Complete Works of Samuel Johnson

by Samuel Johnson

  Cábalist. n.s. [from cabal.] One skilled in the traditions of the Hebrews.

  Then Jove thus spake: With care and pain

  We form’d this name, renown’d in rhime,

  Not thine, immortal Neufgermain!

  Cost studious cabalists more time. Swift.

  Cabáller. n.s. [from cabal.] He that engages in close designs; an intriguer.

  Factious and rich, bold at the council board,

  But cautious in the field, he shun’d the sword;

  A close caballer, and tongue-valiant lord. Dryden.

  Cabálline. adj. [caballinus, Lat.] Belonging to a horse; as, caballine aloes, or horse aloes.

  Caballístical

  Caballístick.

  adj. [from cabal.] Something that has an occult meaning.

  The letters are caballistical, and carry more in them than it is proper for the world to be acquainted with. Addison. Spect.

  He taught them to repeat two caballistick words, in pronouncing of which the whole secret consisted. Spectator, № 578.

  Cábaret. n.s. [French.] A tavern.

  Suppose this servant passing by some cabaret, or tennis-court, where his comrades were drinking or playing, should stay with them, and drink or play away his money. Bramhall against Hobbes.

  Cábbage. n.s. [cabus, Fr. brassica, Lat.] A plant.

  The leaves are large, fleshy, and of a glaucous colour; the flowers consist of four leaves, which are succeeded by long taper pods, containing several round acrid seeds. The species are, 1. The common white cabbage. 2. The red cabbage. 3. The Russian cabbage. 4. The flat-sided cabbage. 5. The sugar loaf cabbage. 6. The early Battersea cabbage. 7. The white Savoy cabbage. 8. The green Savoy cabbage. 9. The boorcole. 10. The green broccoli. 11. The Italian broccoli. 12. The turnep-rooted cabbage. 13. The cauliflower. 14. The turnep cabbage. 15. Curled colewort. 16. The musk cabbage. 17. Branching tree cabbage, from the sea coast. 18. Brown broccoli. 19. Common colewort. 20. Perennial Alpine colewort. 21. Perfoliated wild cabbage, with a white flower. 22. Perfoliated cabbage, with a purple flower. The common white, red, flat, and long-sided cabbages, are chiefly cultivated for winter use; the seeds of which must be sown in the middle of March, in beds of good fresh earth. The Russian cabbage was formerly in much greater esteem than at present, and is rarely brought to the market. The early Battersea and sugar-loaf cabbages, are called Michaelmas cabbages; the season for sowing them is in the middle of July, in an open spot of ground. The Savoy cabbages are propagated for winter use, as being generally esteemed the better, when pinched by frost. The boorcole is never eaten till the frost has rendered it tender. The turnep cabbage was formerly more cultivated in England than at present; and some esteem this kind for soups, but it is generally too strong, and seldom good, except in hard winters. The curled colewort is more generally esteemed, and is fit for use after Christmas, and continues good until April. The musk cabbage has, through negligence, been almost lost in England, though, for eating, it is one of the best kinds we have; for it is always looser, and the leaves more crisp and tender, and has a most agreeable musky scent when cut. It will be fit for use in October, November, and December. The branching sea cabbage is found wild in England, and on the sea coast, and is sometimes gathered by the poor inhabitants in the spring, and eaten; but it is apt to be strong and bitter. The brown broccoli is by many esteemed, though it does not deserve a place in the kitchen garden, where the Roman broccoli can be obtained, which is much sweeter, and will continue longer in season. The Roman broccoli has large heads, which appear in the center of the plants like clusters of buds. The heads should be cut before they run up to seed, with about four or five inches of the stems; the skin of these stems should be stripped off, before they are boiled; they will eat very tender, and little inferiour to asparagus. The common colewort is now almost lost near London, where their markets are usually supplied with cabbage or Savoy plants instead of them; which, being tenderer and more delicate, are better worth cultivating. The perennial Alpine colewort is also little cultivated at present. The other two sorts of wild cabbage are varieties fit for a botanick garden, but are plants of no use. The cauliflowers have, of late years, been so far improved in England, as to exceed, in goodness and magnitude, what are produced in most parts of Europe; and, by the skill of the gardners, are continued for several months together; but the most common season for them is in May, June, and July. Miller.

