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Latin erectus, participle of erigo, compounded of e and rego, comes from the Greek dofxw to stretch or extend, signifies literally to carry upward; construct, in Latin constructus, participle of construo, compounded of con together, and struo to put, in Greek sprvý to strow, in Hebrew to dispose or put in order, signifies to form together into a mass

The word build by distinction expresses the purpose of the action; erect indicates the mode of the action; construct indicates contrivance in the action.

What is built is employed for the purpose of receiving, retaining, or confining; what is erected is placed in an elevated situation; what is constructed is put together with ingenuity.

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The edifices dedicated to the service of religion have in all ages been held sacred: it is the business of the architect to estimate the merits or demerits of the structure: when we take a survey of the vast fabrick of the universe, the mind becomes bewildered with contemplating the infinite power of its Divine Author. When employed in the abstract sense of actions, structure is limited to objects of magnitude, or such as consist of complicated parts; fabrick is extended to every thing in which art or contrivance is requisite hence we may speak of the structure of vessels, and the fabrick of cloth, iron ware, and the like.

CORNER, ANGLE.

Corner answers to the French coin, and Greek ywvia, which signifies either a corner or a hidden place; angle, in Latin angulus, comes in all probability from ἀγκὼν the elbow.

The vulgar use of corner in the ordinary concerns of life, and the technical use of angle in the science of mathematicks, is not the only distinction between these terms.

All that is built may be said to be erected or constructed; but all that is erected or constructed is not said to be built; likewise what is erected is mostly constructed, though not vice versa. We build from necessity; we erect for ornament; we construct for utility and convenience. Houses are built, monuments erected, machines are constructed; Montesquieu wit tily observes, that by building professed madhouses, men tacitly insinuate that all who are out of their senses are to be found only in those places.'-WARTON. It is as rational to live in caves till our own hands have erected a palace, as to reject all knowledge of architecture which our understandings will not supply. -JOHNSON. From the raft or canoe, which first served to carry a savage over the river, to the construction of a vessel capable of conveying a numerous crew with safety to a distant coast, the progress in improve-wardly; but an angle is produced by the meeting of ment is immense. -ROBERTSON.

ARCHITECT, BUILDER.

Corner properly implies the outer extreme point of any solid body; angle, on the contrary, the inner extremity produced by the meeting of two right lines. When speaking therefore of solid bodies, corner and angle may be both employed; but in regard to simple right lines, the word angle only is applicable: in the former case a corner is produced by the meeting of the different parts of a body whether inwardly or out

two bodies: one house has many corners; two houses or two walls, at least, are requisite to make an angle; 'Jewellers grind their diamonds with many sides and angles, that their lustre may appear many ways.'— DERHAM.

Architect, from architecture, in Latin architectus, from architectura, Greek dpxITEKTOVIKỲ, compounded We likewise speak of making an angle by the diof doxos the chief, and rex art or contrivance, sig-rection that is taken in going either by land or sea, nifies the chief of contrivers; builder, from the verb because such a course is equivalent to a right line; in to build, denotes the person concerned in buildings, that case the word corner could not be substituted: who causes the structure of houses, either by his on the other hand, the word corner is often used for a money or his personal service. place of secrecy or obscurity, agreeably to the derivation of the term; Some men, like pictures, are fitter for a corner than for a full light.'-POP

An architect is an artist employed only to form the plans for large buildings; Rome will bear witness that the English artists are as superiour in talents as they are in numbers to those of all nations besides. I reserve the mention of her architects as a separate class.-CUMBERLAND. A builder is a simple tradesman, or even workman, who builds common dwellinghouses; With his ready money, the builder, mason, and carpenter are enabled to make their market of gentlemen in his neighbourhood who inconsiderately employ them.'-STEELE.

EDIFICE, STRUCTURE, FABRICK. Eifice, in Latin ædificium, from ædifico or ædes and acio, to make a house, signifies properly the house nade; structure, from the Latin structura and struo raise, signifies the raising a thing, or the thing aised: fabrick, from the Latin fabrico, signifies the abricating or the thing fabricated.

