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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 54
... sense of anybody, and the lexicographic mind is a merely human affair and will occasionally cut its caper. Observe this, from Webster's latest and biggest: “VICEREGENT, n. [L. vicem regens, acting in the place of another.] A lieutenant ...
... sense to sentiment, wit to humor and clean English to slang. A conspicuous, and it is hoped not unpleasant, feature of the book is its abundant illustrative quotations from eminent poets, chief of whom is that learned and ingenious ...
... sense of indiscreet. [2.] To confer the advantage of being rid of you. To recant. Thank heaven, I have abandoned the follies of youth for those of age.—Chauncey Depew. Abasement, n. A decent and customary mental attitude in the presence ...
... sense of the high temperature of the throne. Poor Isabella's dead, whose abdication Set all tongues wagging in the Spanish nation. For that performance'twere unfair to scold her: She wisely left a throne too hot to hold her. To History ...
... Sense of Things. Jamrach Holobom. Abridge, v.t. To shorten. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a people to abridge their king, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Popular passages
References to this book
Gestalt Therapy and Human Nature: Evolutionary Psychology Applied John Wymore No preview available - 2006 |