Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has been preserved.
What seems like obvious typographical errors have beencorrected in this text. For a complete list, please see the end of this document.
This book was not paginated in the original.
GIDEON WURDZ.
The
FOOLISH
DICTIONARY
An exhausting work of reference
to un-certain English words, their
origin, meaning, legitimate
and illegitimate use,
confused by
A FEW PICTURES
By WALLACE GOLDSMITH
Executed by
GIDEON WURDZ
Master of Pholly, Doctor of Loquacious
Lunacy, Fellow of the Royal
Gibe Society, etc., etc.
Cover designed by E.B. BIRD
JOHN. W. LUCE AND COMPANY
BOSTON MDCCCCIV
Copyright, 1904, by The
Robinson, Luce Company
Boston, Mass., U.S.A.
2nd Edition August, 1904.
To
MY DOG,
Who first heard these lines
And didn't run away
MAD,
I Reverently Dedicate
This Tome
"A Fool may give a Wise Man counsel."
Preface.
In this age of the arduous pursuit of peace, prosperity andpleasure, the smallest contribution to the gaiety, if not to thewisdom, of nations can scarcely be unwelcome. With this in mind, theauthor has prepared "The Foolish Dictionary," not in seriousemulation of the worthier—and wordier—works of Webster andWorcester, but rather in the playful spirit of the parodist, whowould gladly direct the faint rays from his flickering candle offun to the shrine of their great memories.
With half a million English words to choose from, modesty has beenthe watchword, and the author has confined himself to the treatmentof only about half a thousand. How wise, flippant, sober or stupid,this treatment has been, it is for the reader alone to judge.However, if from epigram, derivative or pure absurdity, there beborn a single laugh between the lids, the laborer will accredithimself worthy of his hire.
In further explanation it should be said that some slight deferencehas been made to other wits, and the definitions include a fewquotations from the great minds of the past and present. As for therest, the j