And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.
The —— accepted Napoleon's abdication.
The leader in the plot was betrayed by his ——.
ASSUME (page 61).
QUESTIONS.
1. Does assume apply to that which is rightfully or wrongfully taken? 2. In what use does assume correspond with arrogate and usurp? 3. How do arrogate and usurp differ from each other? How does assume differ from postulate as regards debate or reasoning of any kind?
EXAMPLES.
These royalties, and not refuse to reign.
Can gripe the sacred handle of our scepter,
Unless he do profane, steal, or ——.
ASSURANCE (page 61).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is assurance in the good sense? 2. What is assurance in the bad sense? 3. How does assurance compare with impudence? with effrontery?[401]
EXAMPLES.
Let us draw near with a true heart in full —— of faith.
With matchless —— they style a wife
The dear-bought curse, and lawful plague of life.
With brazen —— he denied the most indisputable facts.
ASTUTE (page 62).
QUESTIONS.
1. From what language is acute derived? What is its distinctive sense? 2. From what language is keen derived? What does it distinctively denote? 3. From what language is astute derived, and what was its original meaning? 4. In present use what does astute add to the meaning of acute or keen? 5. What does astute imply regarding the ulterior purpose or object of the person who is credited with it?
EXAMPLES.
You statesmen are so —— in forming schemes!
He taketh the wise in their own ——ness.
The most —— reasoner may be deluded, when he practises sophistry upon himself.
ATTACHMENT (page 63).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is attachment? How does it differ from adherence or adhesion? from affection? from inclination? from regard?
EXAMPLES.
Talk not of wasted ——, —— never was wasted.
You do not weaken your —— for your family by cultivating ——s beyond its pale, but deepen and intensify it.
ATTACK, v. & n. (pages 63, 64).
QUESTIONS.
1. What special element is involved in the meaning of attack? 2. How do assail and assault differ? 3. What is it to encounter? how does this word compare with attack? How does attack differ from aggression?
EXAMPLES.
And death intrench'd, preparing his ——;
How few themselves in that just mirror see!
Who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open ——?
Roger Williams —— the spirit of intolerance, the doctrine of persecution, and never his persecutors.
ATTAIN (page 64).
QUESTIONS.
1. What kind of a word is attain, and to what does it point? 2. How does attain differ from obtain? from achieve? 3. How does obtain differ from procure?[402]
EXAMPLES.
Were not —— by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
And make us lose the good we oft might ——
By fearing to attempt.
ATTITUDE (page 65).
QUESTIONS.
1. How does position as regards the human body differ from attitude, posture, or pose? 2. Do the three latter words apply to the living or the dead? 3. What is the distinctive sense of attitude? Is it conscious or unconscious? 4. How does posture differ from attitude? 5. What is the distinctive sense of pose? How does it differ from, and how does it agree with attitude and posture?
EXAMPLES.
The —— assumed indicated great indignation because of the insult implied.
The —— was graceful and pleasing.
ATTRIBUTE, v. (page 65).
QUESTIONS.
1. What suggestion is often involved in attribute? 2. How does attribute differ from refer and ascribe? 3. Is charge (in this connection) used in the favorable or unfavorable sense?
EXAMPLES.
—— ye greatness unto our God.
He —— unworthy motives which proved a groundless charge.
ATTRIBUTE, n. (page 66).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is the derivation and the inherent meaning of quality? 2. What is an attribute? 3. Which of the above words expresses what necessarily belongs to the subject of which it is said to be an attribute or quality? 4. What is the derivation and distinctive sense of property? 5. How does property ordinarily differ from quality? 6. In what usage do property and quality become exact synonyms, and how are properties then distinguished?
EXAMPLES.
The —— to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.
Nothing endures but personal ——s.
AVARICIOUS (page 68).
QUESTIONS.
1. How do avaricious and covetous differ from miserly, niggardly, parsimonious,[403] and penurious? 2. Of what matters are greedy and stingy used? How do they differ from each other?
EXAMPLES.
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear.
It is better to be content with such things as ye have than to become —— and —— in accumulating.
AVENGE (page 69).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is it to avenge? 2. How does avenge differ from revenge? 3. Which word would be used of an act of God? 4. Is retaliate used in the sense of avenge or of revenge?
EXAMPLES.
Crimes done, had but as loud a voice to warn
As its keen sting is mortal to ——.
And therefore to —— it, shalt thou die.
AVOW (page 69).
