March 2006

Notable and Quotable

March 6 marks the birthday of the 19th-century poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. An author's search under the name Browning turns up 163 instances of words used in context in the Unabridged. Eighteen of those citations are credited to Elizabeth Barrett Browning; almost all the others are attributed to her husband, Robert Browning.

Remember, finding quotations from an author is easy. Just choose your reference—the Unabridged Dictionary or the Collegiate—and click on Advanced Search. Type the last name of the author in the Author Quoted box and click on Search.

astony verb (archaic : daze; dismay; amaze)
"and I, astonied fell and could not pray"

cry noun
"the cry of the children"

epitomical adjective
"our literature is rich in ballads, a form epitomical of the epic and dramatic"

equal adjective
"the equal plains of ... Sicily"

fathered adjective
"worse off in being fatherless than I was, fathered"

gest noun
"knightly gests and courtly pageantries"

geste noun (archaic : gesture; movement)
"in the least geste — the dropping low of the lid, the wrinkling of the brow"

godward adverb
"as if, being in the world, their tendency was Godward"

hip verb
"I rather would hearten than hip thee"

influent adjective (archaic : exercising influence)
"beneath the influent heavens"

mismade adjective
"limping possibilities of mismade human nature"

moil verb
"letters moiled with my kisses"

oenomel noun
"memories to my thinking make a better oenomel"

pretty adjective
"stringing pretty words that make no sense"

shrive verb
"mocked at the priest when he called her to shrive"

sun noun
"but one sun's length off from my happiness"

unenlarged adjective
"leave the notice unenlarged"

weft noun
"let thy weft be of one woof and warp"