turies metaphorically to describe the position of a business man who no longer needs support, being able to care for himself, passes the present writer's ability to conjecture. The next entry among "ons" is simply cryptic. It runs thus:

"ON ICE, Dead; from placing body on ice to aid in faking it." What sort of process is faking a body?

"PISTOL POCKETS, Warnings not to fool." No clipping. Who ever heard anybody use the term in any such sense, or in any sense but that conveyed by the ordinary meaning of the words, pockets intended to hold pistols?

"PLUG, To get into difficulties." No clipping. No American ever used the verb in the sense given. "To plug along" is to make headway against difficulties.

"PRETTY STEEP, Threatening." The term is commonly applied to a charge for a service, and means simply exorbitant.

"PUSLEY, Most mysterious-who was Pusley?" The clipping includes the expression "as mean as pusley," the last word being a corruption of the name of a troublesome weed, purslane.

"RAGGED EDGE, Deserted." This extraordinary definition is one of Mr. Ware's guesses, and a not unnatural one this time, though wildly incorrect. The clipping reads: "Father, daughter and child sailed yesterday for Paris, leaving poor Tom on the ragged

edge." Poor Tom may have been deserted; but what the writer meant to say of him was that he was left in a condition of suspense and distress.

"REAL HEALTHY, Well brained." No clipping, and surely no comment is necessary. So with the next:

"SAM HILL, Some hell, replacing the name of a notoriously wild-tongued man."

"SCALING DOWN, Repudiation of debt." This is about the nearest right of the whole list, incorrect as it is. Scaling down is a sort of compromise (or composition, I believe the English call it), involving indeed some deduction from the debt, but by no means repudiation. In fact a debt could not be both repudiated and scaled down.

"SCREED, A pelt or muck-running." Does this definition suggest any idea to the reader? It is a meaningless group of words to me. A screed is simply a newspaper story.

"SQUASHO, Negro, probably from the negro's love of melons, pumpkins, squashes, &c." There's etymology for you. Did any reader ever hear a negro called a squasho?

"STUCK UP, Moneyless, figurative expression derived from being 'stuck up' by highwaymen." Who ever heard of a man's being "stuck up by highwaymen"? Who ever heard of "stuck up" used in any meaning than conceited?

"TAKE IN, Patronize, from taking in papers." No

American "takes in" a paper; he simply takes it. To take in is to bamboozle, fool, delude.

"TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION, One of the more fiery American drinks." Did the reader ever taste, or hear

of, any beverage so called?

"WOLVERINES, People of Michigan, probably from the territory's being over-run with wolves." Why the Michiganders are ever called wolverines, I don't know; but certainly a wolverine is not a wolf.

"YALLER DOG; Yellow is the tint of most dogs in America; hence it is the most searching term of ordinary contempt." I think that entry may be noted without comment, and may appropriately wind up the list of Americanisms according to Ware.

CHAPTER SIX

THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE SUBJECT

The first section of the following list is believed to be complete. The second section, of course, cannot claim to be more than an attempt. The third and fourth sections, combined with the bibliographical work of the Dialect Society referred to at the end of this chapter, are believed to cover, without very serious omission, all periodicals in the English language to about the close of the last century. Since that epoch, periodical literature has so enormously expanded, with such great diversification in style and contents, that it has become quite impossible to review it exhaustively. It is hoped that constant and diligent study of all published indexes to such literature has resulted in securing references to all important articles in important monthlies, quarterlies, and many weeklies; though undoubtedly many contributions of some value in more "popular" journals, and especially in daily papers, have escaped the compiler's attention, which is regrettable; but how in the world could anybody get them all?

332

I

BOOKS ENTIRELY DEVOTED TO "AMERICANISMS"

1. A VOCABULARY, or Collection of Words and Phrases which have been supposed to be peculiar to the United States, to which is prefixed an Essay on the Present State of the English Language in the United States. By JOHN PICKERING. Boston; Cummings & Hilliard, 1816; 8vo; pp. 208.

2. LETTER to the Hon. John Pickering, on the subject of his Vocabulary. By NOAH WEBSTER. Boston; West & Richardson, 1817; small 8vo; pp. 60.

3. GLOSSARY OF SUPPOSED AMERICANISMS, collected by ALFRED L. ELWYN, M.D. Philadelphia; J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1859; 12mo; pp. 122.

4. AMERICANISMS; the English of the New World. By M. SCHELE DE VERE, LL.D. New York; Charles Scribner & Co., 1872; 8vo; pp. 686.

5. DICTIONARY OF AMERICANISMS; a Glossary of Words and Phrases usually regarded as peculiar to the United States. By JOHN RUSSELL BARTLETT. Fourth edition. Boston; Little, Brown & Co., 1877; 8vo; pp. 814. 6. AMERICANISMS, Old and New, a Dictionary of Words, Phrases and Colloquialisms peculiar to the United States, British America, the West Indies, etc., etc., their Derivation, Meaning and Application, together with numerous Anecdotal, Historical, Explanatory and FolkLore Notes. Compiled and edited by JOHN S. FARMER. London; Thos. Poulter & Sons, 1889; "foolscap 4to"; pp. 564.

7. POLITICAL AMERICANISMS; a Glossary of Terms and Phrases current at different periods in American Poli