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Slang for excursion.

As you've probably noticed, the slang synonyms for " excursion " are listed above. Note that due to the nature of the algorithm, some results returned by your query may only be concepts, ideas or words that are related to " excursion " (perhaps tenuously). This is simply due to the way the search algorithm works.

You might also have noticed that many of the synonyms or related slang words are racist/sexist/offensive/downright appalling - that's mostly thanks to the lovely community over at Urban Dictionary (not affiliated with Urban Thesaurus). Urban Thesaurus crawls the web and collects millions of different slang terms, many of which come from UD and turn out to be really terrible and insensitive (this is the nature of urban slang, I suppose). Hopefully the related words and synonyms for " excursion " are a little tamer than average.

The Urban Thesaurus was created by indexing millions of different slang terms which are defined on sites like Urban Dictionary . These indexes are then used to find usage correlations between slang terms. The official Urban Dictionary API is used to show the hover-definitions. Note that this thesaurus is not in any way affiliated with Urban Dictionary.

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ford excursion

Midwest excursion, french excursion, ankle excursion, whippin excursion, ford excursion, seven bird excursion.

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Definition of excursion noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• on an excursion They've gone on an excursion to York.
• There are regular weekend excursions throughout the summer.
• a business trip
• a five-minute trip by taxi
• a long and difficult journey across the mountains
• a tour of Bavaria
• the first expedition to the South Pole
• We went on an all-day excursion to the island.
• The children were on a day’s outing from school.
• We had a day out at the beach.
• a(n) foreign/​overseas trip/​journey/​tour/​expedition
• a bus/​coach/​train/​rail trip/​journey/​tour
• to go on a(n) trip/​journey/​tour/​expedition/​excursion/​outing/​day out
• to set out/​off on a(n) trip/​journey/​tour/​expedition/​excursion
• to make a(n) trip/​journey/​tour/​expedition/​excursion
• destination
• Our ship offers 13 different excursions.
• Princess Tours runs independent excursions from selected hotels.
• We decided to make an all-day excursion to the island.
• We signed up for a shore excursion to New Orleans.
• Optional excursions include a tour of the ancient city and a day's horse-riding.
• take (somebody on)
• excursion into
• excursion to

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• After a brief excursion into drama, he concentrated on his main interest, which was poetry.
• her first excursion into business

Other results

• Advance Purchase Excursion

Nearby words

• 1.1 Etymology
• 1.2 Pronunciation
• 1.3.1 Synonyms
• 1.3.2 Derived terms
• 1.3.3 Related terms
• 1.3.4 Translations
• 1.4.1 Translations
• 1.5 Further reading
• 2.1 Etymology
• 2.2 Pronunciation
• 2.4 Further reading

English [ edit ]

Etymology [ edit ].

Borrowed from Latin excursio ( “ a running out, an inroad, invasion, a setting out, beginning of a speech ” ) , from excurrere ( “ to run out ” ) , from ex ( “ out ” ) + currere ( “ to run ” ) .

Pronunciation [ edit ]

• IPA ( key ) : /ɛks.kɜː(ɹ).ʒən/ , /ɛks.kɜː(ɹ).ʃən/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ʃən

Noun [ edit ]

excursion ( plural excursions )

• 1922 , Ben Travers , chapter 2, in A Cuckoo in the Nest ‎ [1] : Mother [ … ] considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom, from which every Kensingtonian held aloof, except on the conventional tip-and-run excursions in pursuit of shopping, tea and theatres.
• A wandering from the main subject: a digression .
• ( aviation ) An occurrence where an aircraft runs off the end or side of a runway or taxiway , usually during takeoff , landing , or taxi .
• ( phonetics ) A deviation in pitch , for example in the syllables of enthusiastic speech .

