An old author has said [‘Barlow on Timothie,’ 1632, pt. ii. p. 150] that “A definition, like the barke with the tree, is to be neither straiter nor larger than the thing defined; and, so it comprehend all, the shorter it is the better.”
It would be difficult, and indeed impossible, to construct a definition of an Americanism which should be comprehensive and concise. I, at any rate, will not attempt the task. But in this compilation I have included:—
I. Forms of speech now obsolete or provincial in England, which survive in the U.S., such as allow, bureau, fall, gotten, guess, likely, professor, shoat.
II. Words and phrases of distinctly American origin: such as belittle, lengthy, lightning-rod; to darken one’s doors, to bark up the wrong tree, to come out at the little end of the horn; blind tiger, cold snap, gay Quaker, gone coon, long sauce, pay dirt, small potatoes, some pumpkins.
III. Nouns which indicate quadrupeds, birds, trees, articles of food, &c., that are distinctively American: such as ground-hog, hang-bird, hominy, live-oak, locust, opossum, persimmon, pone, succotash, wampum, wigwam.
IV. Names of persons and classes of persons, and of places: such as Buckeye, Cracker, Greaser, Hoosier, Old Bullion, Old Hickory, the Little Giant, Dixie, Gotham, the Bay State, the Monumental City.
V. Words which have assumed a new meaning, such as card, clever, fork, help, penny, plunder, raise, rock, sack, ticket, windfall.
VI. Words and phrases of which I have found earlier examples in American than in English writers. These are inserted with the caveat that further research may reverse the claim. To this class belong alarmist, capitalize, eruptiveness, horse of another colour, the jig’s up, nameable, omnibus bill, propaganda, whitewash.
There are curious instances of survival which have not taken root, and which it seems better to insert here than in the body of the glossary:—
Aha! (used once by Charles Reade). “Ah, hah, you threaten, do you? Do you threaten?”—Mr. Widgery in Congress, Massachusetts Spy, Dec. 30, 1812.
Away with. “I can away with chewing, for it seems natural.”—Franklin Herald, Greenfield, Mass., April 20, 1824.
Bonify. To benefit. 1603, Florio’s ‘Montaigne’ (N.E.D.). “Capital diplomacy, for a treaty to be ratified or rejected by Senators representing States thus bonified!”—Mr. C. J. Ingersoll of Pennsylvania, House of Representatives, Aug. 26, 1842: Congressional Globe, p. 954/2, Appendix.
Brack. A cliff or rock. “Then keep the south brack aboard [sic] until they get to the point of South Beach.”—Gazette of the U.S., Phila., Sept. 10, 1796.
Circulate. To encircle. 1571–1685, N.E.D. “[With his tail] he circulated twice the neck of the horse, and at the same time seized a large tree with his fore feet.”—Mass. Spy, Dec. 30, 1818.
Clevis. An iron loop to which tackle may be attached. 1592, N.E.D. “Here he left gopher, geers, singletree, and a klevis, all mixed up, not worth a durn.”—Oregon Weekly Times, May 12, 1855.
Clinch-work. This is the “clincher-work” of Falconer’s ‘Dict.,’ 1769, N.E.D. “[The schooner has] a small clinch-work boat.”—Advt., Maryland Journal, Sept. 9, 1788.
Clomb. “In the heroism of the moment, she clomb the window.”—San Francisco Call, May 29, 1857.
Coldly. Dispassionately. 1526–1873, N.E.D. “A high-spirited valiant man took a small ox goad, and, coldly belaboured one of the officers.”—Mass. Spy, May 14, 1772.
Daw. To play the fool. 1596, N.E.D. “Most men have but one talent; the Irish tapster had two—a talent to daw and a talent to drink; but my colleague has three—one talent of speaking, another of speaking very fast, and a third of saying very little in a great many words.”—Mr. Cooper of Pennsylvania, House of Repr., July 2, 1841: Congressional Globe, p. 143/2.
Defy. A challenge. Sidney, 1580, to North, 1734, N.E.D. “[A serjeant of police] recently issued a defy to the city police force, to eat a thousand oysters with him in a week.”—Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 28, 1907.
Den. To occupy a den. G. Fletcher, 1610, N.E.D. “How a she-bear denned in his rock-dwelling the first winter after he commenced clearing his land.”—‘Lowell Offering,’ i. 227. (1841.)