Edifice in its proper sense is always applied to a milding: structure and fabrick are either employed s abstract actions, or the results and fruits of actions: 'n the former case they are applied to many objects besides buildings; structure referring to the act of raising or setting up together; fabrick to that of framing or Contriving.

As the edifice bespeaks the thing itself, it requires no modification, since it conveys of itself the idea of something superiour; The levellers only pervert the natural order of things; they load the edifice of society, by setting up in the air what the solidity of the structure requires to be on the ground.'-BURKE. The word structure must always be qualified; it is employed only to designate the mode of action; 'In the whole structure and constitution of things, God hath shown himself to be favourable to virtue, and inimical o vice and guilt.'-BLAIR. The fabrick is itself a species of epithet; it designates the object as something ontrived by the power of art or by design;

By destiny compell'd, and in despair,
The Greeks grew weary of the tedious war,
And, by Minerva's aid, a fabrick rear'd.

DRYDEN.

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PILLAR, COLUMN.

Pillar, in French pilier, in all probability comes from pile, signifying any thing piled up in an artificial manner. Column, in Latin columna, comes from columen a prop or support. In their original meaning, therefore, it is obvious that these words differ essentially, although in their present use they refer to the same object. The pillar mostly serves as a column or support, and the column is always a pillar; but sometimes a pillar does not serve as a prop, and then it is called by its own name; but when it supplies the place of a prop, then it is more properly denominated a column;

Whate'er adorns

The princely dome, the column, and the arch, The breathing marbles, and the sculptur'd gold, Beyond the proud possessor's narrow claim, His tuneful breast enjoys.-AKENSIDE. Hence the monument is a pillar, and not a column; but the pillars on which the roofs of churches arc made to rest, may with more propriety be termed co lumns. Pillar is more frequently employed in a moral application than column, and in that case it always implies a prop; Withdraw religion, and you shake all the pillars of morality.'-BLAIR. Government is the pillar on which all social order rests.

LODGINGS, APARTMENTS.

A lodging, or a place to lodge or dwell in, compre hends single rooms, or many rooms, or in fact any place which can be made to serve the purpose; apart ments respect only suits of rooms: apartments, there fore, are, in the strict sense, lodgings; but all lodgings are not apartments: on the other hand, the word lodgings is mostly used for rooms that are let out to hire, or that serve a temporary purpose; but the word apartments may be applied to the suits of rooms in any large house: hence the word lodging becomes on

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one ground restricted in its use, and apartments on the other: all apartments to let out for hire are lodgings; but apartments not to let out for hire are not lodgings.

MONUMENT, MEMORIAL, REMEMBRANCER. Monument, in Latin monumentum or monimentum, from moneo to advise or remind, signifies that which puts us in mind of something; memorial, from memory, signifies the thing that helps the memory; and remembrancer, from remember (v. Memory), the thing that causes to remember.

From the above it is clear that these terms have, in their original derivation, precisely the same signification, and differ only in their collateral acceptations: monument is applied to that which is purposely set up to keep a thing in mind; memorials and remembrancers are any things which are calculated to call a thing to mind. a monument is used to preserve a publick object of notice from being forgotten; a memorial serves to keep an individual in mind: the monument is commonly understood to be a species of building; as a tomb which preserves the memory of the dead, or a pillar which preserves the memory of some publick event: the memorial always consists of something which was the property, or in the possession, of another; as his picture, his handwriting, his hair, and the like. The Monument at London was built to commemorate the dreadful fire of the city in the year 1666: friends who are at a distance are happy to have some token of each other's regard, which they likewise keep

as a memorial of their former intercourse.

The monument, in its proper sense, is always made of wood or stone for some specifick purpose; but, in the improper sense, any thing may be termed a monument when it serves the purpose of reminding the publick of any circumstance: thus, the pyramids are monuments of antiquity; the actions of a good prince are more lasting monuments than either brass or marble; If (in the Isle of Sky) the remembrance of papal superstition is obliterated, the monuments of papal plety are likewise effaced.'-JOHNSON.

