opposed to the customary and established; it is that which we cannot like, because we cannot esteem it: the old-fashioned is opposed to the fashionable: there is much in the old-fashioned to like and esteem; there is much that is ridiculous in the fashionable: the obsolete is opposed to the current; the obsolete may be good; the current may be vulgar and mean. FRESH, NEW, NOVEL, RECENT, Adelung supposes the German word frisch to be derived from frieren to freeze, as the idea of coolness is prevalent in its application to the air; it is therefore figuratively applied to that which is in its first pure and best state; new, in German neu, comes from the Latin novus, and the Greek vos; recent, in Latin recens, is supposed to come from re and candeo to whiten or give a fair color to, because what is new looks so much fairer than what is old. The fresh is properly opposed to the stale, as the new is to the old the fresh has undergone no change; the new has not been long in being. Meat, beer, and provisions in general, are said to be fresh; so likewise a person is said to be fresh who is in his full vigor; Lo! great Æneas rushes to the fight, Sprung from a god, and more than mortal bold; He fresh in youth, and I in arms grown old. POPE. That which is substantial and durable, as houses, clothes, books, or in the moral sense pleasures, &c. are said to be new; Seasons but change new pleasures to produce, And elements contend to serve our use. JENYNS. Novel is to new as the species to the genus: every thing novel is new; but all that is new is not novel : what is novel is mostly strange and unexpected; but what is new is usual and expected: the freezing of the river Thames is a novelty; the frost in every winter is something new when it first comes: that is a novel sight which was either never seen before, or seen but seldom; that is a new sight which is seen for the first time: the entrance of the French king into the British capital was a sight as novel as it was interesting; We are naturally delighted with novelty.' JOHNSON. The entrance of a king into the capital of France was a new sight, after the revolution which had so long existed; 'Tis on some evening, sunny, grateful, mild, subsisted; recent is used for what has just passed in distinction from that which has long gone by. A person is said to give fresh cause of offence who has already offended; That love which first was set, will first decay; A thing receives a new name in lieu of the one which it has long had; Do not all men complain how little we know, and how much is still unknown? And can we ever know more, unless something new be discovered?' BURNET. A recent transaction excites an interest which cannot be excited by one of earlier date; The courage of the Parliament was increased by two recent events which had happened in their favour.' HUME. Fresh intelligence arrives every day; it quickly succeeds the events: that intelligence which is recent to a person at a distance is already old to one who is on the spot. Fresh circumstances continually arise to confirm reports; new changes continually take place to supersede the things that were established. New is said of every thing which has not before existed, or not in the same form as before; modern, from the low Latin modernus, changed as is supposed from hodiernus belonging to the day, is said of that which is new or springs up in the present day or age. A book is new which has never been used; it is modern if it has never been published before; so in like manner principles are new which have not been broached before; but they are modern inasmuch as they are first offered in the day in which we live; Some of the ancient and likewise divers of the modern writers, that have laboured in natural magic, have noted a sympathy between the sun and certain herbs.' BACON. TO REVIVE, REFRESH, RENOVATE, Revive, from the Latin vivo to live, signifies to bring to life again; to refresh, to make fresh again; to renew and renovate, to make new again. The restoration of things to their primitive state is the common idea included in these terms; the difference consists in their application. Revive, refresh, and renovate, are applied to animal bodies; revive expressing the return of motion and spirits to one who was for the time lifeless; refresh expressing the return of vigor to one in whom it has been diminished; the air revives one who is faint; a cool breeze refreshes one who flags from the heat. Revive and re When nought but balm is beaming through the woods, fresh respect only the temporary state of the body; With yellow lustre bright, that the new tribes Recent is taken only in the improper application; the other two admit of both applications in this case: the fresh is said in relation to what has lately preceded; new is said in relation to what has not long renovate respects its permanent state, that is, the health of the body: one is revived and refreshed after a partial exhaustion; one's health is renovated after having been considerably impaired. · Revive is applied likewise in the moral sense; Herod's rage being quenched by the blood of Ma Forefathers signifies our fathers before us, and includes our immediate parents; progenitors, from pro and gigno, signifies those begotten before us, exclusive of our immediate parents; ancestors, contracted from antecessors or those going before, is said of those from whom we are remotely