Dictionary of Americanisms - L-O



L.
LA. The abbreviation for Louisiana.

LADIES' TRACES. (Neottia tortillis.) The popular name in the Southern
States for an herb.--Williams's Florida.

LAKE LAWYER. (Genus, amia. Linnæus.) The Western Mud-fish. It is found in
Lakes Erie and Ontario, where it is known by the name of Dog-fish. Dr.
Kirtland says, it is also called the lake lawyer, from its "ferocious
looks and voracious habits."

TO LAM. (Belg. lamen.) To beat soundly; to drub. Colloquial in some of the
Northern States. It is provincial in Yorkshire, England.--Willan's
Glossary.

If Millwood were here, dash my wig,
Quoth he, I would beat her and lam her weel.--Rejected Addresses.

LAMB'S QUARFER. (Chenopodium authelminticum.) The popular name of an herb
at the South.--Williams's Florida.

LAMPER-EEL. The lamprey. A common name for lampreys in New England. It is
provincial in England and Scotland.--Forby.

LAND-LOPER.}
LAND-LUBBER.} (Dutch, landlooper.) A vagrant; one who strolls about the
country.--Bailey's Dict. Applied by sailors to landsmen by way of
ridicule.

Such travellers as these may be termed land-lopers, as the Dutchman saith,
rather than travellers.--Howell's Foreign Travel, (1642.)

He never thought how much easier it was for one of these land-lopers to
make a city in the woods on paper, than to be at the trouble of cutting
the timber all down.--A Week in Wall Street, p. 119.

p. 199

LANDSLIDE.}
LANDSLIP.} A portion of a hill or mountain, which slips or slides down; or
the sliding down of a considerable tract of land from a mountain. They are
common in Switzerland.--Webster. Johnson does not give either of these
words; which with us convey the same meaning. A remarkable landslip took
place in the city of Troy a few years since, which swept away many houses
and caused the death of some ten or fifteen persons.

There is not an appearance in all nature, that so much astonished our
aneestors, as these landslips.--Goldsmith, Hist. of the Earth.

LASSO. (Spanish.) A long rope or cord, with a noose, for the purpose of
catching wild horses or buffaloes on the Western prairies.

TO LATHER. To beat.--Wilbraham's Glossary.

LAVE. (French, lève.) A term in common use among the hunters and
mountaineers of the Western prairies and Rocky Mountains.

"Lave, ho! Lave! Prairies on fire! Quick--catch up! catch up!" This
startling announcement instantly brought every man to his feet.--Scenes in
the Rocky Mountains, p. 34.

LATHY. Thin; slender like a lath.

LATISH. Rather late.

Last evening, in returning home at a latish hour, we crossed over the lot
just after the pistol had been fired.--N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.

LAWYER. (Himantonus. Black-necked Stilt. Audubon, Ornith.) A small bird
which lives on our shores; known also by the names of Tilt, and
Longshanks. The origin of the first-mentioned name is not known.--Nat.
Hist. of New York.

LAY. Terms or conditions of a bargain; price. Ex. 'I bought the articles
at a good lay;' 'He bought his goods on the same lay that I did mine.' A
low word, used in New England.--Pickering. Probably a contraction for
outlay, i. e. expenditure.

LAY. A word used colloquially in New York and New England in relation to
labor or contracts performed upon shares; as, when a man ships for a
whaling voyage, he agrees for a certain lay, i. e. a share of the proceeds
of the voyage.

p. 200

TO LAY. To make a bet, or wager. Mr. Davis notices this word as of
frequent occurrence.

I'll lay you, he has got drunk again and has lost himself in the woods.--
Travels in the United States in 1797.

TO LAY, for to lie. A vulgar error equally common in England and in the
United States.

LAY-OVERS FOR MEDDLERS. A reply to a troublesome question on the part of a
child, in answer to 'What's that?.' A turn-over is a little pie made of
one round cake of dough, doubled and joined at the edges, in which stewed
apples are inclosed. Similar cakes were sold in England; and Grose
suggests that they may also have been filled with medlars, a fruit
resembling the apple; and that hence may have arisen the reply. The
expression is noticed in Moor's Suffolk Glossary. I have never heard it
except in New York.

TO LAZE.}
TO LAZY.} To live idly; to be idle.--Todd.

The hands and feet mutinied against the belly; they knew no reason why the
one should be lazing, and pampering itself with the fruit of the others'
labor.--L'Estrange.

Dr. Webster calls this a vulgar word. It is common in the familiar
language of New England.

I have work on hand that must be done. What do you do lazing about here
like a mud turtle nine days after it is killed?--Margaret, p. 30.
LEAN-TO. A pent-house. An addition made to a house behind, or at the end
of it, chiefly for domestic offices, of one story or more, lower than the
main building, and the roof of it leaning against the wall of the house.--
Forby's Norfolk Glossary. The word is used in New England, where it is
commonly pronounced linter.--Pickering.

COW-LEASE. A right of pasturage for a cow, in a common pasture. Used in
some towns of New England.--Pickering's Vocabulary. Provincial in the West
of England.--Grose's Glossary.

TO LEGISLATE. To make laws for a community.--Todd. This now common and
very useful word is of recent adoption by English lexicographers. It is
not in the dictionaries of Johnson or Sheridan, or in Mason's supplement
to Johnson.


p. 201

Entick's Dictionary, of 1795, is the earliest one in which it is to be
found.

LEG BAIL. To give leg bail, is to run away.--Grose.

Sae weel's he'd fley the student's a',
Whan they were skelpin at the ba';
They took leg bail and ran awa'
Wi' pith an'speed.--Fergusson's Poems, 2. 10.

LEGGINGS. (Commonly written and pronounced leggins.) Indian gaiters; also
worn by the white hunters and trappers of the West.

How piquantly do these trim and beaded leggings peep from under that
simple dress of black, as its tall nut-brown wearer moves through the
graceful mazes of the dance.--Hoffman, Winter in the West, p. 239.

LENGTHY. Having length; long; not brief; tiresomely long. Applied often to
dissertations or discourses; as, 'a lengthy oration,' 'a lengthy speech.'--
Worcester.

This word was once very common among us, both in writing and in the
language of conversation; but it has been so much ridiculed by Americans
as well as Englishmen, that in writing it is now generally avoided. Mr.
Webster has admitted it into his dictionary; but (as need hardly be
remarked) it is not in any of the English ones. It is applied by us, as
Mr. Webster justly observes, chiefly to writings or discourses. Thus we
say, a lengthy pamphlet, a lengthy sermon, &c. The English would say, a
long or (in the more familiar style) a longish sermon. It may be here
remarked, by the way, that they make much more use of the termination ish
than we do; but this is only in the language of conversation.--Pickering.

Mr. Pickering has many other interesting remarks on this word, for which I
refer the reader to his work. The word has been gradually forcing its way
into general use since the time in which he wrote; and that too in England
is well as in America. Thus Mr. Rush, in relating a conversation which he
had in London, observes: "Lord Harrowby spoke of words that had obtained a
sanction in thc United States, in the condemnation of which he could not
join; as, for example, lengthy, which imported, he said, what was tedious
as well as long--an idea that no other English word

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seemed to convey as well.--Residence in London, p. 294. The Penny
Cyclopedia remarks on it to the same effect, and even disputes its
American origin.

A writer in the Boston Daily Advertiser, under the signature of W. X.,
says, that he has met with the word lengthy in the London Times, and the
Liverpool Chronicle, in Blackwood's Magazine, and the Saturday Magazine,
in the British Critic, Quarterly Review, Monthly Review, Eclectic Review,
Westminster and Foreign Quarterly Reviews; in the writings of Dr. Dibdin,
Bishop Jebb, Lord Byron, Coleridge, &c. &c. If the English are indebted to
American genius for the invention of this precious word, they have made
some improvements upon it, which they may boast of, for ought that is
known to the contrary, as their own. Granby, an English author, uses the
word lengthiness, which is a regularly formed noun from lengthy. Campbell
uses the word lengthily. In his "Letters from the South," he says:
I could discourse lengthily on the names of Jugurtha, Juba, Syphax, &c.
and again:
The hair of the head is bound lengthily behind.

Here follow a few examples from English and American writers, out of the
many that present themselves:
Murray has sent or will send a double copy of the Bride and Giaour; in the
last one some lengthy additions; pray accept them according to the old
custoni.--Lord Byron's Letter to Dr. Clarke, Dec. 13, 1813.

All this excitement was created by two lengthy paragraphs in the Times.--
London Athenæum, July 12, 1844, p. 697.

Chalmers's Political Annals, in treating of South Carolina--is by no means
as lengthy as Mr. Hewitt's History.--Drayton's South Carolina.

I did not mean to have been so lengthy when I began.-- Jefferson, Writ.

I forget whether Mr. Sibthorpe has mentioned, in any of his numerous and
lengthy episles, this circumstance.--Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life.

TO LET ON. To mention; to disclose; to betray a knowledge or consciousness
of anything. 'He never let on,' i. e. he never told me. This expression is
often heard among the illiterate, and is not confined to any particular
section of the United States. It is also used in the North of England and
in Scotland.

p. 203

'Tis like I may,--but let na on what's past
'Tween you and me, else fear a kittle cast.--Ramsay, The Gentle Shep.

The tears were runnin' out of my eyes, but I didn't want to let on for
fear it would make her feel bad.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 84.

TO LET DRIVE; to let fly; to let slip. To discharge; let loose a blow with
the fist, a stone, a bullet from a gun, &c. Also in a metaphorical sense;
as, 'He let fly at him a volley of abuse.'

With dreadful strokes let drive at him so sore.--Spenser.

[My gun] was already loaded, and ready to let slip at them.--Sam Slick.

TO LET OUT. To begin a story or narrative. A Western expression.

Tom squared himself for a yarn, wet his lips with a little corn juice,
took a small strip of Missouri weed, and let out.--Robb, Squatter Life.

LET UP. A let up is a release; a relief. An expression borrowed from
pugilists.

There was no let up in the stock market to day, and the differences paid
on the maturing contracts were very large.--N. Y. Tribune.

DEAD LETTER. A writing or precept without any authority or force; a letter
left in a post office and not called for.--Worcester.

LEVEE. (French.) The time of rising; the concourse of persons who visit a
prince or great personage in the morning.--Johnson.

Such as are troubled with the disease of levee-hunting, and are forced to
seek their bread every morning at the chamber-doors of great men.--
Addison, Spectator, No. 547.

This word has been curiously perverted by us from its original
signification, so as to mean an evening (!) party or assembly at the house
of a great or wealthy person; as, 'the President's levee.'

LEVEE. (French.) An embankment on the side of a river, to confine it
within its natural channel. The lower part of Louisiana, which has been
formed by encroachments from the sea, is subject to be inundated by the
Mississippi and its various branches, for a distance of more than 300
miles. In order to protect the rich lands on these rivers, mounds ure
thrown up, of clay, cypress logs, and green turf, sometimes to the

p. 204

height of 15 feet, with a breadth of 30 feet at the base. These, in the
language of that part of the country, are called levees. They extend for
hundreds of miles; and when the rivers are full, cultivated fields covered
with rich crops, and studded with villages, are seen lying far below the
river courses.--Encyclopedia Americana.