QUESTIONS.
1. Which words of this group refer exclusively to one's own knowledge or action? 2. What is the distinctive sense of aver? of avouch? of avow? 3. How do avouch and avow differ from aver in construction? 4. Is avow used in a good or a bad sense? What does it imply of others' probable feeling or action? 5. How does avow compare with confess?
EXAMPLES.
The child —— his fault and was pardoned by his parent.
AWFUL (page 70).
QUESTIONS.
1. To what matters should awful properly be restricted? 2. Is awful always interchangeable with alarming or terrible? with disagreeable or annoying?
EXAMPLES.
The silent falling of the snow is to me one of the most —— things in nature.
AWKWARD (page 70).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is the derivation and original meaning of awkward? of clumsy? 2. To what, therefore, does awkward primarily refer? and to what clumsy? 3. Is[404] a draft-horse distinctively awkward or clumsy? 4. Give some metaphorical uses of awkward.
EXAMPLES.
The apprentice was not only ——, but ——, and had to be taught over and over again the same methods.
The young girl stood in a —— way, looking in at the showy shop-windows.
AXIOM (page 71).
QUESTIONS.
1. In what do axiom and truism agree? 2. In what do they differ? 3. How do they compare in interest and utility?
EXAMPLES.
It is almost an —— that those who do most for the heathen abroad are most liberal for the heathen at home.
Trifling ——s clothed in great, swelling words of vanity.
BABBLE (page 71).
QUESTIONS.
1. To what class do most of the words in this group belong? Why are they so called? 2. What is the special significance of blab and blurt? How do they differ from each other in use? 3. What is chat? 4. How does prattling differ from chatting? 5. In what sense is jabber used? How does it compare with chatter?
EXAMPLES.
The dove may —— of the dove."
Two women sat contentedly ——ing, one of them amusing a ——ing babe.
BANISH (page 72).
QUESTIONS.
1. From what land may one be banished? From what expatriated or exiled? 2. By whom may one be said to be banished? by whom expatriated or exiled? 3. Which of these words is of widest import? Give examples of its metaphorical use.
BANK (page 72).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is a beach? a coast? 2. How does each of the above words differ from bank? 3. What is the distinctive sense of strand? In what style of writing is it most commonly used? 4. What are the distinctive senses of edge and brink?
BANTER (page 73).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is banter? 2. How is badinage distinguished from banter? raillery from both? 3. What is the distinctive sense of irony? 4. Is irony kindly or the reverse? badinage? banter? 5. What words of this group are distinctly hostile? 6. Is ridicule or derision the stronger word? What is the distinction between the two? between satire and sarcasm? between chaff, jeering, and mockery?
BARBAROUS (page 73).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is the meaning of barbarian? 2. What is the added significance of barbaric? 3. How does barbarous in general use differ from both the above words? 4. What special element is commonly implied in savage? 5. In what less opprobrious sense may barbarous and savage be used? Give instances.
EXAMPLES.
Poured never from her frozen loins, to pass
Rhene or the Danaw, when her —— sons
Came like a deluge on the south.
Showers on her kings —— pearl and gold.
It is most true, that a natural and secret hatred and aversation toward society, in any man, hath somewhat of the —— beast.
Thou art bought and sold among those of any wit like a —— slave.
BARRIER (page 74).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is a bar? and what is its purpose? 2. What is a barrier? 3. Which word is ordinarily applied to objects of great extent? 4. Would a mountain range be termed a bar or a barrier? 5. What distinctive name is given to a mass of sand across the mouth of a river or harbor?
BATTLE (page 74).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is the general meaning of conflict? 2. What is a battle? 3. How long may a battle last? 4. On how many fields may one battle be fought? 5. How does engagement differ from battle? How does combat differ? action? skirmish? fight?
BEAUTIFUL (page 76).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is necessary to constitute an object or a person beautiful? 2. Can beautiful be said of that which is harsh and ragged, however grand? 3. How is[406] beautiful related to our powers of appreciation? 4. How does pretty compare with beautiful? handsome? 5. What does fair denote? comely? picturesque?
EXAMPLES.
I pray thee, O God, that I may be —— within.
A happy youth, and their old age is —— and free.
And in their death had not divided been.
How lovely and joyful the course that he run.
Though he rose in a mist when his race he began
And there followed some droppings of rain!
