About the Book
Excerpt from An Universal Critical and Pronouncing Dictionary of the English Language: Including Scientific Terms, Compiled From the Materials of Noah Webster, LL. D About twenty years since, the Compiler edited Johnson's Dictionary, as improved by Todd, and abridged by Chalmers, with Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary combined; and while executing that task, formed the plan of his small work, entitled, A Comprehensive Pronouncing and Explanatory Dictionary of the English Language; but, before completing this, he was induced to undertake an octavo abridgment of Dr. Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language. These tasks of editing and abridging were performed in accordance with certain principles and rules laid down for his guidance; for the selection of words, therefore, or for any want of con sistency, the Editor is responsible only to a very limited extent. In the preparation of his Comprehensive Dictionary, the Compiler adopted the practice of recording all the English words which, though met with in respectable authors, were not found in Todd's edition of Johnson's Dictionary. These proving more numerous than he at first anticipated, and, his collection having accumulated to a very considerable mass, be determined to prepare a new and larger dictionary, which should contain as complete a vocabulary of the language as was possible. The Dictionary of Johnson, as corrected and enlarged by Todd, and Walker's Critical Pronouncing Dictionary, have been made, in some degree, the basis of the present work; but the words found in those dictionaries have been revised with much labour and care, especially in relation to their etymology and definition; and those which relate to the arts and sciences have been defined entirely anew. Words found in Todd's Johnson, which are in common use, and with regard to the correctness and use of which there can be no doubt, are, for the most part, left without any cited authority; but for such words as are obsolete, antiquated, rare, provincial, local, or disputable, the authorities are retained, and a great number of new ones introduced. To the words given in Todd's Johnson, nearly have been added, for all of which authorities are given, except in the case of a few, such as the participial adjectives amusing, entertaining, established, &c., where they would be useless. All the verbs of common occurrence, both regular and irregular, are conjugated; and the preterites and perfect participles of the irregular verbs are inserted separately in their alphabetical places. But of the regular verbs, the present and perfect participles ending in ing and ed are not inserted as separate articles. For had this been done, it would have added upwards of ten thousand words, and have increased the size of the volume, without materially enhancing its value. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
