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Samuel Johnson put individual stamp on dictionary definitions

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From: AP Worldstream
Date: 20050421
Author:

AP Worldstream
04-21-2005
Dateline: LONDON
Some memorable definitions from Samuel Johnson's "Dictionary of the English Language":

EXCISE: 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.

KICKSHAW: A dish so changed by the cookery that it can scarcely be known.

LEXICOGRAPHER: A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words.

OATS: A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.

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