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BAAL, n. An old deity formerly much worshiped under various names. As Baal he was popular with the Phoenicians; as Belus or Bel he had the honor to be served by the priest Berosus, who wrote the famous account of the Deluge; as Babel he had a tower partly erected to his glory on the Plain of Shinar. From Babel comes our English word "babble." Under whatever name worshiped, Baal is the Sun-god. As Beelzebub he is the god of flies, which are begotten of the sun's rays on the stagnant water. In Physicia Baal is still worshiped as Bolus, and as Belly he is adored and served with abundant sacrifice by the priests of Guttledom. BABE or BABY, n. A misshapen creature of no particular age, sex, or condition, chiefly remarkable for the violence of the sympathies and antipathies it excites in others, itself without sentiment or emotion. There have been famous babes; for example, little Moses, from whose adventure in the bulrushes the Egyptian hierophants of seven centuries before doubtless derived their idle tale of the child Osiris being preserved on a floating lotus leaf.
BACCHUS, n. A convenient deity invented by the ancients as an excuse for getting drunk.
BACK, n. That part of your friend which it is your privilege to contemplate in your adversity. BACKBITE, v. t. To speak of a man as you find him when he can't find you. BAIT, n. A preparation that renders the hook more palatable. The best kind is beauty. BAPTISM, n. A sacred rite of such efficacy that he who finds himself in heaven without having undergone it will be unhappy forever. It is performed with water in two ways – by immersion, or plunging, and by aspersion, or sprinkling.
BAROMETER, n. An ingenious instrument which indicates what kind of weather we are having. BARRACK, n. A house in which soldiers enjoy a portion of that of which it is their business to deprive others. BASILISK, n. The cockatrice. A sort of serpent hatched form the egg of a cock. The basilisk had a bad eye, and its glance was fatal. Many infidels deny this creature's existence, but Semprello Aurator saw and handled one that had been blinded by lightning as a punishment for having fatally gazed on a lady of rank whom Jupiter loved. Juno afterward restored the reptile's sight and hid it in a cave. Nothing is so well attested by the ancients as the existence of the basilisk, but the cocks have stopped laying. BASTINADO, n. The act of walking on wood without exertion. BATH, n. A kind of mystic ceremony substituted for religious worship, with what spiritual efficacy has not been determined.
BATTLE, n. A method of untying with the teeth of a political knot that would not yield to the tongue. BEARD, n. The hair that is commonly cut off by those who justly execrate the absurd Chinese custom of shaving the head. BEAUTY, n. The power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband. BEFRIEND, v. t. To make an ingrate.
The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, online at Fun-With-Words.com.
The second, which we recommend highly, is The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, which has about 1,600 citations.
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