This is no sound
That the earth owes. (Shakespeare: The
Tempest)
Every shepherd tells his tale. (Milton: L’Allegro) Bring the rathe primrose that forsaken dies. (Rathe survives only in the comparative form rather. Milton: Lycidas)
Can honor’s voice provoke the silent dust? (Gray: Elegy)
The silly buckets on the deck. (Coleridge:
The Ancient
Mariner)
4. In technical usage or particular phrases a
former sense of a word may
be embedded like a fossil. The italicized words
in the following list
retain special senses of this kind. What do these
words as thus used mean?
Can you add to the list?
To wit
Might and main
Time and tide
Christmas_tide_
Sad bread
A bank teller
To tell one’s beads
Aid and abet
Meat and drink
Shop_lifter_
Fishing-tackle
Getting off scot-free
An earnest of future favors
A brave old hearthstone
Confusion to the enemy!
Giving aid and comfort to the enemy
Without let or hindrance
A let in tennis
Quicklime
Cut to the quick
Neat-foot oil
To sound in tort (Legal phrase)
To bid one God_speed_
I had as lief as not
The child favors its parents
On pain of death
Widow’s weeds
I am bound for the Promised Land
To carry a girl to a party (Used only in the
South)
To give a person so much to boot
5. Each of the subjoined phrases contradicts itself or repeats its idea clumsily. The key to the difficulty lies in the italicized words. What is their true meaning?
A weekly journal Ultimate end Final ultimatum Final completion Previous preconceptions Nauseating seasickness Join together Descend down Prefer better Argent silver Completely annihilate Unanimously by all Most unique of all The other alternative Endorse on the back Incredible to believe A criterion to go by An appetite to eat A panacea for all ills Popular with the people Biography of his life Autobiography of his own life Vitally alive A new, novel, and ingenious explanation Mutual dislike for each other Omniscient knowledge of all subjects A material growth in mental power Peculiar faults of his own Fly into an ebullient passion To saturate oneself with gold and silver Elected by acclamation on a secret ballot.
V.
INDIVIDUAL WORDS: AS MEMBERS OF VERBAL FAMILIES