The great feature of New Orleans is the Levee. Extending for about five
miles in length, and an average of two hundred feet in width, on the west
bank of this river, which here runs to the north-east, it is made the
great dépôt not only for the products of the vast country bordering on the
Mississippi, and its navigable tributaries, but also of every foreign
port, by means of about five hundred steamboats on the one hand, and every
variety of sea-craft on the other, which are at all times to be seen in
great numbers along the entire length, discharging and receiving their
cargoes. To the business man it is one of the most interesting scenes in
the world, and for the "calculating" man here are found the "items" from
which an estimate may be formed of the rapid growth and vast resources of
the "Great West." Who but a "native" can see the approach of a steamer
laden with forty-six hundred and odd bales of cotton, and witness casks of
sugar, molasses and tobacco by the thousand, together with the boxes and
bales of merchandise from every clime which here accumulate, and not
wonder whence all this is received and whither it is to go?--Cor. of N. Y.
Tribune.

LEVY. Elevenpence. In the State of Pennsylvania, the eighth part of a
dollar, or twelve and a half cents. Sometimes called an elevenpenny bit.--
See Federal Currency.

LICIT. Lawful.--Todd, Webster. This word was criticised in the Monthly
Anthology, (1804, p. 54,) in a review of the "Miscellaneous Works of David
Humphreys, Esq." The reviewers say, "There is no such word as licit, and
we cannot allow the author, respectable as he is, to coin language."--
Pickering. It is now found in all the later English dictionaries.

LICK. A blow. Common in vulgar language both in England and the United
States.

He turned upon me as round as a chafed boar, and gave me a lick across the
face.--Dryden.

When he committed all these tricks
For which he well deserved his licks,
With red-coats he did intermix.--Forbes's Domini Despos'd, p. 28.

My head was a singin' with the licks, when she told me how he had

p. 205

done me, and if it hadn't been for her I'd gin him such a lickin', &c.--
Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 113.

We have had the first lick at him; and that, the General says, is the best
part of the battle.--Jack Downing's Letters, p. 103.

Tom Sellers was cavortin' round Molly like a young buffalo--he was puttin'
in the biggest kind a licks in the way of courtin'.--Robb, Squat. Life.

LICK, or SALT LICK. In America, a place where the beasts of the forest
lick for salt at salt springs. Webster. "A salt spring is called a lick,
from the earth about them being furrowed out in a most curious manner, by
the buffalo and deer, which lick the earth on account of the saline
particles with which it is impregnated."--Imlay's Topog. Description of
the Western Territory of N. America.

TO LICK. To beat. Common, as a colloquial expression, in many parts of
England.--Todd. To lick, a lick, a licking, are common words in speech,
though not in writing.--Richardson. These remarks apply with perfect
accuracy to this country.

How nimbly forward each one pricks,
While their thin sides the rider licks.--Maro, p. 24.

What side are you on? "Well, I am for Jackson," says I. "Mister, what
makes you for Jackson?" "Why," says I, "he licked the British at New
Orleans, and paid off the national debt."--Crockett, Tour, p. 141.

"Don't put Spriggins in," said a ragged youth, "he's a high flyer! he
licked Kneeland last winter, 'cause he said he warn't no gentleman."--Mrs.
Clavers's Forest Life, Vol. II. p. 39.

Boys! behave! or if you must fight, don't let those who have offices lick
those who haven't.--N. Y. Tribune to Evening Post.

LICKING. A flogging; a beating.

Come over here, you rascal, swim over the mill dam, and if I don't give
you the biggest lickin' you ever had.-- Crockett, Tour, p. 195.

I promised when I catched him to give him a licking, and I was very much
afeard I'd have to break the peace.--Neal, Charcoal Sketches.

TO PUT THE LICKS IN, is to run very fast. A Northern phrase. Also in
speaking of a ship sailing, we bear the phrase, 'She is going a pretty
good lick,' that is, sailing at a rapid rate.

LICKSPITTLE. A mean parasite; one who will stoop to any dirty work.--
Grose.

p. 206

We saw men that had grown gray in the service of their country, hurled
from their station, to make way for lickspittles and yelpers.--Crockett.

LIE. A lie out of whole cloth, is an utter falsehood.

In the second place, we are authorized by these gentlemen to say that the
statement is in itself utterly false--"a lie," as one of the commissioners
wished us to say, "out of whole cloth."--N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.

LIEF, or LIEVE. (Sax. leof, past part. of luftan, to love.) Willingly;
gladly.--Johnson. This word was formerly in good repute, and was used by
well-known writers. It is now a common word, but only used in familiar
speech, either in England or America.

And swere that he would lodge with them yfere,
Or them dislodge, all were they lief or loth.--Spenser, Fairy Queen.

I would as lief the town crier spoke my lines.--Shakspeare, Hamlet.

She, good soul, had as lief see a toad, a very toad, as see him.--Ibid.
Romeo and Juliet, II. 5.

LIFE PRESERVER. An air-tight apparatus made of India rubber cloth for
preserving the lives of persons in case of shipwreck.

LIFT. Used by the farmers in some parts of New England to signify a sort
of gate without hinges.--Pickering's Vocabulary. This word is also used in
Norfolk, England. Mr. Forby calls it "a sort of coarse rough gate of sawn
wood, not hung, but driven into the ground by pointed stakes, like a
hurdle, used for the same purposes of sub-dividing lands, stopping gaps in
fences, &c. and deriving its name from the necessity of lifting it up for
the purpose of passing through. In Suffolk, a lift differs from a gate, in
having the projecting ends of the back and lower bar let into mortice
holes in the posts, into and out of which it must be lifted."--Norfolk
Glossary.

LIG. A fish hook with lead cast around its upper part in order to sink it.
Maine.

LIGHT, adj. To make light of; to treat as of little consequence; to
disregard.-- Webster.

LIGHT, n. To stand in one's own light. To be the means of preventing one's
own good, or frustrating one's own purposes.--Webster.

p. 207

TO LIGHT ON. To fall on; to come to by chance; to happen to find.--
Webster.

As in the tides of people once up, there want not stirring winds to make
them more rough; so this people did light upon two ringleaders.--Bacon.

As wily reynard walked the streets at night,
On a tragedian's mask he chanced to light.
Turning it o'er, he muttered with disdain,
How vast a head is here without a brain!--Addison.

LIKE, for as. As in the phrase, 'like I do,' for as I do. Not peculiar to
America.

Each Indian carfied a great Square piece of whale's blubber, with a hole
in the middle, through which they put their heads, like the Guachos do
through their cloaks.--Darwin's Journal of a Naturalist, ch. 10.

As soon as the post office was open, I looked over the miscellany like I
always do, afore I let anybody take it.--Maj. Jones's Courtship.

LIKELY. That may be liked; that may please; handsome. In the United
States, as a colloquial term, respectable; worthy of esteem; sensible.--
Worcester.

Mr. Webster has the following remarks on this word "The use of likely (for
such as may be liked; pleasing; as, a likely man,) is not obsolete, nor is
it vulgar. But the English and their descendants differ in the
application. The English apply the word to external appearance, and with
them likely is equivalent to handsome, well- formed; as, a likely man, a
likely horse. In America, the word is usually applied to the endowments of
the mind, or to pleasing accomplishments. With us, a likely man, is a man
of good character and talents, or of good disposition or accomplishments,
that render him pleasing or respectable."

LIMITS. The extent of the liberties of a prison.--Webster. Called, also,
jail liberties.

LIMSY. Weak; flexible. New England.--Webster.

LINER. The ships belonging to the regular lines of London, Liverpool, or
Havre packets, are called liners, to distinguish them from transient ships
sailing to the same ports.

TO LINE BEES, is to track wild bees to their homes in the woods. One who
follows this occupation is called a bee hunter.

p. 208

At killing every wild animal of the woods or prairies, at fishing, or at
lining bees, the best hunters acknowledged his supremacy.--Kendall.

LINGO. (Portuguese.) Language; tongue; speech. A low cant word.--Johnson.

LINKS. Sausages. Used in the interior of New England. It is now common in
the sea-port towns to say, "links of sausages," meaning the links into
which they are tied up. In some paris of England, sausages are called
links, and a number of them a "latch of links."--Forby's Norf. Glossary.

LINSEY WOOLSEY. (A corruption of linen and wool.) Stuff made of linen and
wool mixed; light or coarse stuff.--Todd's Johnson. This article is now
extensively manufactured in New England; and, among merchants, it is
called linseys. The word appears to be a very old one.

He gave them coats of linsey woolsey; for, said he, that is good and warm
for winter, and good and light for summer.--Bp. of Chichester, Ser.

LIQUOR. Many and very singular names have been given to the various
compounds or mixtures of spirituous liquors and wines, served up in
fashionable bar-rooms in the United States. The following list is taken
from one advertisement:

Plain mint julep.        I. O. U.                 Milk punch.
Fancy      do.           Tippe na Pecco.          Cherry  do.
Mixed      do.           Moral suasion.           Peach   do.
Peach      do.           Vox populi.              Jewett's fancy.
Pineapple  do.           Ne plus ultra.           Deacon.
Claret     do.           Shambro.                 Exchange.
Capped     do.           Virginia fancy.          Stone wall.
Strawberry do.           Knickerbocker.           Sifter.
Arrack     do.           Smasher.                 Soda punch.
Racehorse  do.           Floater.                 Slingflip.
Sherry cobbler.          Pig and whistle.         Cocktail.
Rochelle   do.           Citronella Jam.          Apple-jack.
Arrack     do.           Egg nog.                 Chain-lightning.
Peach      do.           Sargent.                 Phlegm-cutter.
Claret     do.           Silver top.              Switchel-flip.
Tip and Ty.              Poor man's punch.        Ching-ching.
Fiscal agent.            Arrack       do.         Tog.
Veto.                    Iced        do.          Ropee.
Slip ticket.             Spiced punch.            Porteree.
Polk and Dallas.         Epicure's do.            &c. &c.

IN LIQUOR. Intoxicated; drunk.

p. 209

TO LIQUOR, or TO LIQUOR UP. To take a dram; or, as We more frequently say,
to take a drink.

He was the first to break silence, and jumping up, asked all to liquor
before going to bed.--Porter's Tales of the South-west, p. 31.

Arter lickerin and cussin a spell, we took a bee line for Skylake. Going
along we lickered freely.--Ibid. p. 131.

"The child must be named Margaret." "No! Mary," replied the father, "in
honor of my esteemed wife. Besides, that's a Bible name, and we can't
liquor up on Margaret."--Margaret, p. 89.

LISTER. One who makes a list or roll.--Webster. This word is used in
Connecticut, and is applied to those who make out lists or returns of
cattle or other property. I have never heard the word used elsewhere.