'The Lay itself is either lost or buried, perhaps for
ever, in one of those sepulchres of MSS. which by
courtesy are called libraries.'-TYRWHITT

TO ADORN, DECORATE, EMBELLISH.
Adorn, in Latin dorno, is compounded of the in-
tensive syllable ad and orno, in Greek patw to make
beautiful, signifying to dispose for the purpose of orna
ment; decorate, in Latin decoratus, participle of decoro,
from decorus becoming, signifies to make becoming,
embellish, in French embellir, is compounded of the
intensive syllable em or in and bellir or bel, in Latin
bellus handsome, signifying to make handsome.
One adorns by giving the best external appearance
to a thing:

As vines the trees, as grapes the vines adorn.

DRYDEN.

One decorates by annexing something to improve its
A few years afterward (1751), by the
appearance;
death of his father, Lord Lyttleton inherited a baronet's
title, with a large estate, which, though perhaps he did
not augment, he was careful to adorn by a house of
of his park.'-JOHNSON. One embellishes by giving a
great elegance, and by much attention to the decoration
finishing stroke to a thing that is well executed; I
shall here present my reader with a letter from a pro-
jector, concerning a new office which he thinks may
-ADDISON. Females adorn their persons by the choice
very much contribute to the embellishment of the city.
and disposal of their dress: a headdress is decorated
embellished by suitable flourishes.
with flowers, or a room with paintings: fine writing is

Adorn and embellish are figuratively employed; decorate only in the proper sense. The mind is adorned rative is embellished by the introduction of some strikby particular virtues which are implanted in it; a naring incidents.

OBLONG, OVAL.

Oblong, in Latin oblongus, from the intensive sylla ble ob, signifies very long, longer than it is broad; eval from the Latin ovum an egg, signifies egg-shaped.

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Memorials are always of a private nature, and at the same time such as remind us naturally of the object to which they have belonged; this object is generally some person, but it may likewise refer to some thing; if it be of a personal nature: our Saviour instituted The oval is a species of the oblong: what is oval is the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper as a memorial of oblong; but what is oblong is not always oval. his death; Any memorial of your good-nature and long is peculiarly applied to figures formed by right friendship is most welcome to me.'-POPE. A memorial respects some object external of our-lines, that is, all rectangular parallelograms, except linear oblong figures, as ellipses, which are distinselves; the remembrancer is said of that which directly squares, are oblong; but the oval is applied to curviconcerns ourselves and our particular duty; a man guished from the circle : tables are oftener oblong than leaves memorials of himself to whomsoever he leaves his property; but the remembrancer is that which we oval; garden beds are as frequently oval as they are acquire for ourselves: the memorial carries us back to another; the remembrancer brings us back to ourselves: the memorial revives in our minds what we owe to another; the remembrancer puts us in mind of what we owe to ourselves; it is that which recalls us to a sense of our duty: a gift is the best memorial we can give of ourselves to another: a sermon is often a good remembrancer of the duties which we have neglected to perform; When God is forgotten, his judgements are his remembrancers.'-CowPER.

GRAVE, TOMB, SEPULCHRE. All these terms denote the place where bodies are deposited. Grave, from the German graben to dig, has a reference to the hollow made in the earth; tomb, from tumulus and tumeo to swell, has a reference to the rising that is made above it; sepulchre, from sepelio to bury, has a reference to the use for which it is employed. From this explanation it is evident, that these terms have a certain propriety of application; 'to sink into the grave' is an expression that carries the thoughts where the body must rest in death;

The path of glory leads but to the grave.-GRAY, To inscribe on the tomb, or to encircle the tomb with flowers, carries our thoughts to the external of that place in which the body is interred;

Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault,

If mem'ry o'er their tombs no trophies raise.-GRAY. To inter in a sepulchre, or to visit or enter a sepulchre, reminds us of a place in which bodies are deposited;

oblong.

GLOBE, BALL.

Globe, in Latin globus, comes probably from the Greek yogos a hillock of earth; ball, in Teutonick ball, is doubtless connected with the words bowl, bow, bend, and the like, signifying that which is turned or

rounded.

