The vowel u when marked thus, ü, has the sound heard in Scotch bluid, gude, the French du, almost that of the German ü in Müller. Where more than one pronunciation of a word is given, that which is placed first is more accepted.
The Spelling.—When more than one form of a word is given, that which is placed first is the spelling in current English use. Unfortunately our modern spelling does not represent the English we actually speak, but rather the language of the 16th century, up to which period, generally speaking, English spelling was mainly phonetic, like the present German. The fundamental principle of all rational spelling is no doubt the representation of every sound by an invariable symbol, but in modern English the usage of pronunciation has drifted far from the conventional forms established by a traditional orthography, with the result that the present spelling of our written speech is to a large extent a mere exercise of memory, full of confusing anomalies and imperfections, and involving an enormous and unnecessary strain on the faculties of learners. Spelling reform is indeed an imperative necessity, but it must proceed with a wise moderation, for, in the words of Mr Sweet, 'nothing can be done without unanimity, and until the majority of the community are convinced of the superiority of some one system unanimity is impossible.' The true path of progress should follow such wisely moderate counsels as those of Dr J. A. H. Murray:—the dropping of the final or inflexional silent e; the restoration of the historical -t after breath consonants; uniformity in the employment of double consonants, as in traveler, &c.; the discarding of ue in words like demagogue and catalogue; the uniform levelling of the agent -our into -or; the making of ea = ĕ short into e and the long ie into ee; the restoration of some, come, tongue, to their old English forms, sum, cum, tung; a more extended use of z in the body of words, as chozen, praize, raize; and the correction of the worst individual monstrosities, as foreign, scent, scythe, ache, debt, people, parliament, court, would, sceptic, phthisis, queue, schedule, twopence-halfpenny, yeoman, sieve, gauge, barque, buoy, yacht, &c.
Already in America a moderate degree of spelling reform may be said to be established in good usage, by the adoption of -or for -our, as color, labor, &c.; of -er for -re, as center, meter, &c.; -ize for -ise, as civilize, &c.; the use of a uniform single consonant after an unaccented vowel, as traveler for traveller; the adoption of e for œ or æ in hemorrhage, diarrhea, &c.
The Meanings.—The current and most important meaning of a word is usually given first. But in cases like Clerk, Livery, Marshal, where the force of the word can be made much clearer by tracing its history, the original meaning is also given, and the successive variations of its usage defined.
The Etymology.—The Etymology of each word is given after the meanings, within brackets. Where further information regarding a word is given elsewhere, it is so indicated by a reference. It must be noted under the etymology that whenever a word is printed thus, Ban, Base, the student is referred to it; also that here the sign—is always to be read as meaning 'derived from.' Examples are generally given of words that are cognate or correspond to the English words; but it must be remembered that they are inserted merely for illustration. Such words are usually separated from the rest by a semicolon. For instance, when an English word is traced to its Anglo-Saxon form, and then a German word is given, no one should suppose that our English word is derived from the German. German and Anglo-Saxon are alike branches from a common Teutonic stem, and have seldom borrowed from each other. Under each word the force of the prefix is usually given, though not the affix. For fuller explanation in such cases the student is referred to the list of Prefixes and Suffixes in the Appendix.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS DICTIONARY.
| aor. | aorist. | geol. | geology. | perh. | perhaps. |
| abbrev. | abbreviation. | geom. | geometry. | pers. | person. |
| abl. | ablative. | ger. | gerundive. | pfx. | prefix. |
| acc. | according. | gram. | grammar. | phil., philos. | philosophy. |
| accus. | accusative. | gun. | gunnery. | philol. | philology. |
| adj. | adjective. | her. | heraldry. | phon. | phonetics. |
| adv. | adverb. | hist. | history. | phot. | photography. |
| agri. | agriculture. | hort. | horticulture. | phrenol. | phrenology. |
| alg. | algebra. | hum. | humorous. | phys. | physics. |
