adj. The comparative degree of too much.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
adj. Conforming a local and mutable standard of right. Having the quality of general expediency.
It is sayd there be a raunge of mountaynes in the Easte, on one syde of the which certayn conducts are immorall, yet on the other syde they are holden in good esteeme; wherebye the mountayneer is much conveenyenced, for it is given to him to goe downe eyther way and act as it shall suite his moode, withouten offence.
—Gooke's Meditations
(also: moral backsliding)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
It is sayd there be a raunge of mountaynes in the Easte, on one syde of the which certayn conducts are immorall, yet on the other syde they are holden in good esteeme; wherebye the mountayneer is much conveenyenced, for it is given to him to goe downe eyther way and act as it shall suite his moode, withouten offence.
—Gooke's Meditations
(also: moral backsliding)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. A structure intended to commemorate something which either needs no commemoration or cannot be commemorated.
The bones of Agamemnon are a show,
And ruined is his royal monument,
but Agamemnon's fame suffers no diminution in consequence. The monument custom has its reductiones ad absurdum in monuments "to the unknown dead" — that is to say, monuments to perpetuate the memory of those who have left no memory.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
The bones of Agamemnon are a show,
And ruined is his royal monument,
but Agamemnon's fame suffers no diminution in consequence. The monument custom has its reductiones ad absurdum in monuments "to the unknown dead" — that is to say, monuments to perpetuate the memory of those who have left no memory.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. A high ecclesiastical title, of which the Founder of our religion overlooked the advantages.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
adj. Composed of words of one syllable, for literary babes who never tire of testifying their delight in the vapid compound by appropriate googoogling. The words are commonly Saxon — that is to say, words of a barbarous people destitute of ideas and incapable of any but the most elementary sentiments and emotions.
The man who writes in Saxon
Is the man to use an ax on.
—Judibras
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
The man who writes in Saxon
Is the man to use an ax on.
—Judibras
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. A financial doctrinaire in 1896; in 1904 a purveyor of "crow" to the masses.
(also: list of all isms)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: list of all isms)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. One who worships at the shrine of his ancestral cell
(also: list of all isms)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: list of all isms)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. An arboreal animal which makes itself at home in genealogical trees
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. A blessing that is of no advantage to us excepting when we part with it. An evidence of culture and a passport to polite society. Supportable property.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. A person engaged in reigning. Formerly the monarch ruled, as the derivation of the word attests, and as many subjects have had occasion to learn. In Russia and the Orient the monarch has still a considerable influence in public affairs and in the disposition of the human head, ((also: vladimir putin)) but in western Europe political administration is mostly entrusted to his ministers, he being somewhat preoccupied with reflections relating to the status of his own head.
(also: governing people)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: governing people)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. The ultimate, indivisible unit of matter. (See MOLECULE.) According to Leibnitz, as nearly as he seems willing to be understood, the monad has body without bulk, and mind without manifestation — Leibnitz knows him by the innate power of considering. He has founded upon him a theory of the universe, which the creature bears without resentment, for the monad is a gentleman. Small as he is, the monad contains all the powers and possibilities needful to his evolution into a German philosopher of the first class — altogether a very capable little fellow. He is not to be confounded with the microbe, or bacillus; by its inability to discern him, a good microscope shows him to be of an entirely distinct species.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. The ultimate, indivisible unit of matter. It is distinguished from the corpuscle, also the ultimate, indivisible unit of matter, by a closer resemblance to the atom, also the ultimate, indivisible unit of matter. Three great scientific theories of the structure of the universe are the molecular, the corpuscular and the atomic. A fourth affirms, with Haeckel, the condensation or precipitation of matter from ether — whose existence is proved by the condensation or precipitation. The present trend of scientific thought is toward the theory of ions. The ion differs from the molecule, the corpuscle and the atom in that it is an ion. A fifth theory is held by idiots, but it is doubtful if they know any more about the matter than the others.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. A title with which we brand unmarried women to indicate that they are in the market. Miss, Missis (Mrs.) and Mister (Mr.) are the three most distinctly disagreeable words in the language, in sound and sense. Two are corruptions of Mistress, the other of Master. In the general abolition of social titles in this our country they miraculously escaped to plague us. If we must have them let us be consistent and give one to the unmarried man. I venture to suggest Mush, abbreviated to Mh.
(also: misfortune)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: misfortune)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. A dagger which in mediæval warfare was used by the foot soldier to remind an unhorsed knight that he was mortal.
(also: weapon)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: weapon)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. An infraction of the law having less dignity than a felony and constituting no claim to admittance into the best criminal society.
By misdemeanors he essayed to climb
Into the aristocracy of crime.
O, woe was him! — with manner chill and grand
"Captains of industry" refused his hand,
"Kings of finance" denied him recognition
And "railway magnates" jeered his low condition.
He robbed a bank to make himself respected.
They still rebuffed him, for he was detected.
—S.V. Hanipur
(also: crime)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
By misdemeanors he essayed to climb
Into the aristocracy of crime.
O, woe was him! — with manner chill and grand
"Captains of industry" refused his hand,
"Kings of finance" denied him recognition
And "railway magnates" jeered his low condition.
He robbed a bank to make himself respected.
They still rebuffed him, for he was detected.
—S.V. Hanipur
(also: crime)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. A person of the highest degree of unworth. Etymologically, the word means unbeliever, and its present signification may be regarded as theology's noblest contribution to the development of our language.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
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)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
sign-up or face the consequences!
“"observers" must obey the call.”
join