Globe is to ball as the species to the genus; a globe is a ball, but every ball is not a globe. The globe does not in its strict sense require to be of an equal rotundity in all its parts; it is properly an irregularly round body; It is said by modern philosophers, that not only the great globes of matter are thinly scattered through the universe, but the hardest bodies are so porous, that if all matter were compressed to perfect solidity, it might be contained in a cube of a few feet.-Jousson. A ball on the other hand is generally any round body, but particularly one that is entirely regularly round: the earth itself is therefore properly denominated a globe, from its unequal rotundity; and for the same reason the mechanical body which is made to represent the earth is also denominated a globe; but in the higher style of writing the earth is frequently deno / minated a ball, and in familiar discourse every solid body which assumes a circular form is entitled a ball; What though in solemn silence all Move round the dark terraqueous ball, In reason's ear they all rejoice,

And utter forth a glorious voice.-ADDISON.

TO EMIT, EXHALE, EVAPORATE.. Emit, from the Latin emitto, expresses properly the act of sending out. exhale, from halitus the breath, and evaporate, from vapor vapour or steam, are both modes of emitting.

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"The whole chasm in nature, from a plant to a man, is
filled up with diverse kinds of creatures.'-ADDISON.
A breach and a chasm always imply a larger open-
ing than a break or gap. A gap may be made in a
knife; a breach is always made in the walls of a build-

Emit is used to express a more positive effort to sending or fortification: the clouds sometimes separate so out; exhale and evaporate desiguate the natural and as to leave small breaks; the ground is sometimes so progressive process of things: volcanoes emit fire and convulsed by earthquakes as to leave frightful chasms flames; Breach and chasm are used morally; break and gap seldom otherwise than in application to natural objects. Trifling circumstances occasion wide breaches in families;

Full in the blazing sun great Hector shin'd
Like Mars commission'd to confound mankind;
His nodding helm emits a streamy ray,

His piercing eyes through all the battle stray.-POPE. The earth exhales the damps, or flowers exhale fumes;

Here paus'd a moment, while the gentle gale
Convey'd that freshness the cool seas exhale.

POPE.

When breach of faith join'd hearts does disengage, per-The death of relatives often produces a sad chasm in The calmest temper turns to wildest rage.-LEE. the enjoyments of individuals;

Liquids evaporate; After allowing the first fumes and heat of their zeal to evaporate, she (Elizabeth) called into her presence a certain number of each house.'--ROBERTSON.

Animals may emit by an act of volition; things exhale or evaporate by an external action upon them: they exhale that which is foreign to them; they eva

porate that which constitutes a part of their substance. The pole-cat is reported to emit such a stench from itself when pursued, as to keep its pursuers at a distance from itself: bogs and fens exhale their moisture when acted upon by the heat: water evaporates by means of steam when put into a state of ebullition.

ERUPTION, EXPLOSION.

The eruption, from e and rumpo, signifies the breaking forth, that is, the coming into view by a sudden bursting; explosion, from ex and plaudo, signifies bursting out with a noise: hence of flames there will be properly an eruption, but of gunpowder an explosion; volcanoes have their eruptions at certain intervals, which are sometimes attended with explosions: on this account the term eruption is applied to the human body, for whatever comes out as the effects of humour, and may be applied in the same manner to any indications of humour in the mind; the term explosion is also applied to the agitations of the mind which burst out; Sin may truly reign where it does not actually rage and pour itself forth in continual eruptions.-SOUTH. A burst of fury, an exclamation seconded by a blow, is the first natural explosion of a soul so stung by scorpions as Macbeth's. Cust

BERLAND.

BREACH, BREAK, GAP, CHASM. Breach and break are both derived from the same verb break (v. To break), to denote what arises from being broken, in the figurative sense of the verb itself; gap, from the English gape, signifies the thing that gapes or stands open; chasm, in Greek xácua from Xaivo, and the Hebrew to be open, signifies the thing that has opened itself.

