KEY TO PRONUNCIATION. 
a as In fat, man, pang. 
a as in fate, mane, dale, 
a as in far, father, guard. 
a as in fall, talk, naught 
A as in ask, fast, ant. 
a as in fare, hair, bear, 
e as in met, pen, bless. 
e aa in mete, meet, meat, 
e as in her, fern, heard. 
i ns in pin, it, biscuit. 
! as in pine, fight, file. 
o as In not, on, frog. 
6 as in note, poke, floor. 
6 as in move, spoon, room. 
d as in nor, song, off. 
u as in tub, son, blood, 
u as in mute, acute, few (also new, 
tube, duty : see Preface, pp. lx, x). 
n as in pull, book, could, 
ii German ii, French u. 
oi as in oil, joint, boy. 
on as in pound, proud, now. 
A single dot under a vowel in an un- 
accented syllable indicates its abbre- 
viation and lightening, without abso- 
lute loss of its distinctive quality. See 
Preface, p. xi. Thus : 
f~i as in prelate, courage, captain. 
as in ablegate, episcopal, 
o as in abrogate, eulogy, democrat, 
u as in singular, education. 
A double dot under a vowel in an 
unaccented syllable indicates timl, 
rven in the mouths of the best speak- 
ers, its sound is variable to, and in or- 
dinary utterance actually becomes, 
the short w-sound (of but, pun, etc.). 
See Preface, p. xi. Thus : 
,V ns in errant, republican, 
e. aa in prudent^ difference. 
.1 as in charity, density, 
o as in valor, actor, idiot. 
H as in Persia, peninsula. 
C as in the book. 
as in nature, feature. 
A mark (~) under the consonants 
t, d, s, z indicates that they in like 
manner are variable to ch, j, *A, zh. 
Thus : 
t aa in nature, adventure. 
d as in arduous, education. 
s ns in leisure. 
Z flf in seizure. 
th as in thin. 
TM as in then. 
iMi as in German ach, Scotch loch. 
ii French nasalizing n, as in ton, en. 
ly (in French words) French liquid 
(niouille:) L 
' denotes a primary, " a secondary 
accent. (A secondary accent is not 
marked if at its regular Interval of 
two syllables from the primary, or 
from another secondary.) 
SIGNS. 
< read/rom; i. e., derived from. 
> read whence; i. e., from which is derived. 
+ read and; i. e., compounded with, or with suffix. 
= read cognate icith; i. e., etymologically parallel with. 
I/ read root. 
* read theoretical or alleged; i. e., theoretically assumed, en- asserted but unverified, form. 
t read obtolete. 
SPECIAL EXPLANATIONS. 
A superior figure placed after a title-word indicates that 
the word so marked is distinct etymologically from other 
words, following or preceding it, spelled in the same man- 
ner and marked with different numbers. Thus : 
back 1 (bak), n. The posterior part, etc. 
back 1 (bak), a. Lying or being behind, etc. 
back 1 (bakX c. To furnish with a back, etc. 
back 1 (bak), adv. Behind, etc. 
backet (bak), n. The earlier form of ba&. 
backs (bak), . A large fiat-bottomed boat, etc. 
Various abbreviations have been used in the credits to 
the quotations, as " No." for number, "st." for stanza, "p." 
for page, "I." for line, If for paragraph, "fol." for/oKo. 
The method used in indicating the subdivisions of books 
will be understood by reference to the following plan : 
Section only 5. 
Chapter only xiv. 
Canto only xlv. 
Book only iii. 
Book and chapter ^ 
Part and chapter 
Book and line 
Book and page r iii. 10. 
Act and scene 
Chapter and verse 
No. and page 
Volume and page II. 34. 
Volume and chapter IV. iv. 
Part, book, and chapter II. iv. 12. 
Part, canto, and stanza II. iv. 12. 
Chapter and section or If vii. or ^f 3. 
Volume, part, and section or ^f I. i. or If 6. 
Book, chapter, and section or If I. i. or If 6. 
Different grammatical phases of the same word 'arc 
grouped under one head, and distinguished by the Ro- 
man numerals I., II., III., etc. This applies to transitive 
and intransitive uses of the same verb, to adjectives used 
also as nouns, to nouns used also as adjectives, to adverbs 
used also as prepositions or conjunctions, etc. 
The capitalizing and italicizing of certain or all of the 
words in a synonym-list indicates that the words so distin- 
guished are discriminated in the text immediately follow- 
ing, or under the title referred to. 
The figures by which the synonym-lists are sometimes 
divided indicate the senses or definitions with which they 
are connected. 
The title-words begin with a small (lower-case) letter, 
or with a capital, according to usage. *When usage dif- 
fers, in this matter, with the different senses of a word, 
the abbreviations [cap. ] for "capital "and [1. c. ] for " lower- 
case " are used to indicate this variation. 
The difference observed in regard to the capitalizing of 
the second element in zoological and botanical terms is in 
accordance with the existing usage in the two sciences. 
Thus, in zoology, in a scientific name consisting of two 
words the second of which is derived from a proper name, 
only the first would be capitalized. But a name of simi- 
lar derivation in botany would have the second element 
also capitalized. 
The names of zoological and botanical classes, orders, 
families, genera, etc., have been uniformly italicized, in ac- 
cordance with the present usage of scientific writers. 