LIT, past tense and part. of to light. Often used by the illiterate.

LOAFER. A vagabond; an idle lounger. This peculiarly American word has
been gradually growing into extensive use during the last twenty years. It
was applied in the first place to the vagrants of our large towns, in
which sense it is equivalent to the lazzarone of Naples or the lepero of
Mexico. It is now, however, frequently applied in conversation and in the
newspapers to idlers in general; and seems to have lost somewhat of its
original vulgarity. The Philadelphia Vade Mecum has the following remarks
upon it:

"This is a new word, and, as yet, being but a colt, or a chrysalis, is
regarded as a slang epithet. It is, however, a good word, one much needed
in the language, and will, in time, establish itself in the most refined
dictionaries. It will mount into good society, and be uttered by
aristocratic lips; for it is the only word designating the most important
species of the genus idler--the most important, because the most annoying
branch of that family.

"The loafer is not exclusively, as some suppose him, a ragged step-and-
corner lounger, who sleeps in the sun, and 'hooks' sugar on tbe whaff. On
the contrary, the propensity to loaf is confined to no rank in life; all
conditions are, more or less, troubled with it. Like squinting, the king
and the beggar may be equally afflicted with the imperfec-

p. 210

tion. There be your well-dressed monied loafer, as well as your loafer who
is nightly taken by the watch.

"He is that kind of a man, who, having nothing to do, or being unwilling
to do anything, cannot keep his tediousness to himself, and therefore
bestows it all upon others, not when they are at leisure for
conversational recreation, but when business presses, and they would look
black upon the intrusion of a sweetheart or a three-day wife. He is the
drag-chain upon industry, and yet so far different from the drag-chain,
that he hitches to the wheel when the pull is up hill. Loving the
excitement of busy scenes, yet too lazy to be an actor in them, where men
are busiest, there, too, is to be found the pure, unadulterated loafer,
sprawling about as the hound sprawls before the fire in every body's way,
and tripping up every body's heels. In the store, he sits upon the
counter, swinging his useless legs, and gaping vacantly at the movements
around him. In the office, he effectually checks necessary conversavion
among those who do not wish their business bruited to the world, turns
over papers which he has no right to touch, and squints at contents which
he bas no right to know. In the counting-house, he perches on a stool,
interrupts difficult calculations with chat as idle as himself, follows
the bustling clerk to the storehouse, pouches the genuine Havana, quaffs
nectar from proof-glasses, and makes himself free of the good things which
belong to others."

TO LOAF. To lounge; to idle away one's time. The verb is of still more
recent origin than the noun.

The Senate has loafed away the week in very gentlemanly style.--N. Y. Com.
Advertiser, Dec. 1845.

One night Mr. Dobbs came home ftom his loafing place--for he loafs of an
evening like the generality of people.--Neal's Charcoal Sketches.

TO LOAN. To lend. This verb is inserted by Todd on the authority of Huloet
(1552) and Langley (1664), and noted "not now in use." It is, however,
much used in this country, though rarely in England.--Worcester.

LOAN OFFICE. A public office in which loans of money are negotiated for
the public, or in which the accounts of loans are kept and the interest
paid to the lenders.--Webster.

p. 211

TO LOBBY. To attempt to exert an influence on the members of a legislative
body, by persons not members of such body. These are confined to the
lobbies of the house, where they meet, the members, and by various means
attempt to influence them or secure their votes for some favorite bill. So
necessary has this business of lobbying now become, that when a petition
is sent to a legislature, particularly for an act of incorporation, it is
very common for one or more individuals to take it in charge for the
purpose of lobbying it through.

There is a quarrel in Philadelphia about Mr. W----'s appointments. Some of
the Loco-focos have come out to lobby against him.--N. Y. Trib.

A committee has gone to Albany to lobby for a new bank charter.--N. Y.
Courier and Enquirer.

LOBBY-MEMBER. A person who frequents the lobby of a house of legislation.--
Worcester.

TO LOCATE. To place; to set in a particular spot or position.--Pickering.
Webster. This word is comparatively modern in England, and is not found in
any of the dictionaries previous to Todd's. It is used among us much more
frequently and in a greater variety of senses than in England.

Under this roof the biographer of Johnson passed many jovial, joyous
hours; here he has located some of the liveliest scenes, and most
brilliant passages, in his entertaining anecdotes of his friend Samuel
Johnson.--Cumberland, Memoirs of Himself.

The archbishops and bishops of England can neither locate and limit
dioceses in America, nor ordain bishops in any part of the dominions of
Great Britain, out of the realm, by any law of the kingdom, or any law of
the colonies, or by any canon law acknowledged by either.--John Adams,
Letter to Dr. Morse.

A number of courts properly located will keep the business of any country
in such condition as but few suits will be instituted.--Debates on the
Judiciary, p. 51.

So too a town, a village, and even a piece of ground, is said to be
located, i. e. placed, situated, in a particular position.

Baber refers to villages formerly located, as at the present day, on the
plains, &c.--Masson's Travels in Afghanistan, Vol. III. p. 193.

When Port Essington was located, all these difficulties had to be suffered
over again.--Stokes's Australia, Vol. I. p. 401.

p. 212

A lot of earth so singularly located, as marks it out by Providence to be
the emporium of plenty and the asylum of peace.--[London] Observer.

And hence arises the following American use of the word:

TO LOCATE. To select, survey, and settle the bounds of a particular tract
of land, or to designate a portion of land by limits ; as, to locate a
tract of a hundred acres in a particular township.--Webster.

Mistakes in locating land were often very serious--the purchaser finding
only swamp or gravel, when he had purchased fine farming land.--Mrs.
Clavers's Western Clearings.

It is also coming into use in the old country, as will be seen by the
following example:
The banks of these rivers [the Macquarrie, &c. in New South Wales] are
fast filling with settlements; those of the hunter, the nearest to the
seat of government, being, we understand, entirely located.--Edinburgh
Review.

TO LOCATE. Applied to persons, it means:

1. To place in a particular position.
The mate, having located himself opposite to me [at the table], began to
expostulate upon the mode of sea travelling.--Gilliam, Travels in Mexico.

2. To place in a permanent residence; to settle.
The Asega-bok, the book of the judge, contains the laws of the Rustringian
Friesians located around the gulf of the Jade.--Bosworth, Pref. to Anglo-
Sax. Dic. p. 61.

The most unhealthy points are in the vicinity of mill-dams, and of
marshes, near both of which the settlers take particular pains to locate.--
Hoffman's Winter in the West, Vol. I.

3. As a technical term used by the Methodists, to settle permanently as a
preacher. The word is needed by them, because they have many itinerant
preachers who are not located.

Mr. Parsons, like most located and permanent pastors of a wooden country,
received almost nothing for his services.--Carlton, New Purchase.

LOCATION, n. That which is located; a tract of land designated in place.--
Webster. This application of the word is peculiar to the United States.

LOCK, STOCK, AND BARREL. The whole. A figurative expression borrowed from
sportsmen, and having reference to a gun.

p. 213

Look at [this carriage] all through the piece; take it, by and large,
lock, stock, and barrel; and it's the dandy.--Sam Slick in England, ch. 19.

LOCO--FOCO. The name by which the Democratic party is extensively
distinguished throughout the United States. This name originated in the
year 1835, when a division arose in the party, in consequence of the
nomination of Gideon Lee as the Democratic candidate for Congress, by the
committee chosen for that purpose. This nomination, as was customary, had
to be confirmed at a general meeting of Democrats held at Tammany Hall.
His friends anticipated opposition, and assembled in large numbers to
support him. "The first question which arose," says Mr. Hammond, "and
which would test the strength of the parties, was the selection of
Chairman. The friends of Mr. Lee, whom we will call Tammany men, supported
Mr. Varian; and the anti-monopolists, Mr. Curtis. The Tammanies entered
the hall as soon as the doors were opened, by means of back stairs; while
at the same time the Equal Rights party rushed into the long room up the
front stairs. Both parties were loud and boisterous; the one declaring
that Mr. Varian was chosen Chairman, and the other that Mr. Curtis was
duly elected the presiding officer. A very tumultuous and confused scene
ensued, during which the gas-lights, with which the hall was illuminated,
were extinguished. The Equal Rights party, either having witnessed similar
occurrences, or having received some intimations that such would be the
course of their opponents, had provided themselves with loco-foco matches
and candles, and the room was re-lighted in a moment. The 'Courier and
Enqiurer' newspaper dubbed the anti-monopolists, who used the matches,
with the name of Loco-focos; which was soon after given to the Democratic
party, and which they have since retained.--Hammond's Political History of
New York, Vol. II. p. 491.

LOG. A bulky piece or stick of timber unhewed. Pine logs are floated down
rivers in America, and stopped at saw-mills. A piece of timber when hewed
and squared, is not called a log, unless perhaps in constructing log
huts.--Webster.

p. 214

TO LOG. To cut down and get out pine logs for sawing into boards, etc.

Once more at work, he employed his leisure time in the heavy and dangerous
business of logging.--Mrs. Clavers's Western Clearings.

LOGGING SWAMP. In Maine, the place where pine timber is cut.

LOG-ROLLING. In the lumber regions of Maine it is customary for men of
different logging camps to appoint days for helping each other in rolliug
the logs to the river, after they are felled and trimmed--this rolling
being about the hardest work incident to the business. Thus the men of
three or four camps will unite, say on Monday, to roll for camp No. 1--on
Tuesday for camp No. 2--on Wednesday for camp No. 3--and so on, through
the whole number of camps within convenient distance of each other.

The term has been adopted in legislation to signify a like system of
mutual co-operation. For instance, a member from St. Lawrence has a pet
biLl for a plank road which he wants pushed through; he accordingly makes
a bargain with a member from Onondaga who is coaxing along a charter for a
bank, by which St. Lawrence agrees to vote for Onondaga's bank, provided
Onondaga will vote in turn for St. Lawrence's plank road.

This is legislative log-rolling; and there is abundance of it carried on
at Albany every winter.

Generally speaking, the subject of the log-rolling is some merely local
project, interesting only to the people of a certain district; but
sometimes there is party log-rolling, where the Whigs, for instance, will
come to an understanding with the Democrats, that the former shall not
oppose a certain Democratic measure merely on party grounds, provided the
Democrats will be equally tender to some Whig measure in return. [J.
Inman.]

We were compelled, for electioneering objects, to attend this summer
several log-rollings.--Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 237.

It is to be feared that, through the pitiable system of log-rolling and
personal favoritism that has ever cursed this city, there will be plenty
of persons appointed as policemen who are utterly unfit for it.--N. Y.
Com. Adv.

p. 215

Another evil of our banking system arises from the very foolish rule, that
a single director may reject any paper offered for discount, instead of
making the fate of every application depend upon the decision of a
majority of the board. This gives a power to individuals at variance with
the interests of the community. It produces what is termed log-rolling in
legislation, and makes good and liberal-minded men responsible for the
conduct of individuals who look solely to self.--N. Y. Cour. and Enq.

