The Royal English Dictionary and Word Treasury [antikvár]

PEEFAOE. HE Eotal English Dictionary is issued to meet the necessities of the present day. In most of the smaller dictionaries already in use, many of the definitions consist of single words as difficult as those which they are given to explain, or even more so. When more extended definitions are given, they are often expressed in words which are harder than those they explain, and which it requires considerable scientific or literary knowledge fully to understand. The following may be given as examples of this kind of treatment:—Balance, to bring to equipoise or equilibrium ; Hair, a small thread-like filament growing from the skin of an animal, and from a bulbous root; Paste, anything mixed up to a viscous consistency; Sleep, the periodical lethargy and repose of the organs of sense and locomotion, and some of the intellectual powers; Truce, a temporary cessation of hostilities, for negotiation or other purposes. DEFINITIONS.—In the Eoyal English Dictionary the meanings are given, as far as possible, in simple statements containing very few ¦words which even a child would require to look up. In some instances single words are used as definitions, but only when they are well-known words, and contain the simplest forms in which the meanings can be expressed. SIMILAR WORDS. — The synonyms usually given as meanings have been printed below the definitions in a different type, under the heading S., which, however, means not Synonyms, but Similar Words. The similar words are arranged, as far as possible, in the