| anat. | anatomy. | i.e. | that is. | physiol. | physiology. |
| app. | apparently. | imit. | imitative. | pl. | plural. |
| arch. | archaic. | imper. | imperative. | poet. | poetical. |
| archit. | architecture. | impers. | impersonal. | pol. econ. | political economy. |
| arith. | arithmetic. | indic. | indicative. | poss. | possessive. |
| astrol. | astrology. | infin. | infinitive. | Pr.Bk. | Book of Common |
| astron. | astronomy. | inten. | intensive. | Prayer. | |
| attrib. | attributive. | interj. | interjection. | pr.p. | present participle. |
| augm. | augmentative. | interrog. | interrogative. | prep. | preposition. |
| B. | Bible. | jew. | jewellery. | pres. | present. |
| biol. | biology. | lit. | literally. | print. | printing. |
| book-k. | book-keeping. | mach. | machinery. | priv. | privative. |
| bot. | botany. | masc. | masculine. | prob. | probably. |
| c. (circa) | about. | math. | mathematics. | Prof. | Professor. |
| c., cent. | century. | mech. | mechanics. | pron. | pronoun; |
| carp. | carpentry. | med. | medicine. | pronounced; | |
| cf. | compare. | metaph. | metaphysics. | pronunciation. | |
| chem. | chemistry. | mil. | military. | prop. | properly. |
| cog. | cognate. | Milt. | Milton. | pros. | prosody. |
| coll., colloq. | colloquially. | min. | mineralogy. | prov. | provincial. |
| comp. | comparative. | mod. | modern. | q.v. | which see. |
| conch. | conchology. | Mt. | Mount. | R.C. | Roman Catholic. |
| conj. | conjunction. | mus. | music. | recip. | reciprocal. |
| conn. | connected. | myth. | mythology. | redup. | reduplication. |
| contr. | contracted. | n., ns. | noun, nouns. | refl. | reflexive. |
| cook. | cookery. | nat. hist. | natural history. | rel. | related; relative. |
| corr. | corruption. | naut. | nautical. | rhet. | rhetoric. |
| crystal. | crystallography. | neg. | negative. | sculp. | sculpture. |
| dat. | dative. | neut. | neuter. | Shak. | Shakespeare. |
| demons. | demonstrative. | n.pl. | noun plural. | sig. | signifying. |
| der. | derivation. | n.sing. | noun singular. | sing. | singular. |
| dial. | dialect, dialectal. | N.T. | New Testament. | spec. | specifically. |
| Dict. | Dictionary. | obs. | obsolete. | Spens. | Spenser. |
| dim. | diminutive. | opp. | opposed. | subj. | subjunctive. |
| dub. | doubtful. | opt. | optics. | suff. | suffix. |
| eccles. | ecclesiastical history. | orig. | originally. | superl. | superlative. |
| e.g. | for example. | ornith. | ornithology. | surg. | surgery. |
| elect. | electricity. | O.S. | old style. | term. | termination. |
| entom. | entomology. | O.T. | Old Testament. | teleg. | telegraphy. |
| esp. | especially. | p., part. | participle. | Tenn. | Tennyson. |
| ety. | etymology. | p.adj. | participial adjective. | Test. | Testament. |
| fem. | feminine. | paint. | painting. | theat. | theatre; theatricals. |
| fig. | figuratively. | paleog. | paleography. | theol. | theology. |
| fol. | followed; following. | paleon. | paleontology. | trig. | trigonometry. |
| fort. | fortification. | palm. | palmistry. | ult. | ultimately. |
| freq. | frequentative. | pa.p. | past participle. | v.i. | verb intransitive. |
| fut. | future. | pass. | passive. | voc. | vocative. |
| gen. | genitive. | pa.t. | past tense. | v.t. | verb transitive. |
| gener. | generally. | path. | pathology. | vul. | vulgar. |
| geog. | geography. | perf. | perfect. | zool. | zoology. |
| Amer. | American. | Fris. | Frisian. | Norw. | Norwegian. |
| Ar. | Arabic. | Gael. | Gaelic. | O. Fr. | Old French. |
| A.S. | Anglo-Saxon. | Ger. | German. | Pers. | Persian. |
| Austr. | Australian. | Goth. | Gothic. | Peruv. | Peruvian. |
| Bav. | Bavarian. | Gr. | Greek. | Pol. | Polish. |
| Beng. | Bengali. | Heb. | Hebrew. | Port. | Portuguese. |
| Bohem. | Bohemian. | Hind. | Hindustani. | Prov. | Provençal. |
| Braz. | Brazilian. | Hung. | Hungarian. | Rom. | Romance. |
| Bret. | Breton. | Ice. | Icelandic. | Russ. | Russian |
| Carib. | Caribbean. | Ind. | Indian. | Sans. | Sanskrit. |
| Celt. | Celtic. | Ion. | Ionic. | Scand. | Scandinavian. |
| Chal. | Chaldean. | Ir. | Irish. | Scot. | Scottish. |
| Chin. | Chinese. | It. | Italian. | Singh. | Singhalese. |
| Corn. | Cornish. | Jap. | Japanese. | Slav. | Slavonic. |
| Dan. | Danish. | Jav. | Javanese. | Sp. | Spanish. |
| Dut. | Dutch. | L. | Latin. | Sw. | Swedish. |
| Egypt. | Egyptian. | Lith. | Lithuanian. | Teut. | Teutonic. |
| Eng. | English. | L. L. | Low or Late Latin. | Turk. | Turkish. |
| Finn. | Finnish. | M. E. | Middle English. | U.S. | United States. |
| Flem. | Flemish. | Mex. | Mexican. | W. | Welsh. |
| Fr. | French. | Norm. | Norman. |