November 2008

Notable and Quotable: Laurence Sterne

Clergyman and author Laurence Sterne was born Nov. 24, 1713. Of the 42 examples of Sterne's writing cited in the Unabridged, 11 refer to now archaic or obsolete senses. Still more trace back to Sterne's famously digressive novel, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman.

Interested in finding words from a favorite author in the dictionary? Select the Unabridged and click on Advanced Search. Type Sterne in the Author field, and click Search.

blend verb (archaic)
"a villainous affair . . . and will one day so blend and confound us"

droll verb (archaic)
"drolling a little upon the corporal"

fence verb (obsolete)
"a constant endeavor to fence against the infirmities of ill health"

foul noun (archaic)
"foul befall the man who ever lays a snare in its way"

market noun (archaic)
"every man will speak of the fair as his own market has gone in it"

officious adjective (obsolete)
"officious humility of a heart devoted to the assistance merely of the inquisitive"

rhapsodical adjective (archaic)
"the reader of this rhapsodical work"

rhapsodize verb (archaic)
"rhapsodizing all these affairs "

thorough-stitched adjective (archaic)
"his book may properly be considered . . . a thorough-stitched digest and regular institute"

unhackneyed adjective (archaic)
"a man unhackneyed and unpracticed in the world"

unwind verb (archaic)
"unwinding the labyrinth and bringing the hero . . . to a state of rest"