believe, to suppose, to think, to imagine, to fancy. From such examples as the words to fix and to guess, it will be seen that while on the one hand we have a passion for coining new and unnecessary words and often in a manner opposed to the analogies of the language, there is on the other hand a tendency to banish from common use a number of the most useful and classical English expressions, by forcing one word to do duty for a host of others of somewhat similar meaning. This latter practice is by far the more dangerous of the two; because, if not checked and guarded against in time, it will corrode the very texture and substance of the language, and rob posterity of the power of appreciating and enjoying those master-pieces of literature bequeathed to us by our forefathers, which form the richest inheritance of all that speak the English tongue.

GUFFAW. A hearty, boisterous laugh; a horse laugh.

"You didn't let the Judge stray away from the swamp road?” inquired Hoss.

"Well, I predicate I didn't, for by this time he's travellin' into the diggins most amazin' innocently ;" and then the pair enjoyed a regular guffaw!-Robb, Squatter Life, p. 75.

GUINEA CORN. (Holcus sorghum.) Egyptian millet, durrah of the Arabs, a plant with a stalk of the size and appearance of maize. The grain grows in a single pendant bunch at the top. GUINEA GRASS. A species of grass cultivated in the West Indies, used as fodder for horses.-Carmichael's W. Indies. TO GULCH. To swallow voraciously.-Todd. Webster. In low language this word is still heard in New England.

You are all a haggling, gulching, good-for-nothing crew.-Margaret. GULL. 1. A cheat; a fraud; a trick. 2. A stupid animal; one easily cheated.-Johnson.

I should think this a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it.— Shakspeare.

That paltry story is untrue,

And forged to cheat such gulls as you.--Hudibras. The author of the "Perils of Pearl Street," in describing one of the swindling auction stores in New York, says:

The auctioneer and Peter Funk were ready to burst with laughter at the prodigious gull they had made of the poor countryman.—P. 53.

TO GULL. To trick; to cheat; to deceive.-Johnson. Seldom employed except in familiar conversation.

Yet love these sorc'ries did remove, and move

Thee to gull thine own mother for my love.-Dame.

The Roman people were grossly gulled twice or thrice over, and as often enslaved in one century, and under the same pretence of reformation.— Dryden.

You colony chaps are gulled from year to year.-Sam Slick.

There is no people like unto this people [the Americans], so great yet so little, so shrewd yet so easily gulled, so Christian yet so easily led away from the old standards of truth.-N. Y. Com. Adv. Feb. 24, 1848.

GULLIBILITY. Credulity. A low expression.—Todd.

A silly hoax has been for some time going the rounds of the newspapers, swallowed by all with eager avidity. Verily, the gullibility of the age is marked and peculiar.--New York paper.

GULLY. A channel or hollow worn in the earth by a current

of water.-Webster. This word is much used in the United States. It is from the French goulet, and in old English authors is written gullet.

The violent rain which had fallen in the night had suddenly brought down such torrents of water through the hollow or gully, where they were in the utmost danger of being swept away before it.-Hawkesworth's Voyages.

TO GULLY. To wear a hollow channel in the earth.-Webster. This conversion of the noun into a verb is an Americanism. The roads are much gullied,' is a common expression.

GUMMY! An exclamation, used in New England.

66

Gummy!" retorted the woman. "He has been a talkin' about me, and a runnin' of me down."--Margaret, p. 137.

GUMP. A foolish person; a dolt.-Webster. It is provincial in England, and may be found in most of the glossaries. GUMPTION. Understanding; skill.--Todd. This vulgar word is provincial in most parts of England, and is noticed in the glossaries of Pegge, Brockett, Forby, Jennings, and Halliwell. With us it is frequently heard.

What tho' young empty airy sparks

May have their critical remarks ;—

'Tis sma' presumption,

To say they're but unlearned clarks,

And want the gumption.-Hamilton, Ramsay's Poems, II.

He's a clever man, and aint wantin' in gumption. He's no fool, that's a fact.-Sam Slick in England, ch. 26. GUNNING. A colloquial word from gun. The act of going out with a gun in order to shoot game.-Ash's Dictionary. This word is commonly used by sportsmen in the Northern States in the sense given by Ash. At the South they use the word hunting.

The Americans were, however, mostly marksmen, having been accustomed to gunning from their youth.--Hannah Adams, Hist. of N. Eng. SON OF A GUN. This phrase is heard in low language with us as in England.

H.

HABITAN. (French.) The lower class of Canadians of French origin.

My coachman was a Habitan, and I had a fine opportunity of studying the conflicting traits of character which distinguish the race.-Lanman's Tour to the Saguenay.