BECOMING (page 77).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is the meaning of becoming? of decent? of suitable? 2. Can that which is worthy or beautiful in itself ever be otherwise than becoming or suitable? Give instances. 3. What is the meaning of fit? How does it differ from fitting or befitting?
EXAMPLES.
Within the limit of —— mirth,
I never spent an hour's talk withal.
Urania, and —— audience find, tho few.
Untouch'd, slightly handled, in discourse.
That every nice offense should bear his comment.
How could money be better spent than in erecting a —— building for the greatest library in the country?
BEGINNING (page 78).
QUESTIONS.
1. From what language is beginning derived? commencement? How do the two words differ in application and use? Give instances. 2. What is an origin? a source? a rise? 3. How are fount, fountain, and spring used in the figurative sense?
EXAMPLES.
Out from which all glory springs.
Truth is the —— of every good to gods and men.
By which those great in war are great in love;
The —— of all brave acts is seated here.
It can not be that Desdemona should long continue her love to the Moor, nor he his to her: it was a violent ——, and thou shalt see an answerable sequestration.
In the —— God created the heaven and the earth.
BEHAVIOR (page 79).
QUESTIONS.
1. How do behavior and conduct differ? 2. What is the special sense of carriage? of bearing? demeanor? 3. What is manner? manners?
EXAMPLES.
Our thoughts and our —— are our own.
Good —— are made up of petty sacrifices.
BENEVOLENCE (page 80).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is the original distinction between benevolence and beneficence? 2. In what sense is benevolence now most commonly used? 3. What words are commonly used for benevolence in the original sense? 4. What was the original sense of charity? the present popular sense? 5. What of humanity? generosity? liberality? philanthropy?
EXAMPLES.
—— is a virtue of the heart, and not of the hands.
The secrets of life are not shown except to —— and likeness.
BIND (page 81).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is the distinctive sense of bind? 2. What is the special meaning of tie? 3. In how general a sense is fasten used? 4. Which of the above three words is used in a figurative sense?
EXAMPLES.
—— up the knocker, say I'm sick, I'm dead.
—— all our shattered hopes and bid them bloom again.
BITTER (page 81).
QUESTIONS.
1. How may acid, bitter, and acrid be distinguished? pungent? caustic? 2. In metaphorical use, how are harsh and bitter distinguished? 3. What is the special significance of caustic? 4. Give examples of these words in their various uses.
BLEACH (page 82).
QUESTIONS.
1. How do bleach and blanch differ from whiten? from each other?
EXAMPLES.
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,
When mine is —— with fear.
Leave them to —— out in the open day.
BLEMISH (page 82).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is a blemish? 2. How does it differ from a flaw or taint? 3. What is a defect? a fault? 4. Which words of this group are naturally applied to reputation, and which to character?
EXAMPLES.
A square of text that looks a little ——.
Hath told you Cæsar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous ——.
BLUFF (page 83).
QUESTIONS.
1. In what sense are bluff, frank, and open used? 2. In what sense are blunt, brusk, rough, and rude employed?
EXAMPLES.
There are to whom my satire seems too ——.
And ever but in times of need, at hand.
BOUNDARY (page 84).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is the original sense of boundary? 2. How does it differ in usage from bound or bounds? 3. In what style and sense is bourn used? 4. What is the distinctive meaning of edge?
EXAMPLES.
Parted by ——s strong, but drawing nearer and nearer,
Rushed together at last, and one was lost in the other.
Of battle.
BRAVE (page 85).
QUESTIONS.
1. How does brave differ from courageous? 2. What is the special sense of adventurous? of bold? of chivalrous? 3. How do these words differ from venturesome? 4. What is especially denoted by fearless and intrepid? 5. What does valiant tell of results? 6. What ideas are combined in heroic?
EXAMPLES.
A —— man is also full of faith.
In —— youth we tempt the heights of Arts.
No crime's so great as —— to excel.
BUSINESS (page 88).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is the distinctive meaning of barter? 2. What does business add to the meaning of barter? 3. What is occupation? Is it broader than business? 4. What is a vocation? 5. What (in the strict sense) is an avocation? 6. What is implied in profession? pursuit? 7. What is a transaction? 8. How does trade differ from commerce? 9. What is work? 10. What is an art in the industrial sense? a craft?
EXAMPLES.
A man must serve his time to every ——.
We turn to dust, and all our mightiest ——s die too.
CALCULATE (page 90).
QUESTIONS.