Mr. Davis has the best prospect for speaker, without the fetters of a
caucus. But with such a system of log-rolling, the one whose prospects are
worse, or rather who has no prospects at all, has the best chance to come
out successful.--N. Y. Tribune.

Mr. Ballou did not see the object of a postponement. If the delay was for
the purpose of ohtaining information for the House, he had no objections;
if log-rolling was the motive, he opposed the postponement.--Providence
Journal.

I doubt very much whether, with all their log-rolling, and caucusing, and
whipping in refractory members, they will be able to carry the Annexation
Bill.--Boston Paper.

LOGY. (Dutch, log, heavy, slow, unwieldy.) We have received this word from
the Dutch, and apply it generally to men. He's a logy man, i. e. a slow-
moving, heavy man. 'He is a logy preacher,' i. e. dull. The Dutch say, Een
log verstand, a dull wit.

WNG AND SHORT. The end; the result; the upshot.

You see I should have bore down on Sol Gills yesterday, but she took it
away and kept it. That's the long and short of the subject.--Dombey and
Son, ch. 23.

The long and short of all this was, that the white man and Indian girl got
married.--Simon Suggs, p. 71.

But the long and short of it is, that if he keeps growing stupid, I'll
send him adrift.--J. C. Neal, P. Ploddy, p. 15.

Well, uncle, the long and short of the matter is, that whether you advise
me or not, I am determined to be no longer a burden to mother.--My Uncle
Hobson and I, p. 24.

BY A LONG SHOT. By a long way; by a great deal.

Mr. Divver offered a resolution summarily removing the superintendent, and
was quickly told by the Recorder that he was going too fast by a long
shot--that he was out of order.--Proceedings in the Case of Dr. Reese.

LONG KNIVES, or BIG KNIVES. A term applied to Europeans and their
descendants, by the North American Indians. It signifies wearers of
swords.

p. 216

LOON. (Eolymbus glacialis. Wilson.) The common name for the Northern
Diver. As straight as a loon's leg, is a common simile.

LOOSENESS. Freedom. A Western vulgarism, now becoming common at the East;
as, 'He spoke with a perfect looseness.'

LOPE. A leap; a long step.--Webster.

A sulky ox refuses to move in the proper direction; off starts a rider,
who catching the stubborn animal by the tail, it at once becomes
frightened into a lope; advantage is taken of the unwieldy body by the
hunter, as it rests on the fore feet, to jerk it to the ground.--Thorpe's
Backwoods, p. 15.

The mustang goes rollicking ahead, with the eternal lope, such as amorous
deer assumes when it moves beside its half galloping mate, a mixture of
two or three gaits, as easy as the motions of a cradle.--Ibid. p. 13.

TO LOPE. To leap; to move or run with a long step, as a dog.--Webster.

LOT. In the United States, a piece or division of land; perhaps originally
assigned by drawing lots, but now any portion, piece, or division.--
Webster. This application of the word is peculiar to this country, and is
universally used of a parcel of land, whether in town or country. Thus, we
have city lots, town lots, house lots, meadow lots, &c. 'I have a fine lot
of cleared land, with a wood lot adjoining;' meaning a portion of the
forest on which the trees are left for fuel as required. 'In going to
town, I left the road, and went across lots, to shorten the distance,' i.e.
across the open fields or meadows. "In the first settlement of this
country," says Mr. Pickering, "a certain portion or share of land was
allotted to each inhabitant of the town; and this was called his lot. Both
lot and allotment occur in our early laws."

LOT or LOTS. A quantity; a large number. A familiar expression common to
England and America, but not in the dictionaries. Thus we hear it said,
'There was a lot of people at the mass-meeting to-day;' 'We shall have
lots of folks at our house to-night," etc.

I showed my trunk to Patrick and then went and got into the omnibus, what
took me, with a whole lot of other passengers, to the Charleston Hotel.--
Maj. Jones's Travels.

p. 217

My wife at home will warm us up
Some broth of well picked bones for sup;
There's lots of welcome in my house, &c.--Reynard the Fox, p. 46.

LOVIER. (A. Sax. lufian, to love.) A lover. A vulgarism, but no
corruption, and nearer the Anglo-Saxon than the common word.--Forby's
Vocabulary.

LUBBER. A sturdy drone; an idle, fat, bulky fellow.--Johnson. A name given
by sailors to landsmen.--Grose, Dic.

LUCKS. Small portions of wool twisted on the finger of a spinner at the
wheel or distaff. The same word as lock when applied to the hair, &c.--
Forby's Norfolk Glossary. In New England this word is still in use.

Miss Gisborne's flannel is promised the last of the week. There is a bunch
of lucks down cellar, bring them up.--Margaret, p. 6.

LUDDY MUSSY! Lord have mercy! an exclamation of surprise, common in the
interior parts of New England.

Luddy mussy! can you read! Where do you live?--Margaret, p. 52.

LUMBER. Timber sawed or split for use; as beams, joists, boards, planks,
staves, hoops, and the like.--Webster. The word in this sense, and the
following ones derived from it, are peculiar to America.

LUMBERER.}
LUMBERMAN.} A person employed in cutting timber and in getting out lumber
from the forest.

LUMBERING. The business or occupation of getting out various kinds of
lumber, such as timber, boards, staves, &c. 'To go a lumbering,' is the
phrase used by those who embark in it.

LUMBERING. Strolling, lounging, walking leisurely. A vulgarism used in New
York.

As I was lumbering down the street, down the street,
A yaller gal I chanc'd to meet, etc.--Negro Melodies. The Buffalo Gal.

LUMBER-WAGGON. A waggon with a plain box upon it, used by farmers for
carrying their produce to market. It is sometimes so arranged that a
spring seat may be put in it, when it is very comfortable for riding in.

TO LUMP. Used in the vulgar expression, 'If you don't

p. 218

like it, you may lump it,' i. e. you may help yourself if you can.

"Hoity--toity!" exclaimed Mrs. Pipehin, plucking up all the ogress within
her. "If she don't like it, Mr. Dombey, she must be taught to lump it."--
Dombey and Son, Ch. XI.

LYCEUM. A house or apartment appropriated to instruction by lectures or
disquisitions. An association of men for literary purposes.--Webster.

In New England almost every town and village of importance has its lyceum,
where a library is formed, natural and artificial curiosities collected,
and before which public lectures are given. They have done a vast deal
towards the dissemination of knowledge, particularly among those classes
which have not had the advantages of a good education.

TO LYNCH. To condemn and execute in obedience to the decree of a multitude
or mob, without a legal trial; sometimes practised in the new settlements
in the south-west of the United States.--Worcester.

LYNCH LAW. An irregular and revengeful species of justice, administered by
the populace or a mob, without any legal authority or trial.--Worcester.



M.
MAD. Inflamed with anger; very angry; vexed. 'I was quite mad at him;' 'he
made me mad.' In these instances mad is only a metaphor for angry. This is
perhaps an English vulgarism, but it is not found in any accurate writer,
nor used by any good speaker, unless when poets or orators use it as a
strong figure, and to heighten the expression, say, 'he was mad with
rage.'-- Witherspoon, Druid. No.5.

Mad, in the sense of angry, is considered as a low word in this country,
and at the present day is never used except in very familiar
conversation.--Pickering.

This use of the word is provincial in various parts of England. See
Halliwell, Grose, etc.

Indeed, my dear, you make me mad sometimes, you do.--Spectator.

The General began to get in a passion--and says he, "Major, I'm gettin'

p. 219

mad!" "Very well," says I, "General, then I'll keep cool accordin' to
agreement."--Maj. Downing's Letters, p. 20.

Up stairs I went with them, as mad as thunder, I tell you, at being
thought a hambug.--Field, Western Tales.

Jeeminy, fellows, I was so enormous mad that the new silk handkercher
round my neck lost its color!--Robb, Squatter Life.

LIKE MAD. A common simile, in England and America.

A bear enrag'd at the stinging of a bee, ran like mad into the bee-garden
and overturn'd all the hives.--L'Estrange.

Here's two boys a fishin,' and there a little girl a playin' with a dog,
that's a racin', and a yelpin', and barkin' like mad--S. Slick in England.
MAD AS A MARCH HARE. A common simile, used alike in England and America.

The whole's to be fourpence a quart--
'Odswinge! lad, there will be rare drinkin';
Billy Pitt's mad as ony March hare,
And never was reet, fwook are thinkin'.--Westmoreland and Cumberland
Poems, p. 220.

Because I would not let Ike Tapley have the lick of the tap [after drawing
some rum], he was as mad as a March hare.--Margaret, p. 39.

MADAM. In Plymouth, Massachusetts, and in some neighboring places, it has
been and still is the practice, to prefix to the name of a deceased female
of some consideration, as the parson's, the deacon's or the doctor's wife,
the title of Madam.--Kendall's Travels, Vol. II. p. 44. "This practice,"
says Mr. Pickering, "like that of giving magistrates the title of 'squire,
prevails in most of the country towns of New England; but is scarcely
known in the sea-port towns.--Vocabulary.

TO MAHOGANYIZE. To paint wood in imitation of mahogany.

MAILABLE. That may be mailed or carried in the mail.--Worcester. In a
recent suit brought by the government against Adams & Co.'s Express, for
carrying letters and papers, to the injury of the post office, Judge Betts
stated in his charge to the jury that "any written communication between
one individual and another comes within the term mailable matter, and no
matter in what shape it is put, it is liable to postage as if carried by
mail."

p. 220

All mailable matter interded to reach its destination without delay, must
be deposited with the mail agents, on board the Stonington boats, the
regular and only line for carrying the Boston, or great Eastern mail.--A
Newspaper Advertisement.

MAIZE. (W. Ind., maiz.) Indian corn. The name of the great staple of
native American agriculture, adopted from the Carib language by the
Spaniards, and thus imported into the languages of Europe. The earliest
dictionary in which I find the word, is Florio's Worlde of Wordes (1598);
the article there is Maiz, a kind of grain or wheat whereof they make
bread in India." Its native country is not fully determined, although it
is believed to be America. Bernal Diaz speaks of it in Mexico in 1517; and
Acosta in 1570, when treating of the plants "peculiar to the Indies," says
that "the most common grain found in the new world is mays, which is found
in all the kingdoms of he West Indies, Peru, New Spain, Guatemala, and
Chili." He adds, that in Castile they call it Indian wheat; and in Italy,
Turkey grain; which seems to imply that the plant was also known in those
countries.

TO MAKE FISH. To cure and prepare fish for commerce. A New England phrase.

MAKING MEAT, on the great Western prairies, consists in cutting into thin
slices the boneless parts of the buffalo, or other meat, and drying them
in the wind or sun. Meat thus prepared may be preserved for years without
salt.--Scenes in tAe Rocky Mountains, p. 53.

TO MAKE A RAISE. A vulgar expression, meaning to raise; procure; obtain.

I made a raise of a horse and saw, after being a wood piler's prentice for
awhile.--Neal, Sketches.