The idea of an opening is common to these terms, but they differ in the nature of the opening. A breach and a gap are the consequence of a violent removal which destroys the connexion; a break and a chasm may arise from the absence of that which would form a connexion. A breach in a wall is made by means of cannon;

A mighty breach is made; the rooms conceal'd
Appear, and all the palace is reveal'd.-DRYDEN.
Gaps in fences are commonly the effects of some vio-
lent effort to pass through;

Or if the order of the world below
Will not the gap of one whole day allow,
Give me that minute when she made her vow.

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Some lazy ages, lost in ease,

No action leave to busy chronicles;
Such, whose supine felicity but makes
In story chasms, in epochas mistakes.-DRYDEN.

TO BREAK, RACK, REND, TEAR. breken, High German brechen, Latin frango, Greek Break, in Saxon brecan, Danish and Low German Bonyvut, Bonxvów, Chaldeep to separate; rack the root of this word, and an onomatopeia, conveying comes from the same source as break; it is properly rak in Swedish, and racco in Icelandish, signifies a a sound correspondent with what is made by breaking; breaking of the ice; rend is in Saxon hrendan, hreddan, Low German ritan, High German reissen to split, Greek pńcow, Hebrew to break in pieces; tear, in Saxon taeran, Low German tiren, High German zerren, is an intensive verb from zichen to pull, Greek pw, Tɛipw to bruise, Hebrew to split, divide, or

cleave.

The forcible division of any substance is the com mon characteristick of these terms.

thing racked, rent, or torn is broken, but not vice versa. Break is the generick term, the rest specifick: every comparable with the others. Breaking requires less Break has however a specifick meaning, in which it is violence than either of the others: brittle things may be broken with the slightest touch, but nothing can be racked without intentional violence of an extraordinary Hard substances only are broken or racked; but every kind. Glass is quickly broken; a table is racked. thing of a soft texture and composition may be rent

or torn.

Breaking is performed by means of a blow; racking by that of a violent concussion; but rending and tearing are the consequences of a pull. Any thing of wood or stone is broken; any thing of a complicated structure, with hinges and joints, is racked; cloth is rent, paper is torn. Rend is sometimes used for what is done by design; a tear is always faulty. Cloth is sometimes rent rather than cut when it is wanted to terms are similarly distinguished in their figurative be divided; but when it is torn is injured. These application;

But out affection!

All bond and privilege of nature break.

SHAKSPEARE.

Long has this secret struggl'd in my breast;
Long has it rack'd and rent my tortur'd bosom.
SMITH.

The people rend the skies with loud applause,
And heaven can hear no other name but yours.
DRYDEN.

She sigh'd, she sobb'd, and, furious with despair,
She rent her garments, and she tore her hair.

DRYDEN.
Who would not bleed with transport for his country
Tear every tender passion from his heart?

THOMSON.

TO BREAK, BRUISE, SQUEEZE, POUND,
CRUSH.

Saxon brysed, not improbably from the same source as
Break, v. To break, rack; bruise, in French briser
press: squeeze, in Saxon cwysin, Low German quietsen,

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quoesen, Swedish quesa, Latin qratio to shake, or pro- | Bursting arises mostly from an extreme tension: nol
duce a concussion; pound, in Saxon punian, is not im-low bodies, when over-filled, burst;
probably derived by a change of letters from the Latin
1xndo to bruise; crush, in French ecraser, is most pro-
bably only a variation of the word squeeze, like crash,
or squash.

Break always implies the separation of the component parts of a body; bruise denotes simply the destroying the continuity of the parts. Hard, brittle substances, as glass, are broken;

Dash my devoted bark! ye surges, break it!
"T is for my ruin that the tempest rises.-RowE.
Soft, pulpy substances, as flesh or fruits, are bruised;
Yet lab'ring well his little spot of ground,
Some scatt'ring potherbs here and there he found;
Which, cultivated with his daily care,

And, bruis'd with vervain, were his daily fare.
DRYDEN.