Synonyms [ edit ]

• ( recreational trip ) : journey , trip
• ( wandering from the main subject ) : digression , excursus

Derived terms [ edit ]

• alarums and excursions
• excursion fare
• excursion rate
• excursion steamer
• power excursion

Related terms [ edit ]

Translations [ edit ], verb [ edit ].

excursion ( third-person singular simple present excursions , present participle excursioning , simple past and past participle excursioned )

• 1825 , Charles Lamb , Letter to Mr. Wordsworth , 6 April, 1825, in The Works of Charles Lamb , Volume I, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851, p. 249, [2] Yesterday I excursioned twenty miles; to-day I write a few letters.
• 1880 , Mark Twain , chapter 49, in A Tramp Abroad ‎ [3] : After breakfast, that next morning in Chamonix, we went out in the yard and watched the gangs of excursioning tourists arriving and departing with their mules and guides and porters [ … ]
• 1942 , Emily Carr , “ Ways of Getting Round ”, in The Book of Small : Victoria cows preferred to walk on the plank sidewalks in winter rather than dirty their hooves in the mud by the roadside. They liked to tune their chews to the tap, tap, tap of their feet on the planks. Ladies challenged the right of way by opening and shutting their umbrellas in the cows' faces and shooing, but the cows only chewed harder and stood still. It was the woman-lady, not the lady-cow who had to take to the mud and get scratched by the wild rose bushes that grew between sidewalk and fence while she excursioned round the cow.

Further reading [ edit ]

• “ excursion ”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary , Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam , 1913 , →OCLC .
• “ excursion ”, in The Century Dictionary   [ … ] , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co. , 1911 , →OCLC .
• “ excursion ”, in OneLook Dictionary Search .

French [ edit ]

Borrowed from Latin excursiōnem .

• IPA ( key ) : /ɛk.skyʁ.sjɔ̃/

excursion   f ( plural excursions )

• wander (talk off topic)
• “ excursion ”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [ Digitized Treasury of the French Language ] , 2012 .

• English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
• English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱers-
• English terms borrowed from Latin
• English terms derived from Latin
• English 3-syllable words
• English terms with IPA pronunciation
• English terms with audio links
• Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)ʃən
• Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)ʃən/3 syllables
• English lemmas
• English nouns
• English countable nouns
• English terms with usage examples
• English terms with quotations
• en:Aviation
• en:Phonetics
• English verbs
• English intransitive verbs
• French terms borrowed from Latin
• French terms derived from Latin
• French 3-syllable words
• French terms with IPA pronunciation
• French terms with audio links
• French lemmas
• French nouns
• French countable nouns
• French feminine nouns
• Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations
• Japanese terms with redundant script codes
• Quotation templates to be cleaned

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Definition of 'excursion'

excursion in British English

Excursion in american english, examples of 'excursion' in a sentence excursion, cobuild collocations excursion, trends of excursion.

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In other languages excursion

• American English : excursion / ɪkˈskɜrʒən /
• Brazilian Portuguese : excursão
• Chinese : 短途旅行
• European Spanish : excursión
• French : excursion
• German : Ausflug
• Italian : escursione
• Japanese : 小旅行
• Korean : 짧은 여행
• European Portuguese : excursão
• Latin American Spanish : excursión
• Thai : การเที่ยวพักผ่อนหย่อนใจ, การเที่ยวช่วงสั้นๆ

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Related terms of excursion

• boat excursion
• shore excursion
• fishing excursion
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[ ik- skur -zh uh n , -sh uh n ]

a pleasure excursion; a scientific excursion.

weekend excursions to mountain resorts.

an excursion of tourists.

excursions into futile philosophizing.

• Physics. the displacement of a body or a point from a mean position or neutral value, as in an oscillation.
• an accidental increase in the power level of a reactor, usually forcing its emergency shutdown.
• the range of stroke of any moving part.
• the stroke itself.
• Obsolete. a sally or raid.

verb (used without object)

• to go on or take an excursion.

an excursion fare; an excursion bus.

