[nilesfunnies] Chambers

http://wwwkenya.freeuk.com/dharrison/puzzles/chambers.htm

Chamber's Twentieth Century Dictionary was first published in 1901, under
the industrious editorship of Thomas Davidson. The dictionary was to become
the recommended source for crossword puzzles because of the inclusion of
obsolete, dialectical and Scottish words in its extensive lexicon.
Dictionary fans loved the quirky and individualistic definitions which were
started by Davidson and continued by later editors. William Geddie, in his
preface to the 1962 edition, commented on these amateur lexicographers.
'Scores of users have sent in single words and lists of words. We have not
accepted all their definitions. One was disappointed not to find
myristicivorous, feeding upon nutmegs, a word to which we grant this place
on the doorstep but still deny admission to the dictionary.' The Rev. Thomas
Davidson served with the Edinburgh firm of Chambers for 17 years over the
turn of the century. He was a clergyman by profession, but spent much of his
life in literary work, particularly in editing reference works. In 1914 he
took up the charge of a church in south Ayshire, and he died in 1923 at the
age of 67.

After Davidson's departure from Chambers his post was filled by the brothers
William and Liddell Geddie, who supervised and carried out editorial work up
to the greatly refashioned edition of 1952. The Geddie brothers, noted for
their whimsicality as well as their scholarship. were responsible for a
number of unconventional definitions, among them William's picturesque
baby-sitter - 'one who mounts guard over a baby to relieve the usual
attendant', and Liddell's famous definition of éclair - 'a cake long in
shape but short in duration'. Miss A M Macdonald, assistant editor under the
Geddies and subsequently chief editor of the 1972 edition, realising that
the dictionary was now being increasingly used by 'English learners',
especially in the emergent countries, was inclined to take a somewhat
critical view of some of her predecessors' flights of 'innocent merriment',
hence the modification, even the disappearance, of some of the old
favourites. Not surprisingly, the gibe in Davidson's new woman - 'a name
applied, especially by scoffers in the late 19th century, to such women as
actively sought freedom and equality with men'. One definition, in a prewar
supplement, had a very short life: vamp - 'a featherless bird of prey'.

Some of the unique definitions to be found in earlier editions of Chamber's
Twentieth Century Dictionary were noted in correspondences to The Listener
in 1979.

* middle-aged - 'between youth and old age, variously reckoned to suit
the reckoner'
* charity begins at home - 'usually an excuse for not allowing it to get
abroad'
* kazoo - 'a would-be musical instrument'
* jay walker - 'a contemptuous word applied to careless pedestrians by
motorists who have to avoid running them down'
* Land o' the Leal - 'the home of the blessed after death - heaven not
Scotland'
* sea-serpent - 'an enormous marine animal of serpent-like form,
frequently seen and described by credulous sailors, imaginative landsmen and
common liars'
* noose - 'a snare or bond generally, especially hanging or marriage'
* end-reader - 'one who peeps at the end of a novel to see if she got
him'
* double-locked - 'locked by two turns of the key, as in very few locks,
but many novels'
* ghost word - 'a word that has originated in the blunder of a scribe or
printer - common in dictionaries'

The editors of the latest edition of the Chambers Dictionary (1998) state
in their preface - 'Those many users who have enjoyed the uniquely witty
definitions of Chambers (eg éclair) will be pleased to find that we have
added some more.' In his monthly slip, the crossword setter Azed, himself a
lexicographer, has indicated the absence of identify as well as the placing
of oblong before Oblomovism, and has suggested the definitions of the
following as humorous entries in the current edition - bafflegab, Jacquard
loom, and perpetrate.

--
Niles, Nottingham |
ICQ UIN 12724766 | We're not heroes!
www.alexfoster.me.uk | We're from Finchley!
flickr.com/photos/niles |