The Year of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary

In celebration of the three hundredth anniversary of Johnson’s birth in 1709, a definition from the first edition of the dictionary will be posted each day for readers’ lexiconic delight, beginning on January 1, 2009. Words will be taken from the annotated proof copy of the first edition, extra-illustrated with Johnson’s and his helpers’ manuscript corrections, which is held in the collections of Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Great site - will complement my daily reading of Orwell's diary which is also hosted by wordpress.

Today's word, by the way was 'aftergame' - a quite brilliant word: '...the expedients which are practised after the original design has miscarried...'

Wonderful! Thanks for putting me onto it.

I agree, an excellent word. And the snippets of poetry make such pleasurable reading... I have a shortnened version of the Dictionary, but rarely find the browsing time that's right for it. This fits appreciation into a more manageable space.

Abbey Lubber:
A Slothful loiterer in a religious house under pretence of retirement & austerity.
zounds, our very own Arbusto! or something like him.

Ha.

Ha.
delightfully ambiguous:
Ha.: half a ha ha
Ha.: Ha?
Ha.: Ha. (a breath)
Ha.: Haaaah!?

Make it half a ha ha, and an inverted 'ah'. ;)

It is the one, and surely only, example of true brevity this group will see from me.