  Cole, cabbage, and coleworts, which are soft and demulcent, without any acidity; the jelly, or juice, of red cabbage, baked in an oven, and mixed with honey, is an excellent pectoral. Arbuthnot on Aliments.

  To Cábbage. v.a. [a cant word among taylors.] To steal in cutting clothes.

  Your taylor, instead of shreads, cabbages whole yards of cloth. Arbuthnot’s History of J. Bull.

  Cábbage tree. n.s. A species of palm-tree; which see.

  It is very common in the Caribee islands, where it grows to a prodigious height. The leaves of this tree envelope each other, so that those which are inclosed, being deprived of the air, are blanched; which is the part the inhabitants cut for plaits for hats, &c. and the genuine, or young shoots, are pickled, and sent into England by the name of cabbage; but whenever this part is cut out, the trees are destroyed; nor do they rise again from the old roots; so that there are very few trees left remaining near plantations, except for ornament; for their stems being exceedingly straight, and their leaves being produced very regularly at top, will afford a most beautiful prospect; for which reason, the planters generally spare two or three of them near their habitations. Miller.

  Cábbage-worm. n.s. An insect. Cácao. See Chocolatenut. Cachinnátion. n.s. [cachinnatio, Lat.] A loud laughter. D.

  Cáckerel. n.s. A fish, said to make those who eat it laxative. Cake. n.s. [cuch, Teutonick.]

  1. A kind of delicate bread.

  You must be seeing christnings? do you look for ale and cakes here, you rude rascals? Shakesp. Henry VIII.

  My cake is dough, but I’ll in among the rest,

  Out of hope of all, but my share of the feast. Shakesp. Taming of the Shrew.

  The dismal day was come, the priests prepare

  Their leaven’d cakes, and fillets for my hair. Dryden’s Æn.

  2. Any thing of a form rather flat than high; by which it is sometimes distinguished from a loaf.

  There is a cake that groweth upon the side of a dead tree, that hath gotten no name, but it is large and of a chesnut colour, and hard and pithy. Bacon’s Nat. Hist. № 552.

  Then when the fleecy skies new cloath the wood,

  And cakes of rustling ice come rolling down the flood. Dryden’s Virgil, Georg. i. l. 418.

  Cálendar. n.s. [calendarium, Lat.] A register of the year, in which the months, and stated times, are marked, as festivals and holidays.

  What hath this day deserv’d? what hath it done,

  That it in golden letter should be set

  Among the high tides, in the calendar? Shakesp. K. John.

  We compute from calendars differing from one another; the compute of the one anticipating that of the other. Brown’s Vulgar Errours, b. iv. c. 12.

  Curs’d be the day when first I did appear;

  Let it be blotted from the calendar,

  Lest it pollute the month. Dryden’s Fab.

  Calf. n.s. calves in the plural. [cealf, Saxon; kalf, Dutch.]

  1. The young of a cow.

  The colt hath about four years of growth; and so the fawn, and so the calf. Bacon’s Nat. Hist. № 759.

  Acosta tells us of a fowl in Peru, called condores, which will, of themselves, kill and eat up a whole calf at a time. Wilkin’s Mathematical Magick.

  Ah! Blouzelind, I love thee more by half,

  Than does their fawns, or cows the new-fall’n calf. Gay.

  2. Calves of the lips, mentioned by Hosea, signify sacrifices of praise and prayers, which the captives of Babylon addressed to God, being no longer in a condition to offer sacrifices in his temple. Calmet.


  Take with you words, and turn to the Lord, and say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously, so will we render the calves of our lips. Hosea, xiv. 2.

  3. The thick, plump, bulbous part of the leg. [kalf, Dutch.]

  Into her legs I’d have love’s issues fall,

  And all her calf into a gouty small. Suckling.

  The calf of that leg blistered. Wiseman’s Surgery.

  Calóyers. n.s. [καλος.] Monks of the Greek church. Cáltrops. n.s. [coltræppe, Saxon.]

  1. An instrument made with three spikes, so that which way soever it falls to the ground, one of them points upright, to wound horses feet.

  The ground about was thick sown with caltrops, which very much incommoded the shoeless Moors. Dr. Addison’s Account of Tangiers.

