UNDER CRITICAL NOTE III.—OF DEFINITIONS.
(1.) "A definition is a short and lucid description of a thing, or species, according to its nature and properties."—G. BROWN: Rev. David Blair cor. (2.) "Language, in general, signifies the expression of our ideas by certain articulate sounds, or written words, which are used as the signs of those ideas."—Dr. Hugh Blair cor. (3.) "A word is one or more syllables used by common consent as the sign of an idea."—Bullions cor. (4.) "A word is one or more syllables used as the sign of an idea, or of some manner of thought."—Hazen cor. (5.) "Words are articulate sounds, or their written signs, used to convey ideas."—Hiley cor. (6.) "A word is one or more syllables used orally or in writing, to represent some idea."—Hart cor. (7.) "A word is one or more syllables used as the sign of an idea."—S. W. Clark cor. (8.) "A word is a letter or a combination of letters, a sound or a combination of sounds, used as the sign of an idea."—Wells cor. (9.) "Words are articulate sounds, or their written signs, by which ideas are communicated."—Wright cor. (10.) "Words are certain articulate sounds, or their written representatives, used by common consent as signs of our ideas."—Bullions, Lowth, Murray, et al. cor. (11.) "Words are sounds or written symbols used as signs of our ideas."—W. Allen cor. (12.) "Orthography literally means correct writing"—Kirkham and Smith cor. [The word orthography stands for different things: as, 1. The art or practice of writing words with their proper letters; 2. That part of grammar which treats of letters, syllables, separate words, and spelling.] (13.) "A vowel is a letter which forms a perfect sound when uttered alone."—Inst., p. 16; Hazen, Lennie, and Brace, cor. (14-18.) "Spelling is the art of expressing words by their proper letters."—G. BROWN: Lowth and Churchill cor.; also Murray, Ing. et al.; also Comly; also Bullions; also Kirkham and Sanborn. (19.) "A syllable is one or more letters, pronounced by a single impulse of the voice, and constituting a word, or part of a word."—Lowth, Mur., et al., cor. (20.) "A syllable is a letter or a combination of letters, uttered in one complete sound."—Brit. Gram. and Buch. cor. (21.) "A syllable is one or more letters representing a distinct sound, or what is uttered by a single impulse of the voice."—Kirkham cor. (22.) "A syllable is so much of a word as is sounded at once, whether it be the whole or a part."—Bullions cor. (23.) "A syllable is so many letters as are sounded at once; and is either a word, or a part of a word."—Picket cor. (24.) "A diphthong is a union of two vowels in one syllable, as in bear and beat."—Bucke cor. Or: "A diphthong is the meeting of two vowels in one syllable."—Brit. Gram., p. 15; Buchanan's, 3. (25.) "A diphthong consists of two vowels put together in one syllable; as ea in beat, oi in voice."—Guy cor. (26.) "A triphthong consists of three vowels put together in one syllable; as, eau in beauty."—Id. (27.) "But a triphthong is the union of three vowels in one syllable."—Bucke cor. Or: "A triphthong is the meeting of three vowels in one syllable."—British Gram., p. 21; Buchanan's, 3. (28.) "What is a noun? A noun is the name of something; as, a man, a boy."—Brit. Gram. and Buchanan cor. (29.) "An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, to describe the object named or referred to."—Maunder cor. (30.) "An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, to describe or define the object mentioned."—R. C. Smith cor. (31.) "An adjective is a word which, without assertion or time, serves to describe or define something; as, a good man, every boy."—Wilcox cor. (32.) "An adjective is a word added to a noun or pronoun, and generally expresses a quality."—Mur. and Lowth cor. (33.) "An adjective expresses the quality, not of the noun or pronoun to which it is applied, but of the person or thing spoken of; and it may generally be known by the sense which it thus makes in connexion with its noun; as, 'A good man,' 'A genteel woman.'"—Wright cor. (34.) "An adverb is a word used to modify the sense of a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb."—Wilcox cor. (35.) "An adverb is a word added to a verb, a participle, an adjective, or an other adverb, to modify the sense, or denote some circumstance."—Bullions cor. (36.) "A substantive, or noun, is a name given to some object which the senses can perceive, the understanding comprehend, or the imagination entertain."—Wright cor. (37-54.) "Genders are modifications that distinguish objects in regard to sex."—Brown's Inst., p. 35: Bullions cor.: also Frost; also Perley; also Cooper; also L. Murray et al.; also Alden et al.; also Brit. Gram., with Buchanan; also Fowle; also Burn; also Webster; also Coar; also Hall; also Wright; also Fisher; also W. Allen; also Parker and Fox; also Weld; also Weld again. (55 and 56.) "A case, in grammar, is the state or condition of a noun or pronoun, with respect to some other word in the sentence."—Bullions cor.; also Kirkham. (57.) "Cases are modifications that distinguish the relations of nouns and pronouns to other words."—Brown's Inst., p. 36. (58.) "Government is the power which one word has over an other, to cause it to assume some particular modification."—Sanborn et al. cor. See Inst., p. 104. (59.) "A simple sentence is a sentence which contains only one assertion, command, or question."—Sanborn et al. cor. (60.) "Declension means the putting of a noun or pronoun through the different cases and numbers."—Kirkham cor. Or better: "The declension of a word is a regular arrangement of its numbers and cases."—See Inst., p. 37. (61.) "Zeugma is a figure in which two or more words refer in common to an other which literally agrees with only one of them."—B. F. Fish cor. (62.) "An irregular verb is a verb that does not form the preterit and the perfect participle by assuming d or ed; as, smite, smote, smitten."—Inst., p. 75. (63). "A personal pronoun is a pronoun that shows, by its form, of what person it is."—Inst., p. 46.