descended. Forefathers is a partial and familiar term for the preceding branches of any family; We passed slightly over three or four of our immediate forefathers whom we knew by tradition.' ADDISON. Progenitors is a higher term in the same sense, applied to families of distinction: we speak of the forefathers of a peasant, but the progenitors of a nobleman; Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. GRAY. Suppose a gentleman, full of his illustrious family, should see the whole line of his progenitors pass in review before him; with how many varying passions would he behold shepherds, soldiers, princes, and beggars, walk in the procession of five thousand years? ADDISON. Forefathers and progenitors, but particularly the latter, are said mostly of individuals, and respect the regular line of succession in a family; ancestors is employed collectively as well as individually and regards simply the order of succession: we may speak of the ancestors of a nation as well as of any particular person; It is highly laudable to pay respect to men who are descended from worthy ancestors.' ADDISON. This term may also be applied figuratively; O majestic night! Nature's great ancestor! YOUNG. Senior is employed not only in regard to the extent of age, but also to duration either in office or any given situation; elder is employed only in regard to age: an officer in the army is a senior by virtue of having served longer than another; a boy is a senior in a school either by virtue of his age, his standing in the school, or his situation in the class; Cratinus was senior in age to both his competitors Eupolis and When Aristophanes.' CUMBERLAND. alone is to be expressed, elder is more suitable than senior; the elder children or the elder branches of a family are clearly understood to include those who have priority of age. age Senior and elder are both employed as substantives; older only as an adjective: hence we speak of the seniors in a school, or the elders in an assembly; but an older inhabitant, an older family; The Spartans to their highest magistrate Man must compute that age he cannot feel, He scarce believes he's older for his years. YOUNG. Elder has only a partial use; older is employed in general cases in speaking of children in the same family we may say, the elder son is heir to the estate; he is older than his brother by ten years. ELDERLY, AGED, OLD. These three words rise by gradation in their sense; aged denotes a greater degree of age than elderly ; and old still more than either. The elderly man has passed the meridian of life; I have a race of orderly, elderly, persons of both sexes, at my command.' SWIFT. The aged man is fast approaching the term of human existence; A godlike race of heroes once I knew, Such as no more these aged eyes shall view. POPE. The old man has already reached this term, or has exceeded it; The field of combat fills the young and bold, The solemn council best becomes the old. POPE. In conformity, however, to the vulgar prepossession against age and its concomitant infirmities, the term elderly or aged is always more respectful than old, which latter word is often used by way of reproach, and can seldom be used free from such an association, unless qualified by an epithet of praise as good or venerable. SENIOR, ELDER, OLDER. These are all comparatives expressive of the same quality, and differ therefore less in sense than in application. FORMERLY, IN TIMES PAST, OR OLD TIMES, DAYS OF YORE, ANCIENTLY, OR ANCIENT TIMES. Formerly supposes a less remote period than in times past; and that less remote than in days of yore and anciently. The two first may be said of what happens within the age of man; the last two are extended to many generations and ages. Any individual may use the word formerly with regard to himself: thus we enjoyed our health better formerly than now; 'Men were formerly disputed out of their doubts.' ADDISON. An old man may speak of times past, as when he says he does not enjoy himself as he did in times past. Old times, days of yore, and anciently, are more applicable to nations than to individuals; and all these express different degrees of remoteness. As to our present period, the age of Queen Elizabeth may be called old times; In times of old, when time was young, And poets their own verses sung, A verse could draw a stone or beam. SWIFT. opposed to the first; the ultimate is distinguished from that which might follow; the latest is opposed to the earliest; the final is opposed to the introductory or beginning. A person's last words are those by which one is guided; The supreme Author of our being has so formed the soul of man that nothing but himself can be its last, adequate, and proper happiness.' ADDISON. A man's ultimate object is distinguished from that more remote one which may possibly be in his mind; The ultimate end of man is the enjoyment of God, beyond which he cannot form a wish.' GROVE. A conscientious man remains firm to his principles to his latest breath; A pleasant comedy which paints the manners of the age is a durable work, and is transmitted to the latest posterity.' HUME. The final determination of difficult matters requires caution; Final causes lie more bare and open to our The days of Alfred, and still later, the days of yore; observation, as there are often a greater variety that belong to the same effect.' ADDISON. Jealous people strive not to be the last in