1. How do you distinguish between count and calculate? compute, reckon and estimate? 2. Which is used mostly with regard to future probabilities? 3. Do we use compute or estimate of numbers exactly known? 4. Of compute, calculate, and estimate, which is used with especial reference to the future?
EXAMPLES.
There were 4046 men in the district, by actual ——.
The time of the eclipse was —— to a second.
We ask them to —— approximately the cost of the building.
CALL (page 91).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is the distinctive meaning of call? 2. Do we ever apply bellow and roar to human sounds? 3. Can you give more than one sense of cry? 4. Are shout and scream more or less expressive than call? 5. Which of the words in this group are necessarily and which ordinarily applied to articulate utterance? Which rarely, if ever, so used?
EXAMPLES.
—— for the robin redbreast and the wren.
The pioneers could hear the savages —— outside.
I —— my servant and he came.
The captain —— in a voice of thunder to the helmsman, "Put your helm hard aport!"
CALM (page 91).
QUESTIONS.
1. To what classes of objects or states of mind do we apply calm? collected? quiet? placid? serene? still? tranquil? 2. Do the antonyms boisterous, excited, ruffled, turbulent, and wild, also apply to the same? 3. Can you contrast calm and quiet? 4. How many of the preceding adjectives can be applied to water? 5. How does composed differ from calm?[410]
EXAMPLES.
The possession of a —— conscience is an estimable blessing.
The water is said to be always —— in the ocean depths.
Fall heaven's melodious strains.
CANCEL (page 92).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is the difference in method involved in the verbs cancel, efface, erase, expunge, and obliterate? 2. Which suggest the most complete removal of all trace of a writing? 3. How do the figurative uses of these words compare with the literal? 4. Is it possible to obliterate or efface that which has been previously canceled or erased?
EXAMPLES.
It is practically impossible to clean a postage-stamp that has been properly —— so that it can be used again.
With the aid of a sharp penknife the blot was quickly ——.
By lapse of time and elemental action, the inscription had become completely ——.
CANDID (page 93).
QUESTIONS.
1. To what class of things do we apply aboveboard? candid? fair? frank? honest? sincere? transparent? 2. Can you state the similarity between artless, guileless, naive, simple, and unsophisticated? How do they differ as a class from the words above referred to? 3. How does it happen that "To be frank," or "To be candid" often precedes the utterance of something disagreeable?
EXAMPLES.
The sophistry was so —— as to disgust the assembly.
A. T. Stewart relied on —— dealing as the secret of mercantile success.
An —— man will not steal or defraud.
Affecting to be unaffected.
CARE (page 94).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is the special difference between care and anxiety? 2. Wherein does care differ from caution? solicitude from anxiety? watchfulness from wariness? 3. Can you give some of the senses of care? 4. Is concern as strong a term as anxiety? 5. What is circumspection? precaution? heed?
EXAMPLES.
Take her up tenderly, lift her with ——.
A military commander should have as much —— as bravery.
The invaders fancied themselves so secure against attack that they had not taken the —— to station sentinels.
CARICATURE (page 95).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is the distinctive meaning of caricature? 2. What is the special difference between parody and travesty? between both and burlesque? 3. To what is caricature mostly confined? 4. How do mimicry and imitation differ? 5. Is an extravaganza an exaggeration?
EXAMPLES.
The eagle nose of the general was magnified in every artist's ——.
His laughable reproduction of the great actor's vagaries was a clever bit of ——.
If it be not lying to say that a fox's tail is four feet long, it is certainly a huge ——.
CARRY (page 96).
QUESTIONS.
1. To what sort of objects do we apply bear? carry? move? take? 2. What kinds of force or power do we indicate by convey, lift, transmit, and transport? 3. What is the distinction between bring and carry? between carry and bear? 4. What does lift mean? 5. Can you give some figurative uses of carry?
EXAMPLES.
The strong man can —— 1,000 pounds with apparent ease.
Napoleon always endeavored to —— the war into the enemy's territory.
It was found necessary to —— the coal overland for a distance of 500 miles.
My punishment is greater than I can ——.
CATASTROPHE (page 97).
QUESTIONS.
1. What is a catastrophe or cataclysm? 2. Is a catastrophe also necessarily a calamity or a disaster? 3. Which word has the broader meaning, disaster or calamity? 4. Does misfortune suggest as serious a condition as any of the foregoing? 5. How does a mishap compare with a catastrophe, a calamity, or a disaster? 6. Give some chief antonyms of the above.