  2. A plant.

  It is very common in the South of France, Spain, and Italy, where it grows among corn, and on most of the arable land, and is very troublesome to the feet of cattle; for the fruit being armed with strong prickles, run into the feet of the cattle, which walk over the land. This is certainly the plant which is mentioned in Virgil’s Georgick, under the name of tribulus. Miller.

  Cálumny. n.s. [calumnia, Lat.] Slander; false charge; groundless accusation.

  Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow,

  Thou shalt not escape calumny. Shakesp. Hamlet.

  It is a very hard calumny upon our soil or climate, to affirm, that so excellent a fruit will not grow here. Temple.

  Cámel. n.s. [camelus, Lat.] An animal very common in Arabia, Judea, and the neighbouring countries. One sort is large, and full of flesh, and fit to carry burdens of a thousand pounds weight, having one bunch upon its back. Another has two bunches upon their backs, like a natural saddle, and are fit either for burdens, or men to ride on. A third kind is leaner, and of a smaller size, called dromedaries, because of their swiftness; which are generally used for riding by men of quality. See Dromedary.

  Camels have large solid feet, but not hard; in the spring, their hair falls entirely off, in less than three days time, when the flies are extremely uneasy to them. Camels, it is said, will continue ten or twelve days without eating or drinking, and keep water a long time in their stomach, for their refreshment. It is reported, that nature has furnished them, for this purpose, with a very large ventricle, with many bags closed within the coats of it, round about it, for reserving the water. But the Jesuits in China, where they dissected several camels, found no such bags. When a camel is upon a journey, his master follows him, singing and whistling; and the louder he sings, the better the camel goes. The flesh of camels is served up at the best tables, among the Arabians, Persians, and other eastern nations; but the use of it was forbid the Hebrews, they being ranked by Moses among the unclean creatures, Deut. xiv. 7. Calmet.

  Patient of thirst and toil,

  Son of the desert! even the camel feels,

  Shot through his wither’d heart, the firy blast. Thomson.

  Camélopard. n.s. [from camelus and pardus, Lat.] An Abyssinian animal, taller than an elephant, but not so thick. He is so named, because he has a neck and head like a camel; he is spotted like a pard, but his spots are white upon a red ground. The Italians call him giaraffa. Trevoux. Cámpion. n.s. [lychnis, Lat.] A plant.

  The leaves are whole, and grow opposite by pairs upon the stalks; the cup of the flower is whole, and either tubulous or swelling; the flower consists of five leaves, which expand in form of a clove gilliflower, and are generally heartshaped; the ovary, which rises in the centre of the calyx, becomes a conical fruit, which is wrapt up in the flower cup, and has commonly one cell, filled with seeds, which are roundish, angular, and kidney-shaped. Miller.

  Cap. n.s. [cap, Welch; cæppe, Sax. cappe, Germ. cappe, Fr. cappa, Ital. capa, Span. kappe, Dan. and Dutch; caput, a head, Latin.]

  1. The garment that covers the head.

  Here is the cap your worship did bespeak. —

  Why, this was moulded on a porringer,

  A velvet dish. Shakesp. Taming the Shrew.

  I have ever held my cap off to thy fortune. —

  — Thou hast serv’d me with much faith. Shakesp.

  First, lolling, sloth in woollen cap,

  Taking her after-dinner nap. Swift.

  The cap, the whip, the masculine attire,

  For which they roughen to the sense. Thomson’s Autumn.

  2. The ensign of the cardinalate.

  Henry the fifth did sometimes prophesy,

  If once he came to be a cardinal,

  He’d make his cap coequal with the crown. Shakesp. H. VI.

  3. The topmost; the highest.

  Thou art the cap of all the fools alive. Shakesp. Timon.

  4. A reverence made by uncovering the head.

  They more and less, came in with cap and knee,

  Met him in boroughs, cities, villages. Shakesp. Henry IV.

  Should the want of a cap or a cringe so mortally discompose him, as we find afterwards it did. L’Estrange.

  5. A vessel made like a cap.

  It is observed, that a barrel or cap, whose cavity will contain eight cubical feet of air, will not serve a diver above a quarter of an hour. Wilkins.

  6. Cap of a great gun. A piece of lead laid over the touch-hole, to preserve the prime.

  7. Cap of maintenance. One of the regalia carried before the king at the coronation.

  Car. n.s. [car, Welch; karre, Dut. cræt, Sax. carrus, Lat.]