HACK. A hackney coach. The term hack is also frequently applied by women to any article of dress, as a bonnet, shawl, &c., which is kept for every day use.

TO HAIL FROM. A phrase probably originating with seamen or boatmen, and meaning to come from, to belong to; as, 'He hails from Kentucky,' i. e. he is a native of Kentucky. HAINT, for have not. A contraction much used in common conversation in New England.

HALF COCK. To go off at half cock,' is a metaphorical expression borrowed from the language of sportsmen, and is applied to a person who attempts a thing in a hurry without due preparation, and consequently fails.

Mr. Clayton of Georgia is a fine speaker; he is always ready, and never goes off half cock.-Crockett, Tour down East.

HALF SEAS OVER. Intoxicated; drunk. A sailor's expression.

HALVES. An exclamation entitling the person making it to the half of anything found by his companion. In the Craven Dialect, says Mr. Carr, on such occasions, if the finder be quick he exclaims, 'No halves-finder keeper, loser seeker,' to destroy the right of the claim.

And he who sees you stoop to th' ground,

Cries halves! to ev'rything you've found.-Savage, Hor. to Scava. HAMMER AND TONGS. In a noisy, furious manner. Thus, They went at it hammer and tongs,' is said of persons quarrelling. To live hammer and tongs,' is said of married people who seldom agree.-Holloway.

Jonathan and the Spaniard will be at hammer and tongs.-Montreal Courier.

HAMMOCK. (Carib amáca.) A swinging-bed. This word, now in such general use, especially among seamen, and the etymology of which has been so much disputed, is undoubtedly of West Indian origin.

Cotton for the making of hamaccas, which are Indian beds.--Raleigh, Disc. of Guiana, 1596.

The Brazilians call their beds hamacas; they are a sheet laced at both ends, and so they sit rocking themselves in them.-Sir R. Hawkins, Voy. to South Sea.

HAND AND GLOVE. Intimate, familiar; i. e. as closely united as a hand and its glove. They are hand and glove together,' meaning very intimate, is a common idiom here as in England.

TO HANDLE. To manage, to overcome an opponent; particularly in wrestling. Ex. You can't handle him.'

HANDS OFF. A vulgar phrase for keep off; forbear.Johnson.

They cut a stag into parts; but as they were entering upon the dividend, "Hands off!" says the lion.-L'Estrange.

HANDSOME. In familiar language this word is used among us with great latitude, and, like some other words mentioned in this Glossary, is difficult to define. "In general," says Dr. Webster," when applied to things, it imports that the form is agreeable to the eye, or to the taste; and when

applied to manner, it conveys the idea of suitableness or propriety with grace."

HAND TO MOUTH. To live from hand to mouth,' is said of a person who spends his money as fast as he gets it, who earns just enough to live on from day to day.

In matter of learning many of us are fain to be day-laborers, and to live from hand to mouth, being not able to lay up anything.-Bishop Reynolds on the Passions, ch. 37.

I can get bread from hand to mouth, and make even at the year's end.— L'Estrange.

HANG. To get the hang of a thing,' is to get the knack, or habitual facility of doing it well. A low expression frequently heard among us. In the Craven Dialect of England is the word hank, a habit; from which this word hang may perhaps be derived.

If ever you must have an indifferent teacher for your children, let it be after they have got a fair start and have acquired the hang of the tools for themselves.-Prime, Hist. of Long Island, p. 82.

He had been in pursuit of the science of money-making all his life, but could never get the hang of it.—Pickings from the Picayune.

Suggs lost his money and his horse, but then he hadn't got the hang of the game.-Simon Suggs, p. 44.

Well, now, I can tell you that the sheriffs are the easiest men for you to get the hang of, among all the public officers.-Greene on Gambling. TO HANG AROUND. To loiter about. To' hang around' a person, is to hang about him, to seek to be intimate with him.

Every time I come up from Louisiana, I found Jess hangin' round that gal, lookin' awful sweet, and a fellow couldn't go near her without raisin' his dander.-Robb, Squatter Life.

HANGER-ON.

A dependant; one who eats and drinks without payment.-Johnson.

They all excused themselves save two, which two he reckoned his friends, and all the rest hangers-on.-L'Estrange.

HANG-NAILS. Slivers, which hang from the roots of the nails, and reach to the tips of the fingers.-Forby's Vocab. TO HANG UP ONE'S FIDDLE. To desist; to give up.

When a man loses his temper and ain't cool, he might as well hang up his fiddle.-Sam Slick.