TO MAKE TRACKS. To leave; to walk away. A figurative expression of Western
origin.

He came plaguy near not seein' of me, says I; for I had just commenced
making tracks as you came in.--Sam Slick in England, ch. 20.

MARM. A corruption of the word madam or ma'am, often used in the interior
of New England for mother.

Has your marm got that done?--Margaret, p. 39.

p. 221

TO MARBLE. To move off; as, 'If you do that again, you must marble,' i. e.
be off immediately. Used in Pennsylvania.--Hurd's Gram. Corrector.

MAROONING. To go marooning. An expression used in the Southern States. It
means to make up a party and have a picnic. Such is called a marooning
party. The difference between a marooning party and a picnic is, that the
former is a party made up to pass several days on the shore or in the
country; the latter is a party for a day.

MARVEL. A common corrupt pronunciation of marble.

MASKINONGE. (Genus, esox. Cuvier.) An immense fish of the Pike species,
caught in the St. Lawrence and the great lakes. I have seen a specimen
taken at Kingston upwards of four feet in length. Dr. Richardson, in his
"Fauna Borealis Am.," says that he found none in the rivers which empty
into Hudson's Bay or the Polar Sea.

The masquinoijé is to all appearance a large species of pike, and
possesses the ravenous propensities of that fish.--Backwoods of Canada, p.
161.

MASS. The common abbreviation for Massachusetts.

MASS-MEETING. A large or general mleeting called for some specific
purpose. The word mass is prefixed with a sort of ad captandum intent, as
O'Connell called his large meetings of Irishmen, "monster meetings." Mass-
meetings were first talked of in the political campaign of 1840, when
Harrison was elected President. The term is now applied to any large
meeting without distinction of party.

MAY-APPLE. (Genus, podophyllum.) A plant, the root of which is medicinal,
answering as a substitute for jalup.--Bigelow's Plants of Boston.

MD. The common abbreviation for Maryland.

MEADOW. In New England this word means exclusively grass land, which is
moist or subject to being overflowed; and land which is not so, is called
upland. In England, also, the term meadow is used among agriculturists in
the limited sense above mentioned.--Pickering.

A tract of low land. In America, the word is applied

p. 222

particularly to the low ground on the banks of rivers, consisting of a
rich mould or alluvial soil, whether grass-land, pasture, tillage, or wood
land; as, the meadows on the banks of the Connecticut. The word with us
does not imply necessarily wet land. This species of land is called in the
Western States, bottoms or bottom-land. The word is also used for other
low or flat lands, particularly lands appropriated to the culture of
grass.--Webster.

MEAN, for means. Many American writers, following the Scottish models,
make use of mean instead of means. But the established practice among
English writers, from the time of Addison to the present day, has been to
use the plural means.

It was the best means of bringing the negotiation to a happy issue.--
Marshall's Washington, Vol. V. p. 546.

MEECHIN. A person with a downcast look is said to look meechin. Used on
Long Island.

MEETING. A congregation. Among Methodists and others in the United States,
it is a universal practice to say, 'we are going to meeting,' when going
to their church or place of worship.

ME. The common abbreviation for Maine.

MENHADEN. (Alosa menhaden. Storer, Massachusetts Report.) A fish of the
herring kind abounding in the waters of New England, and as far south as
Chesapeake Bay. It is also known by the names of Bony-fish, White-fish,
Hardhead, Mossbonker, and Panhagen. In Massachusetts and Rhode Island,
they are called Menhaden; in New York, Mossbonkers and Skippaugs. They are
caught in immense quantities and used as manure, chiefly for Indian corn.
Dr. DeKay, in his report on the fishes of New York, states that he has
known of an instance when "84 waggon-loads, or in other words, 168,000 of
these fish were taken at a single haul" of the seine.--Nat. Hist. of New
York.

One day last week, Messrs. Davidson and Russel drew in at a single haul,
on Mr. Hallock's shore, west side of New Haven harbor, two millions of
white fish, as nearly as could be estimated, weighing on an average about
three quarters of a pound each. The total weight of the haul, therefore,
was about 1,500,000 lbs. or 750 tons! It was the greatest haul of fish
ever made in that harbor, and we suspect it will not

p. 223

be easy to match it anywhere. The farmers from the neighboring country
were engaged three or four days in carrying them off in immense cartloads.
They sell at 50 to 75 cents the 1000. The fishermen are much indebted to a
bevy of porpoises, who drove the white fish into the harbor, helping
themselves meanwhile, no doubt, to a very large number.--Journal of
Commerce, May 16, 1848.

MET UP WITH, for overtook.--Sherwood's Georgia.

MICH. The common abbreviation fur Michigan.

MIDDLINGS. The coarser part of flour.--Webster.

MIDGET. The sand-fly; so called in Canada.

MIGHTILY. In a great degree; very much. A sense scarcely to be admitted
but in low language.--Todd~s Johnson.

An ass and an ape conferring grievances; the ass complained mightily for
want of horns, and the ape for want of a tail.--L'Estrange.

MIGHTY. 1. Great; excellent; fine.

The old maid bridled and tossed her head, as much as to say that, in her
opinion, the like of him was not so mighty a catch for ladies beyond their
girlhood.--Chambers's Journal (Grandmoiher Hook).

2. In a great degree; very; as, 'mighty wise;' 'mighty thoughtful.--
Webster.

She untied her hair, then began to twirl the ringlets round her fingers
and play with them in a coquettish manner, which she seemed to think
mighty killing, for she smiled in evident self-conceit.--London Zoist.

The Doctor's was a mighty fine house, fronting the sea.--Dickens, Dombey
and Son, ch. XI.

His face is mighty little for his body.--Georgia Scenes, p. 184.

What mighty hard land it is on this road. The whole face of the earth is
covered with stones, as thick as Kentucky land titles.--Crockett, Tour
down East, p. 57.

You'll be mighty apt to get wet, said a thorough-bred Texan, who stood
watching our movements.--Kendall's Santa Fé Expedition, Vol. I. p. 32.

But, sir, I were mighty weak, and couldn't tell a stump from an old he.--
Porter's Tales of the South-west, p. 124.

A girl belonging to the hotel was shouting to the boys, who had been
dispatched to the barn for eggs, to "quit suckin' them thar eggs, or the
candidates would stand a mighty small chance for thar dinner.--Robb,
Squatter Life, p. 80.

MILE. Often in the singular with a ntlnleral, instend of the plural miles.
Mr. Hartshorne, in his Glossary, says its use is universal in England,
where the vulgar never give it a plural.

p. 224

"The custom," he adds, "seems to receive countenance from some of our
early English poets.--Salopia Antiqata.

Start the horses together for a hundred and fifty mile.--Georgia Scenes.
MILEAGE is a very large and even extravagant allowance made to members of
Congress, and some others of the favored, for travelling expenses--eight
dollars for every twenty miles. [J. Inman.]

CONSTRUCTIVE MILEAGE is the same allowance for journeys supposed to be
made, but not actually made, from and to the seat of Government. The
allowance enures to members of the United States Senate once in every four
years. When a new President comes into office, Congress adjourns, of
course, on the 3d of March, the new President being inaugurated on the
4th. But the Senate is immediately called again into session, to act on
the nominations of the new President; and though not a man of them leaves
Washington, each is supposed to go home and come back again, in the course
of the ten or twelve hours intervening between the adjournment and the re-
assembling. For this supposed journey the Senators are allowed their
mileage, just as though the journey was actually made; the sum being, in
the case of Senators from distant States, from $1000 to $1500.

Many of the Senators, in 1845, when Mr. Polk was inaugurated, refused to
pocket their constructive mileage, holding it to be an imposition on the
public.

Constructive mileage is allowed when an extra session of Congress is
called, whether the Senators and Members have actually gone to their homes
or not, after the regular session. [J. Inman.]

The mileage is a still less excusable abomination. Texas sends hither two
Senators and two Representatives, who receive, in addition to their pay,
some $2,500 each every session for merely coming here and going away again
(I would sooner pay them twice the money to stay away)--$10,000 in all for
travelling expenses which are not actually $1000. Arkansas will take $6000
out of the Treasury this year merely for the travel of her Senators. When
we come to have Senators and Representatives from Oregon and California,
we shall have to negotiate a loan expressly to pay the mileage of their
members.--Letter from H. Greeley. N. Y. Tribune, May 2, 1848.

p. 225

MILK-SICKNESS. A fatal spasmodic disease, peculiar to the Western States.
It first attacks the cattle, and then those who eat beef or drink milk.

A few miles below Alton, on the Mississippi, I passed a deserted village,
the whole population of which had been destroyed by the milk-sickness.--
Hoffman, Winter in ihe West, Let. 2.

MILLERITES. The name of a religious sect from its founder, William Miller.

The distinguishing doctrines of this sect are, a belief in the re-
appearance of Jesus Christ on earth, "with all his saints and angels; that
he will raise the dead bodies of all his saints, and change the bodies of
all that are alive on the earth that are his; and that both these living
and raised saints will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. There the
saints will be judged. While this is being done in the air, the earth will
be cleansed by fire; the bodies of the wicked will be burned; the devil
and evil spirits will be banished from the earth, shut up in a pit, and
will not be permitted to visit the earth again until a thousand years.
This is the first resurrection and first judgment. Then Christ and his
people will come down from the heavens, and live with his saints on the
new earth." After a thousand years, a second death, resurrection, and
judgment take place; when the righteous will possess the earth forever."
The judgment-day will be a thousand years in duration. The righteous will
be raised and judged in the commencement, the wicked at the end of that
day. The millennium is between the two resurrections and the two
judgments."--Evans's Hist. Religions, American Ed.

Believing in the literal fulfilment of the prophecies, the Millerites
first asserted that, according to their calculations, the first judgment
would take place about the year 1843. Subsequently other periods were
named; and so firm was the faith of many that the Saviour would descend
from the heavens and take his followers up into the air, that they
disposed of all their worldly treasures, provided themselves with
'ascension robes,' and waited with great anxiety for the sounding of the
last trumpet, the signal for their aerial voyage. Many persons became
insane In consequence of the

p. 226

excitement and fear attending this delusion. Others have come to their
senses, owing to their repeated disappointments in not being elevated
according to Father Miller's promise; and at the present time the sect has
happily dwindled down to an insignificant number.

MILLION. A vulgar corruption of the word melon; as, 'water-millions,'
water-melons;' mush-millions, musk-melons.

TO MINCE. To diminish in speaking; to retrench, to cut off, or omit a part
for the purpose of suppressing the truth; to extenuate in representation.--
Webster.

And love doth mince this matter.--Shakspeare, Othello.

There was no mincing matters; it seemed as if Mr. Calhoun's preseace had
mesmerized the stoutest democrats into perfect agreement with himself.--N.
Y. Tribune, Nov. 26, 1845.

TO MIND. To recollect; remember.

I was invited to dine out in Boston; but if I can mind the gentlemin's
name, I wish I may be shot.--Crockett, Tour, p. 82.

TO MIND. To take care of.