any thing; the latest intelligence which a man gets of his country is acceptable to one who is in distant quarters of the globe; it requires resolution to take a final leave of those whom one holds near and dear. Those who are born at the same time constitute the generation; that period of time which comprehends the age of man is the age: there may therefore be many generations spring up in the course of an age; a fresh generation is springing up every day, which in the course of an age pass away, and are succeeded by fresh generations. We consider man in his generation as to the part which he has to perform; I often lamented that I was not one of that happy generation who demolished the convents.' JOHNSON. We consider the age in which we live as to the manners of men and the events of nations; 'Throughout every age, God hath pointed his peculiar displeasure against the confidence of presumption, and the arrogance of prosperity." BLAIR. LAST, LATEST, FINAL, ULTIMATE. Last and latest, both from late, in German letze, come from the Greek xootos and IT to leave, signifying left or remaining; final, v. Final; ultimate comes from ultimus the last. Last and ultimate respect the order of succession: latest respects the order of time; final respects the completion of an object. What is last or ultimate is succeeded by nothing else: what is latest is not succeeded by any great interval of time; what is final pre LASTLY, AT LAST, AT LENGTH. Lastly, like last (v. Last), respects the order of succession: at last or at length refer to what has ceded. When a sermon is divided into many heads, the term lastly comprehends the last division. When an affair is settled after much difficulty it is said to be at last settled; and if it be settled after a protracted continuance, it is said to be settled at length; Lastly, opportunities do sometimes offer in which a man may wickedly make his fortune without fear of temporal damage. In such cases what restraint do they lie under who have no regard beyond the grave?' BLAIR. 'At last being satisfied they had nothing to fear they brought out all their corn every day.' ADDISON. A neighbouring king had made war upon this female republic several years with various success, and at length overthrew them in a very great battle.' ADDISON. ETERNAL, ENDLESS, EVERLASTING. The eternal is set above time, the endless lies within time, it is therefore by a strong figure that we apply eternal to any thing sublunary; although endless may with propriety be applied to that which is heavenly. That is properly eternal which has neither beginning nor end; that is endless which has a beginning, but no end. God is, therefore, an eternal, but not an endless being; Distance immense between the pow'rs that shine And mortal man! POPE. requires to be succeeded by nothing else. The last is There is an eternal state of happiness or misery, which awaits all men, according to their deeds in this life; the joys or sorrows of men may be said to be endless as regards this life; The faithful Mydon, as he turn'd from fight His flying coursers, sunk to endless night. POPE. Back from the car he tumbles to the ground, taken place: hence we speak of the remainder of the corn, the remainder of the books, and the like: but the residue of the property, the residue of the effects, and the like. The remainder, remnant, and residue may all be applied either to moral or less familiar objects with a similar distinction; Whatever you take from amusements or indolence will be repaid you an hundred fold for all the remainder of your days.' EARL OF CHATHAM. For this, far distant from the Latian coast, She drove the remnant of the Trojan host. DRYDEN. The rising deluge is not stopp'd with dams, SHAKSPEARE. REST, REMAINDER, REMNANT, Rest evidently comes from the Latin resto, which is compounded of re and sto, signifying to stand or remain back; remainder literally signifies what remains after the first part is gone; remnant is but a variation of remainder; and residue, from resideo, signifies what keeps back by settling. TO SUBSIDE, ABATE, INTERMIT. A settlement after agitation is the peculiar meaning of subside, from the Latin sub and sedeo, signifying to settle to the bottom. That which has been put into commotion subsides; heavy particles subside in a fluid that is at rest, and tumults are said to subside; All these terms express that part which is separatedIt was not long before this joy subsided in the refrom the other and left distinct: rest is the most general, both in sense and application; the others have a more specific meaning and use: the rest may be either that which is left behind by itself or that which is set apart as a distinct portion: the remainder, remnant, and residue, are the quantities which remain when the other parts are gone. The rest is said of any part indefinitely without regard to what has been taken or is gone; A last farewell! For since a last must come, the rest are vain, But the remainder commonly regards the part which has been left after a part has been taken; If he to whom ten talents have been committed, has squandered away five, he is concerned to make a double improvement of the remainder.' ROGERS. A person may be said to sell some and give away the rest: when a number of hearty persons sit down to a meal, the remainder of the provisions, after all have been satisfied, will not be considerable. Rest is applied either to persons