"The definitions" says Boswell "have always appeared to me such astonishing proofs of acuteness of intellect and precision of language, as indicate a genius of the highest rank. This it is which marks the superiour excellence of Johnson's Dictionary over others."
But even Boswell has to admit, as Johnson did, that there are errors and obscurities, "inconsiderable specks" though they be.
"Thus Windward and Leeward, though directly of opposite meaning, are defined identically the same way."
"A lady once asked him how he came to define Pastern the knee of a horse; instead of making an elaborate defence, as she expected, he at once answered, 'Ignorance, Madam,—pure ignorance.'"
"His definition of Network has been often quoted with sportive malignity, as obscuring a thing in itself very plain."
Boswell tantalises us by omitting this definition. But, to set curiosity at rest, here it is: "Anything reticulated or decussated, at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections."
A man of strong prejudices like Johnson could not refrain from letting his own views appear here and there throughout the work and it is these human touches which have most attraction for us to-day. We can imagine the grim smile which came over his scarred and rugged face when he defined:
Oats as "A grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people [4]."
Whig as "The name of a faction."
Grub-street as "the name of a street in London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems."