...Dr. Johnson, in order to manifest his dislike to Scotchmen, gave as a definition to the word oats, " A grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people " ; but he had always thought that the old lexicographer had unwittingly testified to the superior...

...well-known definition of ' Excise,' in the first edition of his Dictionary, illustrates this aversion : ' A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged, not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.' L. 117. Sappho : See note to Ep. II. 24. I.. 119....

...was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees."—Psalm Ixxiv, 5. J "OATS, ns A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people."—Johnson's Dictionary. Of course this was "meant sarkastic " by the great lexicographer,...

...Under the title ' Excise ' are the following words : — Excise, ns accijis, Dutch ; excisum, Latin ; a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged, not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom the Excise is paid." "The author's definition being observed by the...

...Under the title ' Excise ' are the following words : — Excise, ns accijis, Dutch ; exrisum, Latin ; a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged, not by the common judges of property, but ,wretches hired by those to whom the Excise is paid." " The author's definition being observed by the...

...definitions and quotations. Most of his definitions are succinct and pithy. Excise, for example, is "a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid." Lexicographer means "a harmless drudge, that busied...

...Anything reticulated or decussated at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections. Oats. A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people. Patron. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery. caterwaul KA ter...

...often been observed (for example, the English satirist Samuel Johnson (1979) had once defined oats as 'a grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people') and is here used to offer a striking re-characterization of such celebrated Scottish symbols as haggis,...

...new forms in twenty-first century. Lexicographer. A wrirer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge. Onts. A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scorland supports the people. Patron. Commonly a wrerch who supports with insolence, and is paid with...

...the older Indians. In Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of 1755 there is a much quoted definition of oats: "A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people." Oats went a long way toward supporting the people at Siletz, amid many complaints. Sixes George said,...