Quotes About Dictionary

Johnson insists: It must be remembered, that while our language is yet living, and variable by the caprice of every one that speaks it, … words are hourly shifting their relations, and can no more be ascertained in a dictionary, than a grove, in the agitation of a storm, can be accurately delineated from its picture in the water. Perhaps

The answer lies in the Preface, where he explains, 'Obsolete words are admitted, when they are found in authors not obsolete, or when they have any force or beauty that may deserve revival.'ag Significantly, the epigraph to the finished Dictionary is a passage on this very theme from the second of Horace's Epistles; it celebrates the efforts of the prudent critic who weeds out undignified language and rehabilitates forgotten but elegant words.

If you look in a dictionary, the word 'Indianan' may appear. But the first task, the litmus test as to whether or not someone really is from Indiana or has spent any kind of considerable time in Indiana, is whether or not they use the word 'Indianan,' because no one in Indiana ever uses that term. We refer to ourselves as Hoosiers.

For my Oxford degree, I had to translate French and German philosophy (as it turned out, Descartes and Kant) at sight without a dictionary. That meant Germany for my first summer vacation, to learn the thorny language on my own.

Success brings poise, especially avoirdupois. Success comes before work only in the dictionary.

Rap music... sounds like somebody feeding a rhyming dictionary to a popcorn popper.

The dictionary contains no metaphors.

To presume that dictionary-making can somehow avoid or transcend ideology is simply to subscribe to a particular ideology, one that might aptly be called Unbelievably Naive Positivism.

Damn," Crystal sputtered, looking up from the dictionary in disbelief. "Oenophlygia: the state of being dunk. It really is a word". Johnny gloated unabashedly. "Just wouldn't listen, would you? Just couldn't stand that I might be way ahead of the game. Word to the wise," he added with a superior smirk. "Don't mess with a man of my experience in that arena.

Move it along, mate. A fast funeral is a good funeral. Ron is not completely sure what the word 'misogynist' means. He keeps forgetting to look it up in the dictionary because he doesn't have a dictionary.

Dictionary of Native American Mythology

As far as I'm concerned, the only difference between fact and what most people call fiction is about fifteen pages in the dictionary.

Books provide a handy shorthand when Rory's mostly MIA father, Christopher, is first introduced to viewers. Christopher's offer to buy Rory the Compact Oxford English Dictionary she covets is sincere; his lack of ability to follow through on his good intentions is Christopher in a nutshell.

I look upon this as I did upon the Dictionary: it is all work, and my inducement to it is not love or desire of fame, but the want of money, which is the only motive to writing that I know of.

We think people go to a dictionary to find out what a word means. Most people go to the dictionary because they don't want to look stupid.

The sound of Kiser's departing car had hardly died away before Romey with a stony glint in the depths of his eyes asked, "Mary Call, how long is temporary?" I said, "Romey, there is the dictionary over there. It's smarter than I am. Ask it.

Symbols and emblems were everywhere. Buildings and pictures were designed to be read like books. Everything stood for something else; if you had the right dictionary, you could read Nature itself. It was hardly surprising to find philosophers using the symbolism of their time to interpret knowledge that came from a mysterious source.

ineffable , adj . these words will ultimately end up being the barest of reflections, devoid of the sensations words cannot convoy. Trying to write about love is ultimately like trying to have a dictionary represent life. No matter how many words there are, there will never be enough.

If you're looking for sympathy you can find it between shit and syphilis in the dictionary.

She was afraid to touch the dictionary — Oki was even there. Innumerable words reminded her of him. To link whatever she saw and heard with her love was nothing less than to be alive. Her awareness of her body was inseparable from her memory of his embrace.

he had added ruefully that no money could be squeezed out of the young rapscallion for anything connected with the house. ('Rapscallion' was a new word to Mrs. Warmer but she had a dictionary, in which she delighted, so she looked it up and was somewhat surprised).

The only place where success comes before work is a dictionary.

The only place where success comes before work is a dictionary.

Meu pai era dono de botequim, porém insistia que era preciso escolher as palavras com precisão, e nisso sou como ele. As palavras têm significados — meu pai só estudou até a sétima série, mas até ele sabia disso. Atrás do balcão ele guardava duas coisas pra resolver discussões entre seus clientes: um porrete e um dicionário.