Dine. A dinner. “We ’d been having a Delmonico dine together, Hiram and I.”—Knick. Mag., lvi. 582. (1860.)
Coated wood. 1466, now dial., N.E.D. “A little of the dust, doated or rotten wood, with it to prevent a blaze.”—Mass. Spy, Jan. 16, 1822.
Droger. A carrier of supplies to a logging camp. From Drog, v., 1681, N.E.D. “It is quite common for drogers, as they are sometimes called, to form a northern caravan…. Company, and mutual assistance in cases of necessity, are the motives which unite them.”—John S. Springer, ‘Forest Life,’ p. 144. (N.Y., 1851.)
Exceeding, for exceedingly. “Exceeding mild pigtail” was advertised in the Mass. Spy, Oct. 1, 1772. “The company went to the Chapel before dinner, which was exceeding cold, and I without a surtout.”—Thomas Hutchinson, ‘Diary,’ Jan. 8, 1780.
Expire. To breathe out. “The air also, expired by the leaves, is eminently pure and healthy.”—T. Dwight, ‘Travels,’ iv. 114. (1821.)
Explode. To dismiss contemptuously. B.B. having been disbarred, “The Repertory says two other Democrats will shortly be exploded.”—Mass. Spy, Oct. 10, 1816.
Fills. Old form of thills, used by Shakespeare (1606), Rowley (1632), &c. (N.E.D.). “It is too degrading to work in the fills of any man’s chariot.”—Letter of S. K. Blythe to the Nashville Republican: Richmond Whig, Sept. 10, 1828, p. 2/2.
Finishing Hand. A finishing touch. “And thus put a finishing hand to the system.”—Id., June 2, 1813.
Galls. 1573, N.E.D. “The bay galls are properly water courses, covered with a spongy earth mixed with the kind of matted vegetable fibres;… their natural produce is a stately tree called loblolly bay…. The cypress galls differ from these, in being a firm sandy soil, in having no vitriolic taste in the water, and very seldom vent.”—B. Romans, ‘Florida,’ pp. 31–2. (1775.)
Gim. Gay. 1513, now dial., N.E.D. “[The fine gentlemen were] dressed as gim as peacocks.”—Mass. Spy, Sept. 28, 1796.
Glode. Ab. 1460, N.E.D. “The bridge [of ice] upon which we ‘glode’ was three miles wide, without sleepers or arches underneath; but it was as solid as a granite-floor resting upon terra-firma.”—Knick. Mag., xlvii. 429, April, 1856.
Gunman. 1624, now rare, N.E.D. “They are supposed to be about four hundred gun men.”—B. Romans, ‘Florida,’ p. 99. (1775.)
Hard favoured. 1513, N.E.D. “She had n’t seen me then, or she never could have loved such a hard favored man as you are.”—A. B. Longstreet, ‘Georgia Scenes,’ p. 13. (1835).
Hath, for has. “A force, part of which hath destroyed this northern army.”—Maryland Journal, Feb. 3, 1778. “A boat, which hath been newly fitted up.”—Id., May 19, 1778, Advt.
Het, for heated:
| Th’ advantiges of our consarn for bein’ prompt air gret, | |
| While, ’long o’ Congress, you can’t strike, ’f you git an iron het. | |
Lowell, ‘Biglow Papers,’ 2nd S., No. 3. 1862. |
Incant. To invoke. 1546, N.E.D. “Leave the sad Indian to incant the devil with tears and screeches.”—Mass. Spy, March 12, 1800.
Inconsolate. Disconsolate. “The husband became inconsolate.”—Mass. Spy, Dec. 13, 1826: from the N.Y. National Advocate.
Jower. To growl, to scold. 1628, N.E.D. “[The dog] snarls and jowers at friends as well as foes.”—Boston Evening Post, Nov. 23, 1767. The word is still used in the south:—‘Dialect Notes.’
Lodge, v. Not quite obs. in England, N.E.D. “Wheat … in the agricultural language of this country, it lodges not unfrequently (i. e. it falls under the pressure of wind or rain) by its own weight.”—T. Dwight, ‘Travels,’ ii. 341 (1821).
Outland. Outlying land. “I bought several acres of outland for my children, who amounted to seven, when I was forty-five years old. About this time, I married my oldest daughter to a clever lad, to whom I gave one hundred acres of my outland.”—American Museum, i. 11/2, Jan., 1787.