The operation of bruising is performed either by a violent blow or by pressure; that of squeezing by compression only. Metals, particularly lead and silver, may be bruised; fruits may be either bruised or squeezed. In this latter sense bruise applies to the harder substances, or indicates a violent compression; squeeze is used for soft substances or a gentle compression. The kernels of nuts are bruised; oranges or apples are squeezed;

He therefore first among the swains was found,
To reap the produce of his labour'd ground,
And squeeze the combs with golden liquor crown'd.
DRYDEN.

To pound is properly to bruise in a mortar so as to
produce a separation of parts;

And where the rafters on the columns meet,
We push them headlong with our arms and feet:
Down goes the top at once; the Greeks beneath
Are piecemeal torn, or pounded into death.

DRYDEN. To crush is the most violent and destructive of all operations, which amounts to the total dispersion of all the parts of a body; 'Such were the sufferings of our Lord, so great and so grievous as none of us are in any degree able to undergo. That weight under which he crouched, would crush us.'-TILLOTSON.

What is broken may be made whole again; what is bruised or squeezed may be restored to its former tone and consistency; what is pounded is only reduced to smaller parts for convenience; but what is crushed is destroyed. When the wheel of a carriage passes over any body that yields to its weight, it crushes it to powder; thus in the figurative sense this term marks a total annihilation: if a conspiracy be not crushed in the bud, it will prove fatal to the power which has suf fered it to grow;

To crush rebellion every way is just.-DARCY.

Off, traitors! Off! or my distracted soul
THOMSON.
Will burst indignant from this jail of nature.

Cracking is caused by the application of excessive
heat, or the defective texture of the substance: glass
And let the weighty roller run the round,
cracks; the earth cracks; leather cracks;
To smooth the surface of th' unequal ground;
Lest crack'd with summer heats the flooring flies,
Or sinks, and through the crannies weeds arise.
DRYDEN.
Splitting may arise from a combination of external
and internal causes: wood in particular is liable to
split;

Is 't meet that he

Should leave the helm, and like a fearful lad,
With tearful eyes, add water to the sea?
While in his mean, the ship splits on the rock,
Which industry and courage might have saved.
SHAKSPEARE.

A thing may be broken in any shape, form, and degree.
leave a long aperture; the latter of which is commonly
bursting leaves a wide gap; cracking and splitting
wider than that of the former.

RUPTURE, FRACTURE, FRACTION.

Rupture, from rumpo to break or burst, and fracture or fraction, from frango to break, denote different kinds of breaking, according to the objects to which the action is applied. Soft substances may suffer a rupture as the rupture of a blood-vessel: hard substances a fracture; as the fracture of a bone. Rupture and fraction, though not fracture, are used in an improper application; as the rupture of a treaty, or the fraction of a unit into parts; To be an enemy, and once to have been a friend, does it not imbitter the rupture?'-SOUTH.

And o'er the high-pil'd hills of fractur'd earth,
Wide dash'd the waves.--THOMSON.

FRAGILE, FRAIL, BRITTLE.

Fragile and frail, in French frêle, both come from the Latin fragilis, signifying breakable; but the former is used in the proper sense only, and the latter more generally in the improper sense: man, corporeally considered, is a fragile creature, his frame is composed of fragile materials; mentally considered, he is a frail creature, for he is liable to every sort of frailty;

What joys, alas! could this frail being give, That I have been so covetous to live.-DRYDES, Brittle comes from the Saxon brittan to break, and by the termination le or lis, denotes likewise a capacity to break, that is, properly breakable; but it conveys a TO BREAK, BURST, CRACK, SPLIT. Break, v. To break, rack; burst, in Saxon beorstan, stronger idea of this quality than fragile: the latter bersten, byrsten, Low German baisten, basten. High applies to whatever will break from the effects of time; German bersten, Old German bresten, Swedish brysta, brittle to that which will not bear a temporary violence: is but a variation of break; crack is in Saxon cearcian, in this sense all the works of men are fragile, and in French cracquer, High German krachen, Low German fact all sublunary things; An appearance of delicacy, kraken, Danish krakke, Greek κpékely, which are in all and even of fragility, is almost essential to beauty," probability but variations of break, &c.; split, in BURKE. But glass, stone, and ice are peculiarly deDutch split, Danish splitter, Low German splieten, nominated brittle; and friendships are sometimes High German spalten, Old German spilten, Swedish termed brittle; The brittle chain of this world's splita, which are all connected with the German plat-friendships is as effectually broken when one is "oblizen to burst, from the Greek oraλvooopa to tear or tus meorum," as when one is "obliviscendus et illis,."' split, and the Hebrew pelah to separate, palect or palety-CROFT. to cut in pieces.

