"Ball, n. An entertainment of dancing; originally and peculiarly at the invitation and expense of an individual; but the word is used in America for a dance at the expense of the attendant.
"Beadle. An officer in a university whose chief business is to walk with a mace, before the masters, in a public procession; or, as in America, before the president, trustees, faculty, and students of a college in a procession, at public commencements.
"Commemoration, n. The act of calling to remembrance, by some solemnity; the act of honoring the memory of some person or event, by solemn celebration. The feast of shells at Plymouth, in Massachusetts, is an annual commemoration of the first landing of our ancestors in 1620.
"Calculate, v. i. To make a computation; as, we calculate better for ourselves than for others. In popular use, this word is often equivalent to intend or purpose, that is, to make arrangements and form a plan; as, a man calculates to go a journey. This use of the word springs from the practice of computing or estimating the various circumstances which concur to influence the mind in forming its determinations.
"Shaver, n. A boy or young man. This word is still in common use in New England. It must be numbered among our original words.
"Span, n. A span of horses consists of two of nearly the same color, and otherwise nearly alike, which are usually harnessed side by side. The word signifies properly the same as yoke, when applied to horned cattle, from buckling or fastening together. But in America, span always implies resemblance in color at least; being an object of ambition with gentlemen and with teamsters to unite two horses abreast that are alike.
"Likely, a. Such as may be liked; pleasing; as a likely man or woman. [This use of likely is not obsolete as Johnson affirms, nor is it vulgar. But the English and their descendants in America differ in the application. The English apply the word to external appearance; and with them likely is equivalent to handsome, well-formed, as a likely man, a likely horse. In America the word is usually applied to the endowments of the mind, or to pleasing accomplishments. With us a likely man is a man of good character and talents, or of good dispositions or accomplishments, that render him pleasing or respectable.]
"Clever, a. In New England, good-natured, possessing an agreeable mind or disposition. In Great Britain this word is applied to the body or its movements, in its literal sense; in America it is applied chiefly to the mind, temper, disposition. In Great Britain a clever man is a dextrous man, one who performs an act with skill or address. In New England a clever man is a man of a pleasing, obliging disposition and amiable manners, but often implying a moderate share of talents.
"Raise, v. t. To cause to grow; to procure to be produced, bred or propagated; as, to raise wheat, barley, hops, etc.; to raise horses, oxen, or sheep. New England. [The English now use grow in regard to crops; as, to grow wheat. This verb intransitive has never been used in New England in a transitive sense, until recently some persons have adopted it from the English books. We always use raise, but in New England it is never applied to the breeding of the human race, as it is in the Southern States.]
"Realize, v. t. To bring into actual existence and possession; to render tangible or effective. He never realized much profit from his trade or speculation.