or things; remainder only to things: some were of that opinion, but the rest did not agree to it: the remainder of the paper was not worth preserving. Remnant, from remanens in Latin, is a species of remainder, applicable in the proper sense only to cloth or whatever remains unsold out of whole pieces: as a remnant of cotton, linen, and the like; but it may be taken figuratively. Residue is another species of remainder, employed in less familiar matters; the remainder is applied to that which remains after a consumption or removal has taken place: the residue is applied to that which remains after a division has membrance of that dignity from which I had fallen.' TO FOLLOW, SUCCEED, ENSUE. Follow comes probably through the medium of the northern languages from the Greek xxòs a trace or Ew to draw; succeed, in Latin succedo, compounded of sub and cedo to walk after; ensue, in French ensuivre, Latin insequor, signifies to follow close upon the back or at the heels. Follow and succeed are said of persons and things; ensue of things only: follow denotes the going in order, in a trace or line; succeed denotes the going or being in the same place immediately after another: many persons may follow each other at the same time; but only one individual properly succeeds another. Follow is taken literally for the motion of one physical body in relation to another; succeed is taken in the moral sense for taking the situation or office of another people follow each other in a procession, or one follows another to the grave; a king succeeds to a throne, or a son succeeds to the inheritance of his father. To follow in relation to things is said either simply of the order in which they go, or of such as go according to a connexion between them; to succeed implies simply to take the place after another; to ensue is to follow by a necessary connexion: people who die quickly one after the other are said to follow each other to the grave; a youth of debauchery is followed by a diseased old age; 'If a man of a good genius for fable were to represent the nature of pleasure and pain in that way of writing, he would probably join them together after such a manner that it would be impossible for the one to come into any place without being followed by the other.' ADDISON. As in a natural tempest one wave of the sea follows another in rapid succession, so in the moral tempest of political revolutions one mad convulsion is quickly succeeded by another; Ulysses hastens with a trembling heart, Nor deem this day, this battle, all you lose; The hour, the spot, to conquer, or to fall. POPE. Follow is used in abstract propositions: ensue is used in specific cases: sin and misery follow each other as cause and effect; quarrels too often ensue from the conversations of violent men who differ either in religion or politics. TO FOLLOW, PURSUE. The idea of going after any thing in order to reach or obtain it is common to these terms, but under different circumstances: one follows (v. To follow) a person mostly with a friendly intention; one pursues (v. To continue) with a hostile intention: a person follows his fellow traveller whom he wishes to overtake; "Now, now," said he, "my son, no more delay, in the chase; the dogs pursue the hare. In applica- Look round the habitual world, how few HUNT, CHACE. 6 DRYDEN. The leading idea in the word hunt is that of searching after; the leading idea in the word chace is that of driving away, or before one. In the strict sense, the hunt is made for objects not within sight; the chace is made after such objects only as are within sight: we may hunt, therefore, without chasing; we may chase without hunting: a person hunts after, but does not chase that which is lost a boy chases, rather than hunts, a butterfly; Come hither, boy! we'll hunt to-day The bookworm, ravening beast of prey. PARNELL. Both their several parts must do In the noble chace of fame. CowLEY. When applied to field sports, the hunt commences as soon as the huntsman begins to look for the game; the chace commences as soon as it is found: on this discourse, to designate the specific act of taking this ground, perhaps, it is, that hunt is used in familiar amusement; and chace is used only in particular cases where the peculiar idea is to be expressed: a fox hunt, or a stag hunt, is said to take place on a particular day; or that there has been no hunting this season, or that the hunt has been very bad: but we speak, on the other hand, of the pleasures of the chace; or say that the chace lasted very long; the animal gave a long chace. FOREST, CHACE, PARK, * Are all habitations for animals of venery: but the forest is of the first magnitude and importance, it being a franchise and the property of the king; the chace and park may be either public or private property. The forest is so formed of wood, and covers The officers of justice pursue the criminal whom they such an extent of ground, that it may be the haunt of wish to apprehend; The same Rutilians who with arms pursue The Trojan race are equal foes to you. DRYDEN. So likewise the huntsmen and hunters follow the dogs wild beasts; of this description are the forests in Germany: the chace is an indefinite and open space that is allotted expressly for the chace of particular animals, such as deer; the park is an inclosed space that serves for the preservation of domestic animals. * Vide Trusler: "Forest, chace, park." |