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lily or counlry wilh Ihat of another, il adruils of
a plural; for we fay, 'tIJhile 'tIJoodl are in gClla al
j ijirr Ihall mI; or lV,jI'/lIdiall 'tIJoodl are in ge·
11".1 01grea"'r (pte!pcgravily Ihall Ihe El/rop,."
"",.d" BUI unid;where Ihe colotIT, or fome quali.
Iy which difli oguiO\es it from growillg \Vood, is
meolioned, Ihis plural ought as much as pollible 10
be al'oideJ, as il always fuggefls :ln idea of growing
\Vood.
jlOIJU; denoling, that dIe former are al a d.rhne~,
and Ihe la!ter al hand. And, in Ihe Came manner
il is invariably applied 10 denole any prcfenl "bjcé;
in Ihe plural number, as oppoCed to l!o'fe ; as ¡hefo
or I;'ir oN leJ, as at hand al' at a difl ance; Ihe/e
01' Ihir tre<l, &c.; bit! ncrer in the fi n&ular nu~,.
ber, as it is alwavs Ihil ur Ihúl Iru h1'
&c. I • ,
As the Englith language is Co exccedingly irregul~r in
the pronuncialion, Ihe faOle le!ter in the Callle f¡tualion'
oflen afl'uming C~unds lotally dilFerent in di[ erellt word~
3. lVood likewife denotcs a number of trees grow·
ingnear one another; being nearly fynonymous wilh
forif/ : See FOR EST . [n this fenCe it always
admils of a plural; as, re 'tIJoodl and 'tIJildl 'tIJhoft
folilary gloollJ, &c.
A diétionary cannot be reckoned complete wilhout ex·
plaioing obColele words ; anri iC Ihe terms of the feveral
provincial provincial dialeéts were likewiCegiven, il would
be of grw milily: nor would Ihis take much time; be·
caufe a number of thefe words need no other explanation
Ihan tomark along with them thewords which hadcome
in Iheir place, whenthere happened10 be oneperCeétlyfy.
nonymous: and in theCe caCes where Ihe Came idea could
nOI beexprelfed io modero language wilhout a periphrafis,
it would be of uCe tO explain them diflinétly ; fo Ihal,
whenawriler Cound himCelf al a lofs for a term, and ob·
liged to Cearch for ooe beyond Ihe bounds of our own
language, he might take one of IheCe, when he found
Ihat il was'exprellive and energetic, in preference to ao·
other drawn from a foreign language. This would at
leafl have ooe good eff'eél : il would make our language
more fi xed and flable ; not tofaymore accu rale and pre·
ciCe, than by borrowiog from foreigo languages. The
following examples may feTVe to give fome idea of Ihe
manner of Ireating this par! of the work.
1110E, or MO. adj. An obColele lerm Oill employed
in IheScotchdialeél, and by thempronouoced lIIae :
denoting a grealer number, and oearly Cynonymous
wilh mere; but it difFers in this reCpea, tlul, in
the Scotch dialeél, /JIae aod mair (Englith, lIJm)
are each employed in Iheir dillinél Cphere,- wilhout
eocroaching upon one anolher ; ~'ae being employ.
ed 10 denole number, but never quaolily or quali.
Iy; and INair, 10 denole quanlily and qualil)', bUI
never number : Ihus Ihey faymlt, nOI mair aN/n,
mln, &c. aod Ihey Cay lIIair, not lIlae cI.,h,
earlh, cOl/rage, &e. See MAIR. Both of Ihefe
terms are fupplied by the word .nore; which,
in the Englith languag~, is applierl indifcriOlindtely
to d~note quantity, quality, and numbél'. See
MO RE.
711fR . prOIl. ObColete; Oill emplo)'ed in the Seolch
Jialcél: Ihe plural of Ih"; alld conmlled 10 Ih-ft,
in the Carne manner as Ihal is to In .