Yes, said Margaret, I will keep Obed. I'll mind the beds when the bird,
are about.--Margaret, p. 20.

MISERY. Pain; as, misery in my head.--Sherwood's Georgia.

MISS. The common abbreviation for Mississippi.

TO MISSIONATE. To act as a missionary. Not well authorized.--Webster.

Mr. Pickering notices this absurd word, which he found in the Missionary
Herald.

TO MISSTATE. To state wrong; to make an erroneous representation of facts;
as, 'to misstate a question in debate.'--Webster.

MISSTATEMENT. A wrong statement; an erroneous representation, verbal or
written; as, a misstatement of facts in testimony, or of accounts in a
report.--Webster.

Not noticed by Johnson, Todd, or Richardson. Used by the London Quarterly
Review, Oct. 1837.

MITTEN. When a gentleman is jilted by a lady, or is discarded by one to
whom he has been paying his addresses he is said to have got the mitten.

p. 227

Young gentlemen that have got the mitten, or young gentlemen who think
they are going to get the mitten, always sigh. It makes them feel bad.--
Neal's Sketches.

MfTTS [sic]. A cover for the hand in which the fingers are unprotected.

TO MIZZLE. To run away; to abscond. A low word.

Mr. Buchanan was in the Senate Chamber when the Tariff was under
discussion; but as soon as Mr. Bagby commenced speaking of the "odious law
of 1842," the Secretary of State mizzled.--Cor. of N. Y. Herald.

A broker, named H. H. D. operated, in a financial way, day before
yesterday, to the amount of $3000, and then mizzled.--N. Y. Tribune.

The Southern men will spend their last cent here; while the Northern men,
if they had won, would have buttoned up their pockets and mizzled.--N. Y.
Herald, May 14, 1845.

MO. The common abbreviation for Missouri.

MOBEE. A fermented liquor made by the negroes in the West Indies, prepared
with sugar, ginger, and snake-root. It is sold by them in the markets.--
Carmichael's West Indies.

MOCCASON,}
MOCCASIN,} Also often written and pronounced moggason. (Algonkin,
makisin.) An Indian shoe, made of soft leather without a stiff sole, and
commonly ornamented round the ancle.--Worcester.

MONETARY. Pertaining to money, or consisting in money.--Webster. A word of
recent origin, not in Johnson or Todd, but inserted by Richardson in his
dictionary.

MONSTROUS is much used by the vulgar for very, exceedingly.

Augustus is a monstrous pretty city; but it ain't the place it used to
was, by a great sight. It seems like it was rotting off at both ends, and
ain't growing much in the middle.--Maj. Jones's Sketches of Travel.

It's monstrous inconvenient and ridiculous.--Sam Slick in England.

He'll cut the same capers there he does here. He's a monstrous mean
horse.--Georgia Scenes, p. 27.

MOONSHINE. A trifle; nothing.--Grose.

The story of the Queen of Spain's secret marriage to her cousin, appears
to have been all moonshine.--N. Y. Com. Adv., Nov. 22, 1845.

MOOSE. An Indian name (Knistenaux, mooswah) of an animal of the genus
Cervus, and the largest of the deer kind,

p. 228

growing sometimes to the height of seventeen hands, and weighing 1200
pounds. This animal inhabits cold northern climates, being found in the
forests of Canada and New England.--Encyclopedia.

MORMONS. The Mormonites, or Latter-day Saints, are a religious sect which
derive their name from the 'Book of Mormon.'

This book was first published in the year 1830. Since that period its
believers and advocates have zealously propagated its doctrines through
every State in the Union, and in Canada. In England they have made some
thousands of converts.

The Book of Mormon purports to be the record or history of a certain
people, who inhabited America previous to its discovery by Columbus. This
history, containing prophecies and revelations, was engraven (according to
it), by the command of God, on small brass plates, and deposited in the
hill Comora, in Western New York. These plates were discovered (the
Mormons say) by Joseph Smith, in the year 1825; they contain certain
hieroglyphics, in the Egyptian character, which Smith, guided by
inspiration translated. It purported to give the history of America from
its first settlement by a colony from the tower of Babel to the 5th
century of our era. It stated that the Saviour made his appearance upon
this continent after his resurrection; that he planted the gospel here--
had his apostles, prophets, teachers, etc.; that the people were cut off
in consequence of their transgressions; and that the last of their
prophets wrote the Book of Mormon on the brass plates above named, "which
he hid in the earth, until it should come forth and be united with the
Bible, for the accomplishment of the purposes of God in the last days."

Smith readily found many to believe his statements, and in 1830 organized
his first church of Mormons in Manchester, Ontario county, New York. Other
preachers sprang up, who "saw visions and prophesied, cast out devils and
healed the sick, by the laying on of hands," and performed other miracles.
New churches or societies were formed in other States,

p. 229

until in a few years their number amounted to many thousands. They removed
in a body to Missouri, where a most cruel and relentless persecution
sprang up against them, which forced them to quit their homes and the
State. They then sought a refuge in Illinois, where they founded a city
called Nauvoo, in which they erected an immense edifice or Temple, which
is thus described in an Illinois paper:

"This temple stands in a prominent position, and is visible from a
distance of twenty-five or thirty miles. Viewed from the bank, it is grand
and imposing. It is built of white limestone, which has been worked and
faced down to a perfect surface. Its length is 128 feet, width 88 feet,
height to the roof 77 feet. The walls are two feet thick; and on every
side are rows of pilasters, crowned with elaborately carved capitals,
showing a man's face and two hands grasping trumpets. The structure is
lighted with four rows of windows, two of which are quadrilateral, and two
circular. All the entrances are from the West, and the immense doorways we
gained by flights of steps. The interior contains a basement, in the
centre of which stands the celebrated baptismal font," an immense stone
reservoir, resting upon the backs of twelve oxen, also cut out of stone,
and as "large as life."

Persecution followed these poor people in Illinois. They were attacked by
armed bodies of men by order of the State authorities, driven out by
force, and compelled to abandon or sacrifice their property. Such as
survived the persecution, after traversing the boundless prairies, the
deserts of the far West, and the Rocky Mountains, finally found a resting
place near the Great Salt Lake in Oregon, [sic] where some 20,000 of them
are now forming a settlement.

NORTAL. Used in vulgar parlance adverbially for mortally; i. e.
excessively.

It was a mortal hot day, and people actually sweated to that degree, it
hid the dust.--Sam Slick, 3d ser. p. 102.

TO MOSEY. To be off; to leave; to sneak away. A low expression.

After I left you, or rather after you left me, when them fellows told you
to mosey off before the boat went to sea.--N. Y. Family Companion.

p. 230

MOSQUITO BAR.}
MOSQUITO NET.} A net or curtain, which, in the Southern States and in the
West Indies, is placed over the bed to protect a person from mosquitoes.

MOSSBUNKER. (Alosa menhaden, Storer.) See Menhaden.

TO MOTION. To move; to make a motion; as, 'I motion that the resolution
pass.' An old English word rarely used, because unnecessary.

I want friends to motion such a matter.--Burton, Anat. Melancholy.

MOUGHT, for might. This old preterite is still heard among the illiterate,
especially in country places.

TO MOUSE. 'To go mousing about,' is to go poking about into holes and
corners.

TO MOVE, for remove. To change one's residence.

These are great moving times. The sovereigns of Europe are being moved,
much against their will--and the sovereign people of New York are on the
eve of moving, according to custom, which has made the day sports of this
city a very peculiar feature. Could the sovereigns of Europe only move as
easily as the sovereigns of New York do, from house to house, palace to
palace, &c., they would be well content, and not complain--as many movers
to-morrow will.--N. Y. Sunday Atlas, April 30, '48.

MUD-HEN. The common name of the Virginia Rail ornithologists. It inhabits
small streams and marshes.

MUD-TURTLE. The popular name of a reptile common in all parts of the
United States. Marsh Tortoise and Mud Terrapin are other names for the
same. It is the sternothærus odorata of naturalists.--Holbrook, Am.
Herpetology.

TO MULL. To soften and dispirit.--Johnson. The only authority cited by
Johnson is from Shakspeare:

Peace is a very apoplexy, lethargy,
Mull'd, deaf, sleepy, insensible.-- Coriolanus.

Used in New England.

There has been a pretty considerable mullin going on among the doctors
ever sen the quack medicine came out.--Margaret, p. 170.

MULLEY COW. A name used for a cow chiefly among children, or by parents
when speaking to children; as, 'the old mulley cow.' Provincial in
England.

In travelling homeward, buy forty good crones,
And fat up the bodies of those seely bones:

p. 231


Leave milking, and dry up old mulley thy cow;
The crooked and aged to fatting put now.--Tusser, Husbandry.

MUMMACHOG. (Genus, fundulus. Lacép$#232;de.) The popular name of the
Barred Killifish of naturalists. It is a small fish from two to four
inches in length, and frequents the salt water creeks and the vicinity of
the wharves. This Indian name is retained in Rhode Island.

MUSH. Indian meal boiled with water, and eaten with milk or molasses. It
is often called hasty pudding, and is a favorite dish throughout the
United States. In Hallamshire, England, to mush, means to crush, or pound
very small. From this our word may have originated.

E'en in thy native regions, how I blush
To hear the Pennsylvanians call thee mush!
On Hudson's banks, while men of Belgic spawn
Insult and eat thee by the name suppawn.--Barlow, Hasty Pudding.

MUSQUASH. The musk-rat among the traders in the Northern States is called
the musquash.

TO MUSS. A corruption of to mess. To disarrange; disorder; put in
confusion. Ex. 'I hate to ride in an omnibus, because it musses my
clothes;' 'I'm all mussed up.' The word is much used in New York.

MUSS. A corruption of mess, a state of confusion; a squabble; a row. This
vulgarism is also common in New York.

"My head aches," said he; "they have put my mind and body both in a
confounded muss.'--Mrs. Child, Letters from New York, p. 129.

I saw the British flag a flyin' from the top of the mast, and my first
notioin was to haul it down, and up with the stars and stripes; but I
concluded I hadn't better say nothin' about it, for it might get the two
nations into a muss, and then there would have to he a war.--Hiram
Bigelow's Letter in Fam. Companion.

There is also an old English word muss, meaning a scramble; but it has
evidently no connection with the above.

MUSTANG. The wild horse of the prairies, and the invariable companion of
their inhabitants. Sparing in diet, a stranger to grain, easily satisfied
whether on growing or dead grass, inured to all weather, capable of great
labor, the mustang poney seems as peculiarly adapted to the prairies as
the camel is to the desert.--Thorpe's Backwoods, p. 12.

p. 232

TO MUZZLE. To loiter. In Yorkshire, England, they use the word muzlin,
loitering, which seems to be the same; also, to muddle, to walk in a
careless manner with the head down.--Craven Glossary.

The child mopes, she muzzles about in the grass and chips.--Margater.



N.
TO NAIL. To fasten; to 'bind a person to a bargain. Ex. 'He offered the a
dollar for this book, and I nailed him;' i.e. I accepted the offer.--
Grose.

