



Produced by Colin Bell, Keith Edkins and the Online
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Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they
are listed at the end of the text.

       *       *       *       *       *


In this version [=e] signifies "e macron"; [)e] "e breve"; [.e] "e with dot
above"; [:a] "a with diaeresis"; ['e] "e with acute"; [`e] "with grave";
(the last 2 are not shown in the tabular "French or Metric System" section)
[^e] "with circumflex"; and so forth.

CHAMBERS'S
TWENTIETH CENTURY DICTIONARY
OF THE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE

PRONOUNCING, EXPLANATORY, ETYMOLOGICAL, WITH COMPOUND PHRASES,
TECHNICAL TERMS IN USE IN THE ARTS AND SCIENCES,
COLLOQUIALISMS, FULL APPENDICES, AND
COPIOUSLY ILLUSTRATED

EDITED BY
REV. THOMAS DAVIDSON
ASSISTANT-EDITOR OF 'CHAMBERS'S ENCYCLOPAEDIA'
EDITOR OF 'CHAMBERS'S ENGLISH DICTIONARY'

LONDON: 47 Paternoster Row
W. & R. CHAMBERS, LIMITED
EDINBURGH: 339 High Street
1908

EXPLANATIONS TO THE STUDENT.

THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE WORDS.--Every word is given in its _alphabetical_
order, except in cases where, to save space, derivatives are given after
and under the words from which they are derived. Each uncompounded verb has
its participles, when irregular, placed after it. Exceptional plurals are
also given. When a word stands after another, with no meaning given, its
meanings can be at once formed from those of the latter, by adding the
signification of the affix: thus the meanings of _Darkness_ are obtained by
prefixing the meaning of _ness_, _state of being_, to those of _Dark_.

Many words from French and other tongues, current in English usage, but not
yet fairly Anglicised, are inserted in the list of Foreign Phrases, &c., at
the end, rather than in the body of the Dictionary.

THE PRONUNCIATION.--The Pronunciation is given immediately after each word,
by the word being spelled anew. In this new spelling, every consonant used
has its ordinary unvarying sound, _no consonant being employed that has
more than one sound_. The same sounds are always represented by the same
letters, no matter how varied their actual spelling in the language. No
consonant used has any mark attached to it, with the one exception of _th_,
which is printed in common letters when sounded as in _thick_, but in
italics when sounded as in _th_en. _Unmarked vowels_ have always their
short sounds, as in _lad_, _led_, _lid_, _lot_, _but_, _book_. The _marked
vowels_ are shown in the following line, which is printed at the top of
each page:--

f[=a]te, f[:a]r; m[=e], h[.e]r; m[=i]ne; m[=o]te; m[=u]te; m[=oo]n; _th_en.

The vowel _u_ when marked thus, _[:u]_, has the sound heard in Scotch
_bluid_, _gude_, the French _du_, almost that of the German _[:u]_ in
_M[:u]ller_. Where more than one pronunciation of a word is given, that
which is placed first is more accepted.

THE SPELLING.--When more than one form of a word is given, that which is
placed first is the spelling in current English use. Unfortunately our
modern spelling does not represent the English we actually speak, but
rather the language of the 16th century, up to which period, generally
speaking, English spelling was mainly phonetic, like the present German.
The fundamental principle of all rational spelling is no doubt the
representation of every sound by an invariable symbol, but in modern
English the usage of pronunciation has drifted far from the conventional
forms established by a traditional orthography, with the result that the
present spelling of our written speech is to a large extent a mere exercise
of memory, full of confusing anomalies and imperfections, and involving an
enormous and unnecessary strain on the faculties of learners. Spelling
reform is indeed an imperative necessity, but it must proceed with a wise
moderation, for, in the words of Mr Sweet, 'nothing can be done without
unanimity, and until the majority of the community are convinced of the
superiority of some one system unanimity is impossible.' The true path of
progress should follow such wisely moderate counsels as those of Dr J. A.
H. Murray:--the dropping of the final or inflexional silent _e_; the
restoration of the historical _-t_ after breath consonants; uniformity in
the employment of double conson