..,s Ihere is no word in the EngliOI lallgu1gr equiva–
lenl 10 this, we tbus Olewthe OIanner in which il is
cnlployed. In the Englifh lang".~'! we Cay, Ihal
or houft, pointing at one at adilbnee, ill.r¡ger
IJr 1/I'Jr( COIJl1IJlJdio1J1 Ihan thll flanr or thiJ hflll{(,
which isfuppofcd 10 be .t hand. InIhc f:llnemano
ner, ill Ihe SNleh di"hq, Iltey (;'y. Ih,/; ((lr .u it
1'. prunoun-:.d, Iha, ) 1 are 'tIJhll,1' Ih3/1 Ihil'
it is impollible 10 eflablith any general rules on litis fub:
jeél, which do not adOlit of manyexceplions: Ih~refore,
a diélionary is the befl means of aCcemining and poinl'
ing OUI the proper pronunciation of words. For, if Ihe
writer firn poillted out all the diff'erent founds Ihat l!te
fame letter eould el'el' be made to expreCs, alld alliooed
10 every panicular found which eaeh lelter could be
made (O alfume, a particular mark, wltich was appropri.
ated to denote that panicular Cound of tite le!ter wh.n.
ever it occurred ; by placing Ihefe particularmarks above
the letters in the diélionary, the Cound of eaeh lener
would be pointed OUt in all cafes wilh the ulmofl cero
tainty. lt would be impollible for us to illuOrate thisby
examples, witllOut firll aCceminingall Ihefounds of each
lener; whieh would lead us inlO a diCcullioa 100 longfor
tltis placc ; and this is at prefent the more unnccelfary, as
the public have becn long in expeélation of a diétionary,
by a very able hand, in which Ihis panicular will be ato
tended to o
We Olall only funher obCerve, thal, ber.des havin'
the accemed fylJable of every word propuf; diflinguitheJ
i? a dilqionary tOallill in Ihe pr~nu?cialion, (he Eog.
11th languasereqUlres anolher e[enual ImproVemenl, viz.
the uCe of accenlS tOdiflinguith the meaning of 'tIJ~rdl
and phrafel ; which, although it is not fo properly con.
fined 10 a lexicographer, yet it is nOI quile ,vilhout his
fphere. Thus Ibe wordal admits of two very different
founds, as well as different fignifications; as in this ex–
aOlple, "Cicero was nearlyal eloqucnlal DeOloOhenes :"
in \Vhich the firn al is pronO\;nced ofi, . nd Ihe laO is
pronounced az. Now, it oflcn happells, tbat, in reaJ'
illg, Ihepanicular way in which itought 10be underOood
is not pointed out by Ihe COnteXI, till afler Ihe word it.
feIf is pronounced, which has an equal chanee at leaO of
oeingpronounccdwrong; \Vhereas, if it \Vere always ae.
cented when employed io the one fenle, and not in Ihe
olher, it would free the reader froOl Ihis perpbity.
There are other cafes in which Ihe uf. of proper accelllS
in wriling would be of great conCequencc; as at Ihe b~eilllliogof a fenlence, whenit \VaspUl asaquenion, Or uCed
irollically, &" . Ihe wallt of whiclt . YeI.y000 lIIull ha\e
obCervcd. BUI as Ihis do~s nut Co properly bdonc 10
Ihe Icxicngrapher as thog"antnlarian, we Olall herc lak•
no furlhl'r nOlice of il.
Tite abovecx.mples, \Ve hope, will be Cullicient tOgi, e
Ihe reacler IO~le id~d oC Ih~ Ih,1 \Ve woulJ prJpoC,';
ano enablc hlnt 10 delernttn'" whclher or nOI a di.'lioll.
ary, exwucd upon Ihis plan, would ,onl'ey to hi, mind
a 1II0re P"Ifc,q k>wwl"dge of ¡he LII~lifh J.lngu.lge, IIt.n
Iltufe rli,Qioll3'¡'s Ihat ·' beln hilheno publiOlcd.
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