Walt Whitman was born May 31, 1819, and died in 1892. The groundbreaking and influential American poet embraced life and nature; his exuberance is revealed in many of the Whitman quotations used to illustrate dictionary entries.
affecting
adjective
"the scenes of disappointment are quite as affecting"
askant
adverb
"and I saw askant the armies"
barbaric
adjective;
yawp
noun
"I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world"
bard
noun
"the bard walks in advance, leader of leaders"
fearful
adjective
"our fearful trip is done, the ship has weathered every rack"
higgle
verb
"the purchaser higgling about the odd cent"
infer
verb
"democracy infers such loving comradeship"
kingcraft
noun
"to abolish kingcraft, priestcraft, caste, monopoly"
netherward
adjective
"in the netherward black of the night"
nigh
adjective
"man in ... friend, brother, nighest neighbor"
orb
noun
"solid, ironical, rolling orb"
procreant
adjective
"the procreant urge of the world"
recall
noun
"the war is completed -- the price is paid -- the title is settled beyond recall"
shyster
noun
"there are tyrants and shysters in all positions, and especially those dressed in subordinate authority"
spaniel
noun
"office seekers, ...spaniels well-trained to carry and fetch"
splendid
adjective
"a splendid dish of ice cream"
staff
noun
"my signs are a rainproof coat, good shoes and a staff cut from the woods"
swell
verb
"it swells me to joyful madness"
vacant
adjective
"the past, the future, majesty, love ... you are vacant of them"