n.
1.A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
2.The argument of an opponent. A belief in which one has not had the misfortune to be instructed.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. A weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure. A total abstainer is one who abstains from everything but abstention, and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others.
Said a man to a crapulent youth: "I thought
You a total abstainer, my son."
"So I am, so I am," said the scapegrace caught—
"But not, sir, a bigoted one."
—G.J.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
Said a man to a crapulent youth: "I thought
You a total abstainer, my son."
"So I am, so I am," said the scapegrace caught—
"But not, sir, a bigoted one."
—G.J.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
adj.
1.Independent, irresponsible. An absolute monarchy is one in which the sovereign does as he pleases so long as he pleases the assassins. Not many absolute monarchies are left, most of them having been replaced by limited monarchies, where the sovereign's power for evil (and for good) is greatly curtailed, and by republics, which are governed by chance.
2.In Philosophy existing without reference to anything, and for a purely selfish purpose. Absolute certainty is one of the possible degrees of probability. Absolute monarchy is a form of government in which the chief power is vested in a gentleman who is near his end.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
1.Independent, irresponsible. An absolute monarchy is one in which the sovereign does as he pleases so long as he pleases the assassins. Not many absolute monarchies are left, most of them having been replaced by limited monarchies, where the sovereign's power for evil (and for good) is greatly curtailed, and by republics, which are governed by chance.
2.In Philosophy existing without reference to anything, and for a purely selfish purpose. Absolute certainty is one of the possible degrees of probability. Absolute monarchy is a form of government in which the chief power is vested in a gentleman who is near his end.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. A person with an income who has had the forethought to remove himself from the sphere of exaction.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
adj.
1.Peculiarly exposed to the tooth of detraction; vilified; hopelessly in the wrong; superseded in the consideration and affection of another.
To men a man is but a mind. Who cares
What face he carries or what form he wears?
But woman's body is the woman. O,
Stay thou, my sweetheart, and do never go,
But heed the warning words the sage hath said:
A woman absent is a woman dead.
—Jogo
2.Exposed to the attacks of friends and acquaintances; defamed; slandered.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
1.Peculiarly exposed to the tooth of detraction; vilified; hopelessly in the wrong; superseded in the consideration and affection of another.
To men a man is but a mind. Who cares
What face he carries or what form he wears?
But woman's body is the woman. O,
Stay thou, my sweetheart, and do never go,
But heed the warning words the sage hath said:
A woman absent is a woman dead.
—Jogo
2.Exposed to the attacks of friends and acquaintances; defamed; slandered.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. That which "makes the heart grow fonder"—of absence. Absence of mind is the cerebral condition essential to success in popular preaching. It is sometimes termed lack of sense.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
, v.i.
1.To "move in a mysterious way," commonly with the property of another.
Spring beckons! All things to the call respond;
The trees are leaving and cashiers abscond.
—Phela Orm
2.To be unexpectedly called away to the bedside of a dying relative and miss the return train.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
1.To "move in a mysterious way," commonly with the property of another.
Spring beckons! All things to the call respond;
The trees are leaving and cashiers abscond.
—Phela Orm
2.To be unexpectedly called away to the bedside of a dying relative and miss the return train.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n. Dr. Johnson said of a certain work that the ideas were "concatenated without abruption." In deference to that great authority we have given the word a place.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
adj. Sudden, without ceremony, like the arrival of a cannon-shot and the departure of the soldier whose interests are most affected by it. Dr. Samuel Johnson beautifully said of another author's ideas that they were "concatenated without abruption."
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
adj. At war with savages and idiots. To be a Frenchman abroad is to be miserable; to be an American abroad is to make others miserable.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
, n. A brief summary of some person's literary work, in which those parts that tell against the convictions of the abridger are omitted for want of space.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
v.t. To shorten.
When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a people to abridge their king, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
—Oliver Cromwell
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a people to abridge their king, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
—Oliver Cromwell
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
By Abracadabra we signify
An infinite number of things.
'Tis the answer to What? and How? and Why?
And Whence? and Whither?—a word whereby
The Truth (with the comfort it brings)
Is open to all who grope in night,
Crying for Wisdom's holy light.
Whether the word is a verb or a noun
Is knowledge beyond my reach.
I only know that 'tis handed down.
From sage to sage,
From age to age—
An immortal part of speech!
Of an ancient man the tale is told
That he lived to be ten centuries old,
In a cave on a mountain side.
(True, he finally died.)
The fame of his wisdom filled the land,
For his head was bald, and you'll understand
His beard was long and white
And his eyes uncommonly bright.
Philosophers gathered from far and near
To sit at his feet and hear and hear,
Though he never was heard
To utter a word
But "Abracadabra, abracadab,
Abracada, abracad,
Abraca, abrac, abra, ab!"
'Twas all he had,
'Twas all they wanted to hear, and each
Made copious notes of the mystical speech,
Which they published next—
A trickle of text
In a meadow of commentary.
Mighty big books were these,
In number, as leaves of trees;
In learning, remarkable—very!
He's dead,
As I said,
And the books of the sages have perished,
But his wisdom is sacredly cherished.
In Abracadabra it solemnly rings,
Like an ancient bell that forever swings.
O, I love to hear
That word make clear
Humanity's General Sense of Things.
—Jamrach Holobom
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
An infinite number of things.
'Tis the answer to What? and How? and Why?
And Whence? and Whither?—a word whereby
The Truth (with the comfort it brings)
Is open to all who grope in night,
Crying for Wisdom's holy light.
Whether the word is a verb or a noun
Is knowledge beyond my reach.
I only know that 'tis handed down.
From sage to sage,
From age to age—
An immortal part of speech!
Of an ancient man the tale is told
That he lived to be ten centuries old,
In a cave on a mountain side.
(True, he finally died.)
The fame of his wisdom filled the land,
For his head was bald, and you'll understand
His beard was long and white
And his eyes uncommonly bright.
Philosophers gathered from far and near
To sit at his feet and hear and hear,
Though he never was heard
To utter a word
But "Abracadabra, abracadab,
Abracada, abracad,
Abraca, abrac, abra, ab!"
'Twas all he had,
'Twas all they wanted to hear, and each
Made copious notes of the mystical speech,
Which they published next—
A trickle of text
In a meadow of commentary.
Mighty big books were these,
In number, as leaves of trees;
In learning, remarkable—very!
He's dead,
As I said,
And the books of the sages have perished,
But his wisdom is sacredly cherished.
In Abracadabra it solemnly rings,
Like an ancient bell that forever swings.
O, I love to hear
That word make clear
Humanity's General Sense of Things.
—Jamrach Holobom
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
n.
1.Persons of little worth found cumbering the soil of a newly discovered country. They soon cease to cumber; they fertilize.
2.Considerate persons who will not trouble the lexicographer of the future to describe them
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
1.Persons of little worth found cumbering the soil of a newly discovered country. They soon cease to cumber; they fertilize.
2.Considerate persons who will not trouble the lexicographer of the future to describe them
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
, adj. Not conforming to standard. In matters of thought and conduct, to be independent is to be abnormal, to be abnormal is to be detested. Wherefore the lexicographer adviseth a striving toward a straiter resemblance to the Average Man than he hath to himself. Whoso attaineth thereto shall have peace, the prospect of death and the hope of Hell.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
adj. A certain case of Latin nouns. The ablative absolute is an ancient form of grammatical error much admired by modern scholars.
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
(also: The Devil's Dictionary)
sign-up or face the consequences!
“"observers" must obey the call.”
join