Buzz
Samuel Johnson, along with a team of six assistants, spent approximately eight years compiling the Dictionary of the English Language, which was first published on April 15, 1755—263 years ago this month. This monumental work quickly became a cornerstone in the history of English lexicography and remained a definitive resource well into the early 20th century.
Johnson, a renowned humorist and storyteller who authored numerous journalistic pieces, critiques, biographies, essays, poems, a novel, and even a play, infused his dictionary with a wealth of wit and linguistic ingenuity. The dictionary featured definitions for over 42,000 words, supported by 114,000 literary quotations. Among its many memorable entries, Johnson famously described oats as “a grain, which in England is typically fed to horses, but in Scotland sustains the people.” This definition, however, is just one example of the many sharp remarks and clever jests scattered throughout his work.
1. BACKFRIEND
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a backfriend is “a pretended or false friend,” but Johnson took a more direct approach, defining it as “a friend backwards”—essentially, “a secret enemy.”
2. EXCISE
Johnson understood the universal dislike for taxes. He defined excise as “a detestable tax imposed on goods, determined not by impartial judges but by individuals employed by those who benefit from the tax.”
3. FINESSE
Johnson had little patience for French loanwords and excluded many, such as champagne and bourgeois, from his dictionary. Those he included often received harsh treatment: Finesse was dismissed as “an unnecessary term infiltrating the language”; monsieur was described as “a derogatory term for a Frenchman”; and ruse was labeled “a French word that is neither elegant nor necessary.”
4. GYNOCRACY
A gynocracy refers to a government or ruling class composed of women. Johnson, however, succinctly defined it as “petticoat government.”
5. LEXICOGRAPHER
Johnson appeared to hold a modest view of his profession: On page 1195, he described a lexicographer as “a harmless drudge” who “occupies himself with tracing the origins and explaining the meanings of words.”
6. LUNCH
In Johnson’s view, lunch was less about timing and more about quantity: He described it as “the amount of food that fits in one’s hand.”
7. NIDOROSITY
If you’ve ever needed a term for a “burp with the flavor of undigested meat”—essentially, a meaty belch—this is it.
8. PATRON
Johnson was commissioned to compile his dictionary and received a substantial sum of 1500 guineas (equivalent to roughly $300,000 today) for his efforts. Despite this, he couldn’t resist taking a jab at the London publishers who funded him, famously defining a patron as “a miserable being who supports with arrogance and is repaid with flattery.”
9. PENSION
Johnson described a pension as “an allowance,” noting that “in England, it is commonly perceived as payment given to a state employee for betraying his country.”
10. POLITICIAN
In addition to being “someone skilled in governance,” Johnson defined a politician as “a crafty individual; one skilled in intricate schemes.”
11. SCELERATE
This 16th-century term for a scoundrel or rogue may not be the most recognizable entry in Johnson’s dictionary, but it serves as a perfect example of his aversion to French loanwords and the writers who used them. On page 1758, he notes that the word was “unnecessarily borrowed from the French by a Scottish author”—and then supports its usage with a quote from the Scottish physician and scholar George Cheyne.
12., 13., AND 14. SOCK, BUM, AND LIZARD
When tasked with defining 40,000 words, some entries are bound to be less thorough than others. For instance, Johnson described sock as “an item placed between the shoe and the foot.” Similarly, he defined bum as “the part of the body we sit on,” and a lizard as “a creature resembling a snake, but with legs attached.”
15. STOAT
The poor stoat didn’t fare well in Johnson’s dictionary, as he defined it as “a small, foul-smelling creature.”
16. TROLMYDAMES
Johnson was nothing if not candid: When it came to this term, which Shakespeare used in The Winter’s Tale, he simply admitted, “I do not know the meaning of this word.” Sixty years later, Noah Webster, while compiling his American Dictionary, provided clarity, explaining that it refers to “the game of nineholes,” a bowling-like game where players aim to roll balls into holes with varying point values.
17. URINATOR
This entry might cause some surprise: Johnson defined a urinator as “a diver” or “someone who explores underwater.” While it may seem odd today, he wasn’t incorrect—urinator stems from the Latin urinari, meaning “to dive.”
