The Unabridged Devil's DictionaryIf we could only put aside our civil pose and say what we really thought, the world would be a lot like the one alluded to in The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary. There, a bore is "a person who talks when you wish him to listen," and happiness is "an agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another." This is the most comprehensive, authoritative edition ever of Ambrose Bierce’s satiric masterpiece. It renders obsolete all other versions that have appeared in the book’s ninety-year history. |
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... philosopher with a penchant for definition.” This fledgling bit of lexicography was a bit awkward, but it showed that Bierce could capably turn a phrase. Before long he was writing for a weekly paper, the San Francisco News Letter and ...
... philosopher. 17. NL (30 Jan. 1869): 3. See Appendix B, item B3. 18. NL (24 July 1869): 4. This unsigned item is known to be by AB because it contains material later reprinted in CW 19. Noah Webster (1758–1843), An American Dictionary of ...
... philosopher, is said to have been born at Abdera, whence the word was hardly worth importing. Abdest, n. The Mohammedan ceremony of inspiring water through the nose before expiring prayer from the stomach. Abdication, n. [1..] An act ...
... Philosophers gathered from far and near To sit at his feet and hear and hear, Though he never was heard To utter a word But “Abracadabra, abracadab, Abracada, abracad, Abraca, abrac, abra, abs” 'Twas all he had, 'Twas all they wanted to ...
... philosophers sought a meaning in nature; now a school in which naturals seek a meaning in philosophy. Accept, v.t. In Courtship to reap the whirlwind after sowing the wind. To accept office is to take with decent reluctance the reward ...
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Gestalt Therapy and Human Nature: Evolutionary Psychology Applied John Wymore No preview available - 2006 |