye rolling and ridicule from those around you.

(also: tragedy)

(1736 – 1819) Scottish engineer. Watt improved the Newcome steam engine creating an efficient steam engine
(also: 100 most influential people in the world)
(also: james watt quotes)

Size. Magnitude being purely relative, nothing is large and nothing small. If everything in the universe were increased in bulk one thousand diameters nothing would be any larger than it was before, but if one thing remained unchanged all the others would be larger than they had been. To an understanding familiar with the relativity of magnitude and distance the spaces and masses of the astronomer would be no more impressive than those of the microscopist. For anything we know to the contrary, the visible universe may be a small part of an atom, with its component ions, floating in the life-fluid (luminiferous ether) of some animal. Possibly the wee creatures peopling the corpuscles of our own blood are overcome with the proper emotion when contemplating the unthinkable distance from one of these to another.