man horse bird fish partridge pupil bee soldier book sailor child sheep ship ruffian

4.  Using a dictionary, tell from what word each of these abstract nouns is derived:—­

sight speech motion pleasure patience friendship deceit bravery height width wisdom regularity advice seizure nobility relief death raid honesty judgment belief occupation justice service trail feeling choice simplicity

SPECIAL USES OF NOUNS.

[Sidenote:  Nouns change by use.]

13.  By being used so as to vary their usual meaning, nouns of one class may be made to approach another class, or to go over to it entirely.  Since words alter their meaning so rapidly by a widening or narrowing of their application, we shall find numerous examples of this shifting from class to class; but most of them are in the following groups.  For further discussion see the remarks on articles (p. 119).

[Sidenote:  Proper names transferred to common use.]

14.  Proper nouns are used as common in either of two ways:—­

(1) The origin of a thing is used for the thing itself:  that is, the name of the inventor may be applied to the thing invented, as a davy, meaning the miner’s lamp invented by Sir Humphry Davy; the guillotine, from the name of Dr. Guillotin, who was its inventor.  Or the name of the country or city from which an article is derived is used for the article:  as china, from China; arras, from a town in France; port (wine), from Oporto, in Portugal; levant and morocco (leather).

Some of this class have become worn by use so that at present we can scarcely discover the derivation from the form of the word; for example, the word port, above.  Others of similar character are calico, from Calicut; damask, from Damascus; currants, from Corinth; etc.

(2) The name of a person or place noted for certain qualities is transferred to any person or place possessing those qualities; thus,—­

     Hercules and Samson were noted for their strength, and we call a
     very strong man a Hercules or a Samson.  Sodom was famous for
     wickedness, and a similar place is called a Sodom of sin.

     A Daniel come to judgment!—­SHAKESPEARE.

     If it prove a mind of uncommon activity and power, a Locke, a
     Lavoisier, a Hutton, a Bentham, a Fourier, it imposes its
     classification on other men, and lo! a new system.—­EMERSON.

[Sidenote:  Names for things in bulk altered for separate portions.]

15.  Material nouns may be used as class names.  Instead of considering the whole body of material of which certain uses are made, one can speak of particular uses or phases of the substance; as—­