January 2007

Notable and Quotable: Francis Bacon

English philosopher Francis Bacon was born January 22, 1561. His influence lives on, as do his words, which are sprinkled throughout the Unabridged, primarily to illustrate senses now obsolete or archaic. We pulled out a few colorful examples.

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and verb, obsolete ("if; though; as if")
"they will set an house on fire, and it were but to roast their eggs"

convince verb, obsolete ("prove to be wrong or in error; demonstrate the fallacy of")
"God never wrought miracle to convince atheism because his ordinary works convince it"

corpse noun, obsolete ("the main portion or substance; the collective whole; body")
"one . . .  uniform corpse of law"

expiration verb, obsolete ("the emission of volatile material; exhalation")
"the true cause of cold is an expiration from the globe of the earth"

implicit adjective, obsolete ("unqualified; absolute")
"implicit ignorance"

involved adjective, obsolete ("covert; secretive; underhand")
"plain and direct, not crafty and involved"

judge verb, obsolete ("condemn")
"some whose offenses are pilfering . . . they judge to be whipped"

madefaction noun, obsolete ("wetting")
"to all madefaction there is required an imbibition"

mansion noun, obsolete ("the act of remaining or dwelling; stay")
"the solidness of the earth is for the station and mansion of living creatures"

mourn verb, archaic ("to look or act unhappy; droop; pine")
"flowers . . . rejoice at the presence of the sun; and mourn at the absence thereof"

particular adjective, obsolete ("involving, affecting, or belonging to a part rather than the whole of something; partial in extent; not universal")
"the three years drought . . . was but particular and left people alive"

[1]politic noun, archaic ("politician")
"amongst statesmen and politics"

[2]politic noun, obsolete ("one that is indifferent toward religious matters: one that is concerned more with the affairs of the world than the religion")
"wordlings and depraved politics who are apt to condemn holy things"

scrupulous adjective, obsolete ("open to question on moral grounds")
"the justice of that cause ought to be evident: not obscure, not scrupulous"

shrewd adjective, obsolete ("causing injury; hurtful")
"an ant . . .  is a shrewd thing in an orchard"

slide noun, archaic ("a smooth progression")
"verses, that have a slide, and easiness"

soak verb, obsolete ("to exhaust or make poor by emptying or removing")
"all plants that do draw much nourishment from the earth, and so soak the earth and exhaust it"

spirit noun, obsolete ("a volatile agent or essence that is a constituent and usually life-giving element of a natural body")
"the spirits . . . that are in all tangible bodies are scarce known"

stately adverb, obsolete ("in the grand style; imposingly")
"men come to build stately sooner than to garden finely"

still adverb, obsolete ("without change in the future")
"discern the coming on of years, and think not to do the same things still"

wind noun, archaic ("air")
"the sword itself must be wrapped up close . . . that it taketh no wind"