MISS NANCY. A name given to an effeminate man.--Craven Glossary.

NANKEEN. (A Chinese word.) A species of light yellow or fawn-colored
cloth, made from cotton of the same color (gossypium religiosum), which
color is permanent. The article was formerly imported in large quantities
from China; but since the cultivation of the raw material in the United
States, nankeens have been manufactured here, in every respect equal to,
and at a less cost than those from China.

NARY-ONE, for neither. A common vulgarism.

NATION. Very; extremely; as, nation good, very good. 'A nation long way.'
This word is provincial in this sense in various parts of England.--
Junius. Brocket.

There were a nation set o' folk at kirk.--Carr's Craven Gloss.

But no sense of a place, some think,
Is this here hill so high;
Cos there, full oft, 'tis nation cold,
But that don't argufy.--Essex Dialect, Noakes and Styles.

You colony chaps are a nation sight too well off; so you be.--Sam Slick.

NATIVE AMERICANS. The name assumed by a political party which sprang up a
few years ago, to advocate the rights and privileges of persons born in
the United States, in opposition to those of foreigners. The principal
measure advocated by them, was the extension of the time of residence
required by law previous to naturalization, from seven to twenty-one years.
The extreme lengths to which this party went, and the excesses produced in
consequence of its

p. 233

inflammatory appeals to vulgar prejudice, ensured its speedy defeat; and
it may now be considered as, to all intents and purposes, extinct.

NEAR, for to or at; in these expressions--'The minister plenipotentiary
near the Court of St. James's--near the United States,' &c. This
Gallicisin was first used here in translations of the diplomatic
correspondence between the French and American governments; and from the
language of translations it has been adopted in many of our original
compositions.--Pickering.

NETOP. "This Indian word," says Mr. Pickering, "is still used,
colloquially, in some towns in the interior of Massachusetts, to signify a
friend, or (to use a cant word) a crony." Roger Williams, in his Key to
the Indian Language, says, "What cheer, netop? is the general salutation
of all English towards the Indians."

NIGH UNTO. Nearly; almost. A vulgarism.

I nigh unto burst with madness!--I could feel every har on my head
kindlin' at the eend.--Robb, Squatter Life.

NIGHTCAP. A glass of hot toddy or gin-sling taken before going to bed at
night. When a second glass is taken, it is called 'a string to tie it
with.'

Come, now, Squire, before we turn in, let us tie the nightcap.--Sam Slick
in England, ch. 3.

NIMSHI. A foolish fellow, or one who habitually acts in a foolish manner.
Local in Connecticut.

NINE-KILLER. The popular name of the Northern Butcher-bird (lanius) of
ornithologists. In Canada and the Eastern States, it is sometimes called
Mocking-bird. "The name of nine--killer," says Dr. DeKay, "is derived from
the popular belief that it catches and impales nine grasshoppers in a
day."--Nat. Hist. of New York.

TO NIP. To pinch close in domestic management.--Forby's Norfolk Glossary.

Mrs. H---- carded, spun, colored, and wove, for herself and others, nipped
and beaked her husband, drank, and smoked.--Margaret, p. 14.

NIPPENT. Impudent; impertinent.--Hurd's Gram. Corrector.

p. 234

TO NOMINATE. To name for an election, choice, or appointment; to propose
by name, or offer the name of a person as a candidate for an office or
place. This is the principal use of the word in the United States; as in a
public assembly, where men are to be selected and chosen to office, any
member of the assembly or meeting nominates, that is, proposes to the
chairman the name of a person whom he desires to have elected.--Webster.

NOCAKE. An Indian word still used in some parts of New England.

If their imperious occasions cause the Indians to travel, the best of
their victuals for their journey is nocake (as they call it), which is
nothing but Indian corn parched in the hot ashes; the ashes being sifted
from it, it is afterwards beaten to powder, and put into a long leathern
bag, trussed at their back like a knapsack; out of which they take thrice
three spoonfuls a day.-- Wood's New England's Prospect, 1634.

NON-COMMITTAL. That does not commit or pledge himself to any particular
measure. A political term in frequent use.

They call him [Mr. Van B----] non-committal too, and this is because he
always looks before he leaps. They say he never gives the measure of his
foot. Now how can this be, when it is shown that he speaks against the
tariff at home, and votes for it in Congress; goes for internal improve
ment by the General Government in New York, but against it out of it; goes
against the Bank at Philadelphia, but in favor of it at Utica; goes for
all the candidates for President in turn, Jackson last, notwithstanding
which they say he is in higher favor there now than those who began before
him. Went for the war, but went against Madison; wanted to turn out
Madison and put in Clinton, and then turn Clinton out from the little
office he held in New York. Goes for gold and bard money, and has more rag
money in his State than all the other States put together. Call you this
non-committal? As well may you call the fingers of a watch non-committal,
that go regularly around to every figure on its face.--Crockett, Tour, p.
211.

Extensive preparations were made [for a sketch of the Life and Times of
Channing]. But experiment at length satisfied me that it was far more
difficult than I supposed to shun the dishonesty of making my honored
relative the exponent of my prejudices, without sinking into a tone of non-
committal, yet more at variance with his character and with the truth.--
Preface to the Life of Dr. Channing.

NON-COMMITTALISM. The practice or doctrine of not committing oneself.

p. 235

Much of what Governor W---- says in his message is made feeble by
diffuseness; and on many points he either avoids the expression of
opinion, or expresses his opinion with so many qualifications as to
subject himself to the charge of non-committalism.--N. Y. Commercial Adv.

He, being somewhat of a wag, handed me "Fearne on Contingent Remainders,"
which he remarked, with admirable non-committalism, was as interesting as
a novel, after one got interested in it.--My Uncle Hobson and I, p. 20.

NON-ELECTION. Failure of election.--Webster.

NON-MANUFACTURING. Not carrying on manufactures; as, 'non-manufacturing
States.'--Webster.

NON-PAYMENT. Neglect of payment. Webster.

NO ODDS. No difference; no consequence; no matter. A common expression in
low language.

There is no great odds nor difference between these two sermons.--Bp.
Latimer's Sermon before Edward VI.

I don't ax no odds of nobody, shouted Boss, smacking his fists together.--
Chron. of Pineville, p. 52.

"Now, Major," says the General, "which eend shall we begin at first?" "It
makes no odds," says I.--Maj. Downing's Letters, p. 44.

Oh! never mind it, Mister; it aint no odds no how, and I guess we can soon
fix it.--Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 9.

NOODLEJEES. (Dutch.) Wheat dough rolled thin and cut into strings like
maccaroni. It is used for the same purpose.

NOODLE-SOUP. Soup made of the above.

NOTCH. An opening or narrow passage through a mountain or hill.--Webster.

NOTICEABLE. That may be observed; worthy of observation.--Webster. Not in
any English dictionary. Mr. Pickering gives the following example of its
use:

The moon's limb exhibited very little of that rough or serrated
appearance, which was so noticeable in 1806.--Mem. of the Amer. Acad. Vol.
III.

TO NOTIFY. 1. To make known; to declare; to publish. 'The laws of God
notify to man his will and our duty.'

2. To give information of. 'The allied sovereigns have notified the
Spanish court of their purpose of maintaining legitimate government.'

3. To give notice to. 'The constable has notified the

p. 236

citizens to meet at the City Hall.' 'The bell notifies us of the time of
meeting.'

The first of these senses, as Dr. Witherspoon long ago observed (Druid,
No.5), is the only one in which this word is employed by English writers.
They use it simply in the sense of the Latin notificare, i. e. 'to make
known,' as in the following examples from Richardson:
His [Duke Robert's] worthie acts valentlie and fortunately atchieved
against the infidels, are notified to the world by many and sundrie
writers.--Holinshed.

Such protest must also be notified, within fourteen days after, to the
drawer.--Blackstone, Com.

The two significations, Nos. 2 and 3, in which the direct object of the
verb is the person instead of the thing, is in accordance with the French
use of the verb notifier. It is not improbable that they will yet be
adopted in England; for the same transfer of the idea from the thing to
the person took place in the Latin language itself, in which the word
notus, known, was also used in the sense of informed of, knowing.

NOTHING TO NOBODY. Nobody's business. This singular expression is common
in the language of the illiterate in some parts of the South.

But surely no lady drank punch? Yes, three of them did, ... and the way
these women love punch is nothing to nobody.--Georgia Scenes.

NOTION. Inclination; in vulgar use; as, 'I have a notion to do that.'--
Webster.

NOTIONS. Small wares or trifles.--Worcester. A word much used by the
ingenious New Englanders.

"Can I suit you to-day, ma'am?" said a pedlar from New England, when
offering his wares for sale in Michigan. "I've all sorts of notions.
Here's fashionable calicoes; French work collars and capes; elegant milk
pans, and Harrison skimmers and ne plus ultry dippers! patent pills--cure
anything you like; ague bitters; Shaker yarbs; essences, wintergreen,
lobely; tapes, pins, needles, hooks and eyes; broaches and bracelets;
smelling bottles; castor ile; corn-plaster; mustard; garding seeds; silver
spoons; pocket combs; tea-pots; green tea; saleratus; tracts; song-books;
thimbles; baby's whistles; slates; playin' cards; puddin' sticks; baskets;
wooden bowls; powder and shot. I shan't offer you lucifers, for ladies
with such eyes never buys matches--but you can't ask me for anything I
haven't got, I guess."--Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life, Vol. II. p. 113.

p. 237

NUBBINS. Imperfectly formed ears of corn.

NURLY. A corrupt pronunciation of gnarly, i. e. gnarled.

Times are mopish and nurly.--Margaret, p. 314.

TO NULLIFY. (Lat. nullus.) To annul; to make void.--Todd's Johnson.

You will say, that this nullifies all exhortations to piety; once a man,
in this case, cannot totally come up to the thing he is exhorted to.--
South's Sermons.

NULLIFICATION. The act of nullifying; a rendering void and of no effect,
or of no legal effect.--Webster. The political meaning of nullification is
limited and special--at least in American politics. Some years ago, when
the system of high protective duties on foreign imports was predominant in
the national councils, the politicians of South Carolina--whose main
article of export is cotton--were strongly desirous of free trade with
England and France, the principal consumers of that article, believing
that the consumption of it in those countries would be augmented by an
augmentation of the import of their fabrics. Those politicians thought
themselves aggrieved therefore by the protection given in the United
States to the manufacture of fabrics coming into competition with those of
England and France. But finding Congress resolute in adhering to the
protective tariff, the South Carolina politicians became so exasperated
that at last they proclaimed their intention to nullify the tariff--that
is, to admit British and French goods into their ports free of duty, and
not to permit the exercise of Custom House functions in their State. In
other words, nullification, in the case of South Carolina, was simply an
act, or at least a threat, of open rebellion.--[John Inman.]

Somebody must go ahead. and look after these matters to keep down
nullification and take care of the Gineral [Jackson] when he gits into his
tantrums, and keep the great democratic party from splitting in two.--
Crockett, Tour, p. 218.

