1792. <i dictionary, iSr 



Straight, adj. A general ttrm which denotes that the 

 object to which it refers is not bent or crooked in any di- 

 rection j always contrasted with bent or crooked, and nCr 

 ver with broad ot wide, 



A straight line the (hortest line that can be drawn be- 

 tween two points- 



This word had no other signification in the Englilh lan- 

 guage till a few years ago, when some affected writers took 

 it in their head to counfound it with strait, or to interchange 

 the one word for the other ; so that str-ait and straight are 

 now frequently confounded with each other : nothing is 

 now more common than to hear of a strait line, and the 

 Straights of Gibraltar. This is a corruption of the language 

 that cannot be too severely reprehended. 



These examples may serve to give some idea of the 

 plan of an Englifli dictionary composed upon philosophi- 

 cal principles j but, besides the circumstances above enur 

 merated, there are many others which would require partir 

 cular attention in tKe execution of a work, of this kind,. 

 In the Engli(h language a great variety of terms occus, 

 which denote matter under certain general forms or circum- 

 stances, without regard to the minute diversities that may- 

 take place J as the word cloth, which denotes matter manu- 

 factured into a particular form including under it all the va- 

 riety of stuiFi manufactured in that particular way of what- 

 ever materials, colours, textures, or fiuenefs they may be. 

 The same may be said of wood, iron, yarn, and a great vari- 

 ety of other terms of the same nature, some of which cannot 

 afsurae any plural, while others admit of it in all cases, and 

 others admit or refuse it according to the different circum- 

 stances in which they are considered. In. a dictionary;, 

 therefore, all this variety oi cases ought to be clearly and 

 distinctly pointed out under each particuiai article : this 

 is the more necefsary, as some of these words have otheis 

 formed from them, which might be readily niistaKcn foj 



