PREFACK. xl 
even systems of phonetic spelling, generally do) the vowels of unaccented syllables as it' they were 
accented, is a distortion, and to pronounce them as so written would be a caricature of English speech. 
There are two degrees of this transformation. In the first, the general vowel quality of a long vowel 
remains, but is modified toward or to the corresponding (natural) short: thus, a 
and r> lose their usual vanish (of e and 6 respectively), and become, the one e (even in voweu in un- 
, . cented syllitlilos. 
some final syllables, the yet thinner i), the other the true short o (which, in accented 
syllables, occurs only provincially, as in the New England pronunciation of home, whole, etc.) ; e and o 
(of food) become i and u (of good); a or 6 become (more rarely) o. This first degree of change is 
marked by a single dot under the vowel: thus, a, e, o, u, o, 6. In the second degree, the vowel loses 
its specific quality altogether, and is reduced to a neutral sound, the slightly uttered u (of hut) or k 
(of hurt). This change occurs mainly in short vowels (especially a, o, less often e, but i chiefly in the 
ending -%) ; but also sometimes in long vowels (especially u and a). This second degree of alteration 
is marked by a double dot under the vowel: thus, , e, p, i, (i, u. Accordingly, the dots show that 
while in very elaborate utterance the vowel is sounded as marked without them, in the various degrees 
of inferior elaborateness it ranges down to the shortened or to the neutralized vowel respectively ; and 
it is intended that the dots shall mark, not a careless and slovenly, but only an ordinary and idiomatic 
utterance not that of hasty conversation, but that of plain speaking, or of reading aloud with dis- 
tinctness. In careless talk there is a yet wider reduction to the neutral sound. It must be clearly 
understood and borne in mind that these changes are the accompaniment and effect of a lightening 
and slighting of utterance ; to pronounce with any stress the syllables thus marked would be just as 
gi'eat a caricature as to pronounce them with stress as marked above the letter. 
In the preparation of the definitions of common words there has been at hand, besides the material 
generally accessible to students of the language, a special collection of quotations selected for this work 
from English books of all kinds and of all periods of the language, which is probably much larger 
than any that has hitherto been made for the use of an English dictionary, except 
that accumulated for the Philological Society of London. From this source much Definitions of com- 
mon words. 
fresh lexicographical matter has been obtained, which appears not only in hitherto 
unrecorded words and senses, but also, it is believed, in the greater conformity of the definitions 
as a whole to the facts of the language. In general, the attempt has been made to portray the language 
as it actually is, separating more or less sharply those senses of each word which are really distinct, 
but avoiding that over-refinement of analysis which tends rather to confusion than to clearness. Special 
scientific and "technical uses of words have, however, often been separately numbered, for practical 
reasons, even when they do not constitute logically distinct definitions. The various senses of words 
have also been classified with reference to the limitations of their use, those not found in current 
literary English being described as obsolete, local, provincial, colloquial, or technical (legal, botanical, 
etc.). The arrangement of the definitions historically, in the order in which the senses defined have 
entered the language, is the most desii-able one, and it has been adopted whenever, from the etymo- 
logical and other data accessible, the historical order could be inferred with a considerable degree of 
certainty; it has not, however, been possible to employ it in every case. The general definitions have 
also been supplemented by discussions of synonyms treating of about 7000 words, contributed by 
Prof. Henry M. Whitney, which will be found convenient as bringing together statements made in 
the definitions in various parts of the dictionary, and also as touching in a free way upon many literary 
aspects of words. 
Many of the exti-acts mentioned above, together with some contained in the Impn'inl l)ict/<Hir// 
and in other earlier or special works, have been employed to illustrate the meanings of words, 
or merely to establish the fact of use. They form a large collection (about 200,000) representing all 
periods ;ind branches of English literature. In many cases they will be found useful from a his- 
torical point of view, though, as was intimated above, they do not furnish a complete historical 