SAP, UNDERMINE.

Break denotes a forcible separation of the constituent parts of a body. Burst and crack are onomaSap signifies the juice which springs from the ront topelas or imitations of the sound which are made in bursting and cracking. Splitting is a species of of a tree; hence to sap signifies to come at the root of cracking that takes place in some bodies in a similar any thing by digging: to undermine signifies to form a mine under the ground, or under whatever is upon the manner without being accompanied with the noise. Breaking is generally the consequence of some ex-ground: we may sap, therefore, without undermining ; ternal violence: every thing that is exposed to violence may without distinction be broken;

Ambitious thence the manly river breaks,
And gathering many a flood, and copious fed
With all the mellowed treasures of the sky,
Winds in progressive majesty along.-THOMSON.

and undermine without sapping: we may sap the foundation of a house without making any mine underneath; and in fortifications we may undermine either a mound, a ditch, or a wall, without striking immediately at the foundation: hence, in the moral application, to sap is a more direct and decisive mode

of destruction; undermine is a gradual, and may be a partial, action. Infidelity saps the morals of a nation; With morning drams,

A filthy custom which he caught from thee, Clean from his former practice, now he saps His youthful vigour.-CUMBERLAND. Courtiers undermine one another's interests at court; To be a man of business is, in other words, to be a plague and spy, a treacherous supplanter and underminer of the peace of families.'-SOUTH.

TO ERADICATE, EXTIRPATE, EXTERMINATE. To eradicate, from radix the root, is to get out by the root; extirpate, from ex and stirps the stem, is to get out the stock, to destroy it thoroughly. In the natural sense we may eradicate noxious weeds whenever we pull them from the ground; but we can never extirpate all noxious weeds, as they always disseminate their seeds and spring up afresh. These words are seldomer used in the physical than in the moral sense; where the former is applied to such objects as are conceived to be plucked up by the roots, as habits, vices, abuses, evils; and the latter to whatever is united or supposed to be united into a race or family, and is destroyed root and branch. Youth is the season when vicious habits may be thoroughly eradicated; 'It must be every man's care to begin by eradicating those corruptions which, at different times, have tempted him to violate conscience.'-BLAIR. By the universal deluge the whole human race was extirpated, with the exception of Noah and his family;

ence.

Go thou, inglorious, from th' embattled plain; Ships thou hast store, and nearest to the main: A nobler care the Grecians shall employ, To combat, conquer, and extirpate Troy.-POPE. Exterminate, in Latin exterminatus, participle of extermino, from ez or extra, and terminus, signifies to expel beyond a boundary (of life), that is, out of existIt is used only in regard to such things as have life, and designates a violent and immediate action; extirpate, on the other hand, may designate a progressive action: the former may be said of individuals, but the latter is employed in the collective sense only. Plague, pestilence, famine, extirpate: the sword exterminates; 'So violent and black were Haman's passions, that he resolved to exterminate the whole nation to which Mordecai belonged.'-BLAIR.

TO DEFACE, Disfigure, deform. Deface, disfigure, and deform signify literally to spoil the face, figure, and form.

Deface expresses more than either deform or disfigure. To deface is an act of destruction; it is the actual destruction of that which has before existed: to disfigure is either an act of destruction or an erroneous execution, which takes away the figure: to deform is altogether an imperfect execution, which renders the form what it should not be. A thing is defaced by design; it is disfigured either by design or accident; it is deformed either by an errour or by the nature of the thing.

