Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually Regarded as Peculiar to the United States |
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Page 12
... Virginia . See Old Dominion . Andpersand . Two generations ago , when Irish schoolmasters were common at the South , this expression , equivalent to the & annexed to the alphabet ( meaning " & per se , and , " to distinguish it from & c ...
... Virginia . See Old Dominion . Andpersand . Two generations ago , when Irish schoolmasters were common at the South , this expression , equivalent to the & annexed to the alphabet ( meaning " & per se , and , " to distinguish it from & c ...
Page 64
... Virginia for a military body - servant . Each captain and lieutenant was entitled , and I believe is so now , to select from the rank of his company a soldier to wait on him , to carry messages , to cater for him , and to cook for him ...
... Virginia for a military body - servant . Each captain and lieutenant was entitled , and I believe is so now , to select from the rank of his company a soldier to wait on him , to carry messages , to cater for him , and to cook for him ...
Page 66
... Virginia . Break . A break in the stock - market . A Wall Street phrase : where stock is kept up by artificial means , and a money stringency , or similar cause , makes it difficult to carry a load , the attack of a bear clique or the ...
... Virginia . Break . A break in the stock - market . A Wall Street phrase : where stock is kept up by artificial means , and a money stringency , or similar cause , makes it difficult to carry a load , the attack of a bear clique or the ...
Page 67
... Virginia , when speaking of epidemic diseases . It is probably a corruption of rife . 66 Bright . Intelligent , quick , having an active mind . A term often applied to children ; as , Although he has had but little schooling , our ...
... Virginia , when speaking of epidemic diseases . It is probably a corruption of rife . 66 Bright . Intelligent , quick , having an active mind . A term often applied to children ; as , Although he has had but little schooling , our ...
Page 73
... Virginia , because their ancestors were hunters , and sold buck or rather deer skins . " As applied to certain American soldiers , we are inclined to believe that from their wearing garments made of dressed deerskins the term was ...
... Virginia , because their ancestors were hunters , and sold buck or rather deer skins . " As applied to certain American soldiers , we are inclined to believe that from their wearing garments made of dressed deerskins the term was ...
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Common terms and phrases
ain't American banks blue-fish Boston boys California called Canada colloquial common Connecticut corn corruption Democratic dictionaries dollars Dow's Sermons Dutch England English expression fish give ground heard Hist horse Indian land language Letter maize Major Jones's Courtship Mark Twain Massachusetts means Menhaden Mexico Mountains N. Y. Herald N. Y. Spirit N. Y. Tribune Negro never North one's origin party peculiar person phrase Pickering plant political popular name prairies Pron Providence Journal Rhode Island river Rocky Mountains Sam Slick says sense slang slaves Slick in England sometimes Song South South Carolina Southern speaking species Squatter term applied Texas thing town tree United Virginia vulgar Wall Street Washington Webster West Western Whig whiskey Widow Bedott Papers wood Worcester word writers Yankee York York Tribune
Popular passages
Page 403 - as a principle, in which the rights and interests of the United States were involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power.
Page 99 - He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him. captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to more miserable death in
Page 669 - bright stars, through the perilous tight, O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there; Oh ! say, does that
Page 432 - Union. The North in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise, and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand.
Page 669 - *'Oh ! say, can you sec, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming; Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous tight, O'er the ramparts we
Page 67 - But the hands that were played By that heathen Chinee, And the points that he made Were quite frightful to see,— Till at last he put down a right bower, Which the same Nye had dealt unto me. Bret Harte, The Heathen Chinee.
Page 184 - for the ship's use ; and asked me what I would have for it. I told him that I could not offer to make any price of the boat, but left it entirely to him ; upon which he told me he would give me a note of hand to pay me eighty pieces of
Page 704 - I regret to see that vile and barbarous vocable, talented, stealing out of the newspapers into the leading reviews and most respectable publications of the day. Why not shillinged, farthinged, tenpenced, &c. ? The formation of a participle passive from a noun is a license that nothing but a very peculiar
Page 265 - There are notes of joy from the hang-bird and wren, And the gossip of swallows through all the sky; The ground-squirrel gaily chirps by his den, And the wilding-bee hums merrily by. The
Page 107 - is in John Adams's Diary, under date of February, 1763, where he says : — This day learned that the caucus club meets, at certain times in the garret of Tom Dawes, the adjutant of the Boston regiment. — Works,