19 BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty-ninth day of July, A. D. 1823, and in the forty eighth year of the Independence of the United States of America, LINCOLN & EDMANDS, SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG, and CHARLES EWER, of the said District, have deposited in this office, the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as Proprietors, in the words following, to wit: Walker's Critical Pronouncing Dictionary, and Expositor of the English Language. Abridged for the use of Schools. To which is annexed, an abridgment of Walker's Key to the Pronunciation of Greek, Latin, and Scripture Proper Names In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned:" and also to an Act, entitled, " An Act supplementary to an act, entitled, An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned; and extending the bencfits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints.' Clerk of the District of JNO. W. DAVIS, { Massachusetts. PREFACE. FEW subjects have of late years more employed the pens of every class of criticks, than the improvement of the English Language. The greatest abilities in the nation have been exerted in cultivating and reform ng it; nor have a thousand minor criticks been wanting to add their mite of amendment to their native ton; ae Johnson, whose large mind and just taste made him capable of enriching and adorning the Language with original composition, has condescended to the drudgery of disentangling, explaining, and arranging it, and left a lasting monument of his ability, labour, and patience; and Dr. Lowth, the politest scholar of the age, has availed his superiority in his short Introduction to English Grammar. The ponderous folio has gravely vindicated the rights of analogy; and the light ephemeral sheet of news has corrected errours in Grammar, as well as in Politicks, by slyly marking them in Italicks. Nor has the improvement stopped here. While Johnson and Lowth have been insensibly operating on the orthography and construction of our Language, its pronunciation has not been neglected. The importance of a consistent and regular pronunciation was too obvious to be overlooked: and the want of this consistency and regularity has induced several ingenious men to endeavour at a reformation; who, by exhibiting the regularities of pronunciation, and pointing out its analogies, have reclaimed some words that were not irrecoverably fixed in a wrong sound, and prevented others from being perverted by ignorance or caprice Among those writers who deserve the first praise on this subject, is Mr. Elphinston; who, in his Principles of the English Language, has reduced the chaos to a system; and, by a deep investigation of the analogies of our tongue, has laid the foundation of a just and regular pronunciation. After him, Dr. Kenrick contributed a portion of improvement by his Rhetorical Dictionary; in which the words are divided into syllables as they are pronounced, and figures placed over the vowels, to indicate their different sounds. Bet this gentleman has rendered his Dictionary extremely imperfect, by entirely omitting a great number of words of doubtful and difficult pronunciation-those very words for which a Dictionary of this kind would be most consulted. To him succeeded Mr. Sheridan, who not only divided the words into syllables, and placed figures over the rowels, as Dr. Kenrick had done, but, by spelling these syllables as they are pronounced, seemed to complete the idea of a Pronouncing Dictionary, and to leave but little expectation of future improvement. It must, indeed, be confessed, that Mr. Sheridan's Dictionary is greatly superiour to every other that preceded it; and his method of conveying the sound of words, by spelling them as they are pronounced, is highly rational and useful-But here sincerity obliges me to stop. Numerous instances of impropriety, inconsistency, and want of acquaintance with the analogies of the Language, sufficiently show that his Dictionary is upon the whole imperfect, and that ample room was left for attempting another, which might better answer the purpose of a Guide to Pronunciation. The last writer on this subject is Mr. Nares, who, in his Elements of Orthoepy, has shown a clearness of method and an extent of observation which deserve the highest encomiums. His Preface alone proves him an elegant writer, as well as a philosophical observer of Language; and his Alphabetical Index, referring near five thousand words to the rules for pronouncing them, is a new and useful method of treating the subject; but he seems, on many occasions, to have mistaken the best usage, and to have paid too little attention to the first principles of pronunciation. The work I have offered on the subject has, I hope, added something to the publick stock; as I have endea voured to unite the science of Mr. Elphinston, the method of Mr. Nares, and the general utility of Mr. Sheridan. With respect to the explanation of words, except in very few instances, I have scrupulously followed Dr Johnson. His Dictionary has been deemed lawful plunder by every subsequent lexicographer; and so servilely has it been copied, that such words as he must have omitted merely by mistake, as Predilection, Respectable, Descriptive, Sulky, Inimical, Interference, and many others, are neither in Mr. Sheridan's, Dr. Kenrick's, nor several other Dictionaries. N. B The above Prusace is extracted from that originally prefixed to the quarto Dictionary by Mr. Walker A TABLE OF THE SIMPLE AND DIPHTHONGAL VOWELS REFERRED TO BY THE FIGURES OVER THE LETTERS IN THIS DICTIONARY. ENGLISH SOUNDS. 1 à. The long slender English a, as in fate, på-per, &c. 1. è. The long e, as in mè, hère, mè-tre, mè-dium 1. 1. The long diphthongal i, as in plne, tl-tle 2. 1. The short simple i, as in pin, tit-tle 1. d. The long open o, as in no, note, no-tice 2. 8. The long close o, as in move, prove 38. The long broad o, as in nor, för, ör; like the broad & 1. 8. The short broad o, as in nôt, hôt, gôt 1. ù. The long diphthongal u, as in tube, Cù-pid 2 a. The short simple u, as in tub, cup, sup 3 . The middle or obtuse u, as in båll, füll, půll 81. The long 8, and the short 1, as in oil dů. The long broad 8, and the middle obtuse ů, as in thỏů, pôůnd ou in mouvoir, pouvoir o in or, for, encor. o in hotte, cotte. iou in Cioutat,chiourme eu in neuf, veuf ou in boule, foule,poule of in cyclord, heroïque. aoû in Avûte.; Th. The acute or sharp th, as in think, thin. When G is printed in the Roman character, it has its hard sound in get, gone, &c. as go, give, geese, &c.; when it has its soft sound, it is spelled in the notation by the conso nant as giant, ginger, ji-ant, jin-jer. The same may be observed of S: the Roman charater denotes its hard sound in sin, sun, &c. as so, sit, sense, &c. its soft sound is spelled by z, as rose, raise, &c. roze, raze, &c. 4440 SCHEME OF THE VOWELS. Fåte, får, fåll, fät-mè, mêt-pine, pîn-nỏ, môve, når, nôt-tùbe, tủb, båll-811-pôûnd -thin, тHis. ABB A, an article set before nouns of the sin ABE Abbot, abbit.s.the chief of a convent of men gular number; as, a man, a tree.- Abbreviate, ab-brè'vè-åte. v. a. to shorten Before a word beginning with a vowel, it is Abbreviation, âb-bré-vè-à'shản. s. the act written An, as on ox. A is sometimes a of shortening. [abridges. noun, as great A. A is placed before a Abbreviator, âb-bré-vè-à'tår. s. one who Abaft, â-båft. ad. from the fore part of the Abarticulation, âb-år-tik-d-1à'shån. s. that motion. Abase, â-båse'. v. a. to depress, to bring low. Abb, ab. s. the yarn on a weaver's warp. to the abdomen. Abduce, ab-dùse'. v. a. to withdraw one part from another. Abducent, âb-dù'sent. a. muscles abducent Abductor, åb-dåk'tår. s. the muscles which Aberration, áb-ér-rà'shân. s. the act of de- |