Persons only deface; persons or things disfigure; things are most commonly deformed of themselves. That may be defaced, the face or external surface of which may be injured or destroyed;

Yet she had heard an ancient rumour fly (Long cited by the people of the sky),

That times to come should see the Trojan race Her Carthage ruin, and her tow'rs deface.-DRYDEN. That may be disfigured or deformed, the figure or form of which is imperfect or may be rendered imperfect; "It is but too obvious that errours are committed in this part of religion (devotion). These frequently disfigure its appearance before the world, and subject it to unjust reproach.'-BLAIR.

A beauteous maid above; but magick art
With barking dogs deform'd her nether part.
DRYDEN.

A fine painting or piece of writing is defaced which is torn or besmeared with dirt: a fine building is disfigured by any want of symmetry in its parts: a building is deformed that is made contrary to all form. A

statue may be defaced, disfigured, and deformed. it is defaced when any violence is done to the face or any outward part of the body; it is disfigured by the loss of a limb; it is deformed if made contrary to the per fect form of a person or thing to be represented.

Inanimate objects are mostly defaced or disfigured, but seldom deformed; animate objects are either dis figured or deformed, but not defaced. A person may disfigure himself by his dress; he is deformed by the hand of nature.

BANE, PEST, RUIN.

Bane, in its proper sense, is the name of a poisonous plant; pest, in French peste, Latin pestis a plague, from pastum, participle of pasco to feed upon or consume; ruin, in French ruine, Latin ruina, from rue to rush, signifies the falling into a ruin, or the cause of ruin.

Bane is said of

These terms borrow their figurative signification from three of the greatest evils in the world; namely, poison, plague, and destruction. things only; pest of persons only: whatever produces noxious as the plague is a pest: luxury is the bane of a deadly corruption is the bane; whoever is as obcivil society; gaming is the bane of all youth; sycophants are the pests of society;

First dire Cimæra's conquest was enjoined;
This pest he slaughter'd (for he read the skies),
And trusted heaven's informing prodigies.-POPE.
Be this, O mother! your religious care;

I go to rouse soft Paris to the war.

Oh! would kind earth the hateful wretch embrace,
That pest of Troy, that ruin of our race.
Deep to the dark abyss might he descend,
Troy yet should flourish, and my sorrows end.

POPE.

Bane when compared with ruin does not convey so strong a meaning; the former in its positive sense is that which tends to mischief; Pierc'd through the dauntless heart then tumbles slain, And from his fatal courage finds his bane.-POPE. Ruin is that which actually causes ruin: a love of pleasure is the bane of all young men whose fortune depends on the exercise of their talents: drinking is the ruin of all who indulge themselves in it to excess

POISON, VENOM.

Poison, in French poison, comes from the Latin potia a potion or drink; venom, in French wenin, Latin venenum, comes probably from vene the veins, because it circulates rapidly through the veins, and infects the blood in a deadly manner.

Poison is a general term; in its original meaning it signifies any potion which acts destructively upon the poison: a poison may be either slow or quick; a system; venom is a species of deadly or malignant venom is always most active in its nature: a poison must be administered inwardly to have its effect; a of the hellebore is a poison; the tongue of the adder venom will act by an external'application: the juice and the tooth of the viper contain venom: many plants are unfit to be eaten on account of the poisonous quality which is in them; the Indians are in the habit of dipping the tips of their arrows in a venomous juice, which renders the slightest wound mortal.

The moral application of these terms is clearly drawn from their proper acceptation: the poison must be infused or injected into the subject; the venom acts upon him externally bad principles are justly compared to a poison, which some are so unhappy as to suck in with their mothers' milk; 'The Devil can convey the poison of his suggestions quicker than the agitation of thought or the strictures of fancy.'-SOUTH. The shafts of envy are peculiarly venomous when directed against those in elevated situations; As the venom spread Frightful convulsions writh'd his tortur'd limbs. FENTON.

TO OVERTURN, OVERTHROW, SUBVERT, INVERT, REVERSE.

To overturn is simply to turn over, which may be more or less gradual: but to overthrow is to throw

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