  1. A small carriage of burden, usually drawn by one horse or two.

  When a lady comes in a coach to our shops, it must be followed by a car loaded with Mr. Wood’s money. Swift.

  2. In poetical language, a chariot; a chariot of war, or triumph.

  Henry is dead, and never shall revive:

  Upon a wooden coffin we attend,

  And death’s dishonourable victory,

  We with our stately presence glorify,

  Like captives bound to a triumphant car. Shakesp. Hen. VI.

  Wilt thou aspire to guide the heav’nly car,

  And with thy daring folly burn the world. Shakesp.

  And the gilded car of day,

  His glowing axle doth allay

  In the steep Atlantick stream. Milton.

  See, where he comes, the darling of the war!

  See millions crouding round the gilded car! Prior.

  3. The Charles’s wain, or Bear; a constellation.

  Ev’ry fixt and ev’ry wand’ring star,

  The Pleiads, Hyads, and the Northern Car. Dryden.

  Car, Char, in the names of places, seem to have relation to the British caer, a city. Gibson’s Camden.

  Carbonádo. n.s. [carbonade, Fr. from carbo, a coal, Lat.] Meat cut cross, to be broiled upon the coals.

  If I come in his way willingly, let him make a carbonado of me. Shakesp. Henry IV.

  Cármine. n.s. A bright red or crimson colour, bordering on purple, used by painters in miniature. It is the most valuable product of the cochineal mastick, and of an excessive price. Chambers.

  Cárnage. n.s. [carnage, Fr. from caro, carnis, Lat.]

  1. Slaughter; havock; massacre.

  He brought the king’s forces upon them rather as to carnage than to fight, insomuch as without any great loss or danger to themselves, the greatest part of the seditious were slain. Hayw.

  2. Heaps of flesh.

  Such a scent I draw

  Of carnage, prey innumerable! and taste

  The favour of death from all things there that live. Milton.

  His ample maw, with human carnage fill’d,

  A milky deluge next the giant swill’d. Pope’s Odyssey.

  Carnívorous. adj. [from carnis and voro.] Flesh-eating; that of which flesh is the proper food.

  In birds there is no mastication or comminution of the meat in the mouth; but in such as are not carnivorous, it is immediately swallowed into the crop or crow. Ray on the Creation.

  Man is by his frame, as well a
s his appetite, a carnivorous animal. Arbuthnot on Aliments.

  Cart. n.s. See Car. [cræt, crat, Sax.]

  1. A carriage in general.

  The Scythians are described by Herodotus to lodge always in carts, and to feed upon the milk of mares. Temple.

  Triptolemus, so sung the Nine,

  Strew’d plenty from his cart divine. Dryden.

  2. A wheel-carriage, used commonly for luggage.

  Now while my friend, just ready to depart,

  Was packing all his goods in one poor cart,

  He stopp’d a little —— Dryden’s Juvenal.

  3. A small carriage with two wheels, used by husbandmen, distinguished from a waggon, which has four wheels.

  Alas! what weights are these that load my heart!

  I am as dull as winter-starved sheep,

  Tir’d as a jade in overloaden cart. Sidney.

  4. The vehicle in which criminals are carried to execution.

  The squire, whose good grace was to open the scene,

  Now fitted the halter, now travers’d the cart,

  And often took leave, but was loth to depart. Prior.

  D

  Is a consonant nearly approaching in sound to T, but formed by a stronger appulse of the tongue to the upper part of the mouth. The sound of D in English is uniform, and it is never mute. Da Capo. [Ital.] A term in musick, which signifying from the head or the beginning, means that the first part of the tune should be repeated at the conclusion. A Dab. n.s. [from the verb.]

  1. A small lump of any thing.

  2. A blow with something moist or soft.

  3. Something moist or slimy thrown upon one.

  4. [In low language.] An artist; a man expert at something. This is not used in writing.

  5. A kind of small flat fish.

  Of flat fish there are rays, flowks, dabs, plaice. Carew.

  To Dab. v.a. [dauber, Fr.] To strike gently with something soft or moist.

  A sore should never be wiped by drawing a piece of tow or rag over it, but only by dabbing it with fine lint. Sharp.

  Dab-chick. n.s. A chicken newly hatched; a chicken with its feathers not yet grown.

  A dab-chick waddles through the copse,

  On feet and wings, and flies, and wades, and hops. Pope.