Samuel Johnson's Dictionary: Selections from the 1755 Work That Defined the English Language

Here is a real treat for word lovers: 3,100 selections from Dr. Johnson's historic dictionary, with definitions, etymologies and usage illustrations. To buss is charmingly defined as""To kiss; to salute with the lips."" And laced mutton, readers learn, is""an old word for a whore."" The excerpts from the dictionary itself are complemented by the inclusion of Johnson's earlier""Plan of a Dictionary"" (""of all the candidates for literary praise, the unhappy lexicographer holds the lowest place,"" he opines) and three appendixes: one of Shakesperean citations in the dictionary, one of additional literary citations and a third of""piquant terms."" (""Ape: A kind of monkey remarkable for imitating what he sees."") In his introduction, Lynch, a Rutgers University Johnson scholar, dispels the myth that this was the first dictionary. It was, however, the first standard dictionary, the one used by Wordsworth, Austen and George Eliot--and this edition of it is fascinating.