SEQUEL

TO THE STUDENT'S MANUAL.

PART I.

A

VOCABULARY OF WORDS

DERIVED FROM THE LATIN.

A.

ABBREVIATE. See AB. To shorten by contraction of parts without the loss of the main substance. Abdication. See Aв. The act whereby a person in office renounces and gives up the same. In 1688, James II. abdicated the throne of England. Francis II. last Emperor of Germany and first of Austria, abdicated the German Empire on the 6th of August, 1806.

Aberration. See AB. The act of wandering from the common or right tract. Applied to mistakes of the

mind.

Abject. See AB. Abject, in a literal sense, is applied to that which is thrown away as of no value; and, figuratively, to that which is mean and despicable, or of low condition, as "abject flatterers," " abject poverty." Abjuration. See AB. The act of denying or renouncing a thing in a solemn manner, and even with an oath,

Ablative. See AB. The ablative is the opposite to the dative, the first expressing the action of taking away, and the latter that of giving.

Ablution. See AB. A religious ceremony, being a sort of purification, performed by washing the body. Moses enjoined Ablutions, the heathens adopted them, and Mahomet and his followers have continued them; thus they have been introduced among most nations. Abolish. See AB. Abolition, or abolishing, the act of destroying a thing or reducing it to nothing. On the 25th of March, 1807, an act of parliament for the abolition of the African slave-trade received the royal

assent.

Aborigines. A name given to the primitive inhabitants of a country; in contradistinction to colonies or new races of inhabitants. It was originally a proper name given only to a certain people in Italy. Whence this people came by the appellation is disputed. Jerome says, they were so called, as being, ab origine from the beginning; others suggest, that they were called Aborigines, as if Aberrigines, from ab, from, and errare, to wander, as having been before a wandering people, who, coming from different countries, met accidentally in Italy.

Abrupt. See AB. Abrupt, literally means broken off; figuratively, unconnected, as "an abrupt style.” Abscond. See AB. To retire from public view, generally used of persons in debt, or criminals eluding the law. Absolve. See AB. To acquit of a crime, in a judicial sense; to pronounce a sin remitted, in an ecclesiastical sense. To set free from an engagement or promise. -Absolute, in a general sense, something which stands free or independent. Absolute is opposed to relative, thus in grammar we find mention of the superlative absolute, and the superlative relative. "Mr. A. is a very rich merchant ;” very rich is termed the superlative absolute, because no allusion is made to others: but if we say, "Mr. A. is the richest merchant ;" it is clear the expression is relative to other merchants, hence it

is termed the superlative relative. An absolute monarchy is one in which the executive and the legislative power are exercised by the sovereign alone, and not as in our country, where the executive power is placed in the hands of the monarch, and the legislative power is exercised by the lords and commons conjointly with the king. When the Danes made their king absolute in 1660, they absolved him from his coronation oath.-Absolution, the remission of sins by a priest. In the Romish church the form of absolution is absolute; in the Greek church, deprecatory; and in the church of the Reformists, declarative. -Absolutely, in grammar. It is said a word is taken absolutely when it has no regimen or government. Thus, in the phrase, "we should pray without ceasing." The word pray is taken absolutely, as it governs nothing. A noun or pronoun joined to a participle, its case being dependent upon no verb in the sentence, is termed the nominative absolute; as, being dead;""During the contest." Absorb. See Aв. To imbibe any thing; thus, black bodies are said to absorb the rays of light; luxuriant branches to absorb or waste the nutritious juices which should feed the fruit.

"He

Abstain. See AB. To forbear; to deny one's self any gratification. St. Paul requires christians to abstain from all appearance of sin. 1 Thess. v. 22. Abstemious. See AB. The instances of longevity are chiefly among the abstemious,

Abstinence. See AB. Forbearance of any thing. It is distinguished from temperance, as the greater degree from the less; as "a day of abstinence and a life of temperance." In the religious institutions of all countries we find many regulations on the subject of Abstinence. The Mosaic law forbids the eating of animals that were strangled, the use of swine's flesh, &c. The Christian system enjoins the discipline of the passions, and an abstinence from those pleasures which have a tendency, to degrade

1

our nature.

Particular days have been appointed, called vigils and fasts, in which flesh is prohibited, and fish enjoined: this, however, being more a political restriction than a religious obligation was first enacted with a view to encourage fisheries. Abstract. See AB. To take one thing from another. To separate ideas. "Those who cannot distinguish, compare, and abstract, would hardly be able to understand and make use of language." Locke.-An abstract idea denotes an idea formed in the mind, when we consider a thing simply in itself, without respect to the subject in which it resides. Abstract terms are those made use of to express abstract ideas: in which sense, whiteness, greatness, &c. are abstracts or abstract terms. Whiteness is an abstract, inasmuch as it does not denote any one white object, but that colour or idea wherever found. Abstract ideas are opposed to those which are concrete; the concrete denoting the attachment of an abstract idea to some particular subject, as a white wall, a great house. Abstracting, is putting away the consideration of the differences between species or individuals, and considering only what is alike in all. Thus, I love myself, I love my family, I love my country, I love mankind, I love my house, I love rural occupations, &c. Not that it is possible that I should have exactly the same kind of love with respect to so many different sorts of things, which stand in such different relations to me; but only, that there being something in my love to each which in some circumstance or other bears a resemblance to my love of the rest, I use only one term with respect to them all. For if I consider these different kinds of love, I shall find that the only resemblance between them is a sort of pleasure or satisfaction arising from the determination of this affection of the mind to its particular object.-In this way, abstracting from individuals what is peculiar to each, and retaining what is common to all, we form a general idea, called Species. And proceeding exactly in the same way with species,

we form a still more general idea, which we call by the name of Genus. Thus a nightingale is a bird, and a bird is an animal.-Abstract Numbers are assemblages of units, considered in themselves without denoting any determined particulars. Thus, 8 is an abstract number, when not applied to any thing; but, if we say 8 feet, 8 becomes a concrete number. See CoN

CRETE.

Abstruse.

See AB. Denotes something deep, hidden, or far removed from the common apprehensions and more intelligible ways of conceiving; in opposition to what is obvious and palpable. In this sense, Metaphysics is an abstruse science.

Absurd. A term applied to any action or sentiment that is contrary to some evident truth. A proposition would be absurd, that should affirm that two and two made five; or that should deny them to make four. Absurd is formed of ab, from, and surdus, deaf. It is an absurd reply; that is, a reply, ab surdo, from one deaf, and therefore ignorant of that to which he replies. Accede.

See AD. To be added to, to come to ; generally used," says Johnson, "in political accounts; as another power has acceded to the treaty; that is, has become a party."

Accelerate. See AD. To give a continual impulse to motion, so as perpetually to increase.

Accent. See AD. Accent, in its primitive sense, an affection of the voice, which gives each syllable in a word its due pitch, in respect to height or lowness. Accent is used in grammar for certain marks placed over syllables, to regulate their pronunciation. It is distinguished from emphasis, as accent regards the tone of the voice, emphasis the strength of it. "Emphasis," says Mr. Sheridan, " discharges in sentences the same kind of office that accent does in words. As accent is the link which ties syllables together, and forms them into words; so emphasis unites words to