Inversion. L. inverto, to turn up. An end-shifting:—‘Thee at morn, and Thee I praise at night,’ for ‘I praise Thee at morn, and Thee at night.’ A shifting of the ends of a wording.
Irony. Gr. eirōneia, from eiron, a shammer. A good wording for a bad meaning, mock-praise; as, ‘That was a good shot,’ meaning a very bad one. ‘He is a nice man,’ meaning the reverse of nice. ‘How glorious was the king of Israel to-day!’ meaning how inglorious.
-ism. The stump -ism of the Greek -ismos seems to be used very loosely. -ismos is from the ending -izō of ontaking or inceptive time-words, and where there is no time-word ending in -izō there is not, I should think, any thing-name in -ismos; as, chloros, green; chlorizō, to become green; chlorismos, a becoming green. So, if liberalism is a becoming liberal, conservatism is a becoming conservat, which might seem to mean conservatus, one conserved, rather than a conserver. Is chartism a becoming a chart? and what is Londonism, a becoming London or a Londoning? and, if so, what is a Londoning?
We have for -ismos some English endings, as -ening, in blackening; besides -hood, -ship, and -ness, and many others of sundry kinds.
For -ism, taken in names bestowed with very slight praise, we may take -ishness; as, Hebraism, Hebrewishness; Grecism, Greekishness; Latinism, Latinishness; Londonism, Londonishness; solœcism, folkswording. (On ‘Solœcism,’ see Aul. Gell. v. 20.)
Iterative. Going over again and again. Iterative time-words, that mean to take many shorter times in time-takings of the same kind; as, to chatter, chat much; clamber, wander.
Labial (letter). L. labium, lip. A lip breath-penning.
Laxative. Loosensome.
Lecture. A lore-speech.