NULLIFIER. One who believes in or maintains the right of a State to refuse
compliance with a law enacted by the legislature of the whole Union. [John
Inman.]



p. 238

O.
OATS. To feel one's oats, is to feel one's importance.

You know you feel your oats as well as any one. So don't be so infarnal
mealy-mouthed, with your mock-modesty face.--S. Slick in England.

OBLIGEMENT. This antiquated word ia still used by old people in New
England.--Pickering.

OCELOT. The French popular name of a digitigrade carnivorous mammal of the
cat kind.--Webster.

ODD FISH. A person who is eccentric or odd in his manners. The
Knickerbocker Magazine, in a sketch of a learned professor of Tinnecum,
says:

He was styled unanimously an odd fish, by those who knew him; nor did his
appearance belie him, as he started forth on a geological excursion,
making poems and tuning pianos by the way. On another occasion he won a
foot race on the Union course for a hundred dollars, to enable him to
pursue his studies for the ministry.--Vol. VI. p. 551.

ODD STlCK. An eccentric person; as, 'John Randolph was an odd stick.'

OF. An action of the organs of sense may be either involuntary or
voluntary. Accordingly we say to hear, to see, to denote an involuntary
act; and to look at, to hearken or to listen to, to denote a voluntary
one. With regard to the other senses we are not so well provided with
words; but some people, prompted apparently by a feeling of this
deficiency, endeavor to supply it by construing the verbs to feel, to
taste, to smell, with the preposition of, to signify a voluntary act.
Hence, to feel, taste, smell of a thing, is to do so intentionally. This
corruption is rarely met with in writing.

In the course of the forenoon, a few women came around our tent--felt of
it--and peeped through the cracks, to see Mrs. Perkins.--Perkins's
Residence in Persia, p. 103.

OFF AND ON. Vacillating, changeable, undecided; in which sense it is much
used with us. In England it is also used.--Carr's Craven Dialect.

Be it so, that the Corinthians had no such contentions among them, as

p. 239

Paul wrote of; be it so, that they had not mis-ordered themselves, it was
neither off-nor-on, to that that Paul said.--Latimer, Sermons, Vol. I. p.
176.

OFFISH. A word applied to a person who is distant or unapproachable in his
manners.

OFFSET. In accounts, a sum, account, or value set off against another sum
or account, as an equivalent.--Webster.

This word is generally used in place of the English term set-off. Mr.
Pickering says, "it is also very common in popular language, in the sense
of an equivalent. None of the English dictionaries have the word in any
sense except that of "shoot from a plant."

He avoided giving offence to any of the numerous offsets of
Presbyterianism.--Lond. Quart. Rev., Vol. X. p. 498.

The expense or the frigates had been strongly urged; but the saving 'in
insurance, in ships and cargoes, and the ransom of seamen, was more than
an offset against this item.--Marshall's Washington.

Thanksgiving was an anti-Christmas festival, established as a kind of
offset to that.--Margaret, p. 61.

TO OFFSET. To set one account against another; to make the account of one
party pay the demand of another.--Webster.

OLD. Crafty; cunning. Used in vulgar language. When a person attempts to
get the advantage of another, and is frustrated in the attempt by the
sagacity or shrewdness of the other, the latter will say, 'I'm a little
too old for you,' meaning that he is too cunning to be deceived by him.

OLD, for stale; in this expression, 'old bread.' New England.--Pickering's
Vocab.

Mr. P. infers from the following extract, that this is also a Scotticism:
The Scotticism old bread, seems no way inferior to the Anglicism stale
bread--Lond. Monthly Mag., April, 1800.

OLD COUNTRY. A term applied to Great Britain, originally by natives from
that country, but now understood and used generally in the United States.

OLD COUNTRYMAN. A native of England, Scotland, Ireland, or Wales. The term
is never applied to persons from the Continent of Europe.

p. 240

OLD-WIFE, or OLD-SQUAW. The popular name of a brown duck, one of the most
common throughout North America, the long-tailed Duck of Pennant.--Nat.
Hist. of New York.

OLD-MAN. (Artemisia abrotanum.) A popular name for the Southern-wood
plant.

OLDERMOST. Oldest. Used at the West.

Ain't that oldermost stranger a kinder sort a preacher?--Carlton, The New
Purchase, Vol. II. p. 70.

OLYCOKE. (Dutch, olikoek, oil-cake.) A cake fried in lard. A favorite
delicacy with the Dutch, and also with their descendants, in New York.
There are various kinds, as dough-nuts, crullers, etc.

ONCE IN A WHILE. Occasionally; sometimes.

Scarcely a day passes in which from two to half a dozen of our paragraphs
are not "appropriated" by others of the city papers, without any allusion
to their origin, or any complaint from us. But once in a while, when the
"appropriation "is of a column or more, we bear the act in mind and take
the first couvenient occasion to retaliate.--N. Y. Com. Adv.

ON HAND. At hand; present. A colloquial expression in frequent use.

The Anti-Sabbath meeting, so long talked of, has at length taken place in
Boston. About 300 females were on hand.--N. Y. Express.

If our numerous subscribers and the public will be on hand about 5 o'clock
this evening, we can give them the European papers by the America,
containing doubtless the most critical intelligence ever transmitted to
this country. So be ready.--Burgess, Stringer & Co., 222 Broadway.

ONPLUSH, for nonplus. The expression is used in the Southern States.

You know I tuck dinner at the Planters. Well, I was put a leetle to the
onplush by that old nigger feller what waits on the table there. I did not
know what to make of him.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 63.

ONTO. A preposition used in some of the Northern States, but not peculiar
to America.

When the stack rises two feet high to be conveniently forked onto from the
ground.--Marshall, Rural Econ., Yorkshire, Vol. II. p. 144.

Mr. Pickering quotes the following as the only example he has seen in an
American book:
Take all your cigars and tobacco, and in some calm evening carry them onto
the common.--Dr. B. Waterhouse, Lecture on Tobacco.

p. 241

OPINUATED. Conceited.--Sherwood's Georgia.

OSWEGO TEA. (Lat. monarda didyma.) A medicinal plant prepared by the
Shakers for its aromatic and stomachic properties.

OUGHT. As this verb is defective, and has no inflection to distinguish
past from present time, illiterate persons often attempt to supply the
deficiency by the use of auxiliaries. Hence the expressions, don't ought,
had ought, hadn't ought. Mr. Pegge notices the two last among the
vulgarisms of London.

Now, you hadn't ought to be so stingy with such charming daughters as
you've got.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 67.

Peter Cram is an impostor and ignoramus, and you hadn't ought to have
recommended him.--Knickerbocker Mag., Vol. XVII.

"The luggage must be brought in," said the elderly gentleman. "Yes! I
should think it had oughter," observed the young man in reply. "I should
bring it in, if it was mine. Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life, Vol. I. p. 96.

OURN, for ours. A vulgarism frequently heard, which is also common in the
local dialect of London.

OUT AND OUT. Wholly; completely; without reservation. A common colloquial
expression here as in England.

Duff Green has issued proposals for a new free-trade paper in the city of
New York. It will be conducted with energy, and will fail. An out-and-out
anti-tariff free-trade paper, without commercial support, cannot obtain
that support in any commercial city in the world.--N. Y. Com. Adv.

Although an out-and-out democrat, by virtue of my subscription, and your
well-known liberality, I claim to he heard through your columns.--Cor. of
N. Y. Tribune, Oct. 28, 1843.

Pliny Hopper expected to make a thousand per cent. the first year [on his
morus multicaulis trees], and the second to be able to retire from
business, and buy the whole State of Connecticut out-and-out.--Knick. Mag.

OUT OF FIX. Disarranged; in a state of disorder.

The week was the longest one ever was. It seemed to me that the axletree
of the world wanted greasin', or somethin' or other was out of fix, for it
didn't seem to turn round half so fast as it used to do.--Maj. Jones's
Conrtship, p. 80.

OUT OF SORTS. Out of order; disordered. Dr. Millingen, in his remarks on
persons of phlegmatic temperament, says:

They are in general good, easy persons, susceptible of kindly feelings,
but, to use a common expression, easily put out of sorts.--Mind and
Matter, p. 84.

p. 242

OUTFIT. Money advanced to a public minister, going to a foreign country,
beyond his salary.--Webster.

TO OUTSTORM. To overbear by storming.--Webster.

Insults the tempests, and outstorms the skies.--J. Barlow.

OVER, for under. In these expressions, 'He wrote over the signature of
Junius;' 'He published some papers over his own signature.' A few of our
writers still countenance this unwarrantable innovation; but the
principle, on which it is defended, would unsettle the whole language. The
use of the word under, in phrases like those above mentioned, is as well
established as any English idiom.--Pickering. Mr. Hoffman, in reply to a
correspondent, says:

Had our friend U., of Philadelphia, duly meditated this matter, be never
would have sent us a letter with such an unpoetical expression in it as
the very common blunder of "over the signature"--for the metaphorical
phrase originally derived from the ensign of the soldier, the device of
the knight, the armorial bearing of the baron, the totem, if you please,
of the Indian sachem, under which he presents himself to the world. U., as
a lawyer, must it least be more or less familiar with the phrase, "given
under my hand and seal," as a true English idiom, albeit the hand and seal
(which in this instance constitute "the signature") are placed at the
bottom of the document. We do not talk of a vessel sailing "over" the flag
of the United States, when her ensigns are sent below at sunset!--N. Y.
Lit. World.

OVER-CAREFUL. Careful to excess.--Webster.

TO OVERHAUL. To gain upon in a chase; to overtake.--Webster. A seaman's
phrase, sometimes used in common parlance.

OVERSLAUGH. (Dutch, overslag.) A bar, in the marine language of the Dutch.
The overslaugh in the Hudson river near Albany, is, I believe, the only
locality to which this term is now applied among us.

TO OVERSLAUGH. (Dutch, overslaan.) To skip over; pass over; omit. A word
used by New York politicians.

Mr. Polk intended making Gen. Butler commander-in-chief, and to drop Gen.
Scott. But it was found that public opinion would not be reconciled to
overslaughing Taylor, and he [Gen. Taylor] was nominated.--Washington
Correspondent. N. Y. Com. Adv., Oct. 21, 1846.

Van Buren is no longer feared as a candidate for the Presidency. He was
overslaughed in May, when he was a candidate of some promise.--Letter from
Washington, N. Y. Com. Adv., Nov. 28, 1846.

p. 243

OWDACIOUS, for audacious. Southern and Western.

He had a daughter Molly, that was the most enticin', heart-distressin'
creature that ever made a feller get owdacious.--Robb, Squatter Life.

Why, Major, you wouldn't take such a likely gall as that to New York?--the
abolitionists would have her out of your hands quicker than you could say
Jack Robinson. I was never so oudaciously put out with the abominable
abolitionists before. It was enough to make a man what wasn't principled
agin swearin', cus like a trooper.--Maj. Jone's Travels.