October 2008

Notable and Quotable: Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt was born October 27, 1858. The 26th president's refusal to shoot a captured bear on a hunting trip inspired the name teddy bear, and he also helped popularize the phrase bully pulpit. But of the 171 entries in the Unabridged which include "Roosevelt" in examples of actual usage, fewer than a dozen trace back to Theodore Roosevelt (almost all the others credit his younger cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt).

Interested in finding citations from a particular author? Choose either the Collegiate or the Unabridged as a reference and click on Advanced Search. Then type the last name in the "Author Quoted" field, and click on Search.

big stick noun
"we must speak softly but carry a big stick"

follow verb
"the bravest man I ever knew followed me up San Juan Hill"

front noun
"let us…take with unshaken front what comes"

individualism noun
"the individualism of the backwoodsman"

lope verb
"loped our jaded horses along at a brisk pace"

packer noun
"the Missourian was an expert packer"

stealth noun
"equaled this great wood-cat in stealth, and far surpassed it in ferocity and cunning"


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