Owe. To own. “America owes not a citizen more fitted than Col. Burr to be placed at the head of her government.” Letter from “A Rice Planter.”—The Aurora, Phila., Dec. 5, 1800.
Peen, v. To hammer. 1513, now dial., N.E.D. “After the [horse-] shoe is turned, let the inside of it be peened out, so as to leave it in the form of a heater.”—Mass. Spy, Jan. 22, 1823.
Preacheress. 1649, N.E.D. “Her popularity as a preacheress has never been surpassed.”—Mass. Spy, Sept. 15, 1819, from The Pittsburgh Mercury.
Rake-stale. A rake-handle. Chaucer. “A rise in hoe-handles, axe-helves, or rake-stales.”—S. A. Hammett (‘Philip Paxton’), ‘A Stray Yankee in Texas,’ p. 350. (1853.)
Roynlsh. Coarse. ‘As you like it.’ “You are not to expect me to notice your roynish and illiberal insinuations.”—Mass. Spy, Oct. 8, 1806.
Saith, for says. “The Doctor saith it is not likely he will recover.”—Mass. Gazette, Dec. 21, 1769.
Shack. A vagabond. Roger North’s ‘Examen,’ p. 293. “Her father was a poor drunken shack away down in Bottletown.”—Whitcher, ‘The Widow Bedott Papers,’ No. 3. (1856.) An English workman, speaking of another, whom he called a shack, said he was lazy, because he was born on Holy Thursday.—Notes and Queries, 10 S. iii. 287.
Sitten, for sat. 1838. It was observed that he was never so happy as when he had washed his hands after work, and sitten down by the kitchen fire with an almanac in his hand.—Caroline Gilman, ‘Recollections of a Southern Matron,’ p. 35.
Something, for somewhat. “His horse being something lame, he tarried all that day.”—Maryland Journal, July 21, 1778.
This is an attempt to illustrate “certain Americanisms” only: those, that is, of recognized standing or of special interest. Accordingly it will be found that over 80 per cent of the illustrative quotations are half a century old. No attempt has been made to register the voluminous outpourings of modern slang; and the reader who wishes to investigate such phrases as “Adam and Eve on a raft” or to “get a wiggle on” will have to pursue his researches elsewhere. But some slang words and phrases are too characteristic to be left out, although modern; while others belong to the period of the hunter and the backwoodsman.
The principal dictionary of Americanisms hitherto published is that of Bartlett. Mr. John Russell Bartlett (23 Oct., 1805–28 May, 1886) was for some years librarian of the John Carter Brown Library in Providence, Rhode Island, to which city he belonged. His painstaking and valuable work has furnished considerable material for the ‘New English Dictionary.’ It is no discredit to him that he lived before the method of arranging and dating citations came into vogue; and unfortunately only a few of his references can be verified. He introduces, too, a number of words which are not properly American: such as census, cobblestone, ear-mark, educational, grave-yard, guano, hurricane, mourner, passion-flower, profanity, rapids, re-insure, school fund, slave labour, sparse, sparsely, summons as a verb, timothy, vegetarian, watershed. But he accomplished a memorable work, and his name will be remembered with continual gratitude.
Mr. John S. Farmer’s ‘Dictionary’ is valuable in another way, as illustrating the great vitality of American modes of speech; for about nine-tenths of his citations come from publications of the year 1888. And he includes a great deal which I am obliged to omit. I have borrowed a number of the examples from him, as also from Bartlett.
A tribute of respect is due to Mr. Albert Matthews of Boston. He is probably the highest living authority on the present topic; and the production of an American Glossary should have come from his hands, if circumstances had not prevented it. I am much indebted to him for information obtained partly through his contributions to the N.E.D., partly from his monographs, and partly by correspondence.
There are in these two volumes about 14,000 illustrative citations. A few hundred are duplicates: as to which the following rules are observed:—When a brief citation includes two or more noted words, it is printed under each heading. See for instance (1839) FIT and PESKY.—When the citation, though somewhat long, is separable, it is given in full in one place, and in part in the other, with a cross-reference. See PLUNDER (1833) with cross-reference to PRIMING. And in other cases there is merely a cross-reference. See SNAG, 1822, 1851, 1857, 1875.
Any corrections or additions which suggest themselves to the careful reader will be gratefully received. I adopt as my own in sentiment the following curious verses, written about the time of the first settlement of the Jamestown colony.