/ -ʒən; ɪkˈskɜːʃən /

• a short outward and return journey, esp for relaxation, sightseeing, etc; outing
• a group of people going on such a journey

an excursion ticket

an excursion into politics

• (formerly) a raid or attack
• a movement from an equilibrium position, as in an oscillation
• the magnitude of this displacement
• the normal movement of a movable bodily organ or part from its resting position, such as the lateral movement of the lower jaw
• machinery the locus of a point on a moving part, esp the deflection of a whirling shaft

Discover More

Other words from.

• ex·cursion·al ex·cursion·ary adjective
• preex·cursion noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of excursion 1

Example Sentences

It’s important that your significant other or family is supportive, since your new obsession will likely become all-consuming, and most of your outdoor excursions will now revolve around searching for animal poop in the woods.

Insulated, waterproof footwear like the Paninaro Omni-Heat Tall Boot will go a long way in making your snow bike or snowshoe excursion a treat rather than a trial.

More time outdoors has been great for dialing in our kit for weekend excursions.

The thought of being able to knock out a three-day excursion with just a single carry-on is tantalizing.

I’ve spent the past two months testing the pack on a handful of short camp-outs and a seven-day family surf excursion, and the SEG42 delivered the organization I desperately needed.

It is disappointing and, frankly, frightening that Thompson walked away from his repugnant Sea World excursion scot-free.

Several events specifically cater to kids, making this a fun excursion for the whole family.

I learned a lot about myself on that excursion, and from the trip as a whole.

There was, instead, a nauseating excursion into base and sad fantasies.

While a two-day feeding frenzy makes for a fun excursion, the human body is only capable of so much consumption.

Out gets Uncle David, looking brown and healthy after his northern excursion.

The other day an excursion was arranged to Sondershausen, a town about three hours' ride from Weimar in the cars.

We got back to Weimar about eight in the evening, and this delicious excursion, like all others, had to end.

To my friends ever since I have not failed to recommend the passage of the Butterley tunnel as a desirable pleasure excursion.

From childhood I had longed to see something of the world, and this excursion to Paris was the first gratification of that wish.

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Definition of excursion

Did you know.

In Latin, the prefix ex- means "out of" and the verb currere means "to run." When the two are put together, they form the verb excurrere , literally "to run out" or "to extend." Excurrere gave rise not only to excursion but also to excurrent (an adjective for things having channels or currents that run outward) and excursus (meaning "an appendix or digression that contains further exposition of some point or topic"). Other words deriving from currere include corridor , curriculum , and among newer words, parkour .

Examples of excursion in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'excursion.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Latin excursion-, excursio , from excurrere

circa 1587, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

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Dictionary Entries Near excursion

excursional

Cite this Entry

“Excursion.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/excursion. Accessed 2 May. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of excursion.

from Latin excursio, excursion- "a going out," from excurrere "to run out, make an excursion, extend," from ex- "out, forth" and currere "to run" — related to current

Medical Definition

Medical definition of excursion, more from merriam-webster on excursion.

Nglish: Translation of excursion for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of excursion for Arabic Speakers

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Meaning of excursion in English

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• break-journey
• circumnavigation

excursion | American Dictionary

Examples of excursion, translations of excursion.

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a name someone uses instead of their real name, especially on a written work

Hidden in plain sight: words and phrases connected with hiding

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What lies beneath? A rare tour of Melbourne's secret tunnels amid $24 million power upgrade

As a legion of workers and residents rush about their days on the streets of Melbourne's CBD, Mal Harrison is wandering around a little further below — underneath the buildings and bitumen.

For the past two decades, his office has largely been the vast network of tunnels crisscrossing their way under the city, out of sight — and largely out of mind — of the people bustling above.

Clad in high-vis and safety gear, Mal is something of an expert on what lies underneath Melbourne.

He's a CitiPower project manager, recently tasked with helping deliver a major upgrade to the city's power network to help future-proof it against growing demand.

His subterranean workplace has also given him an enviable insight into a topic often pondered by curious Melburnians: what secrets lie hidden in the tunnels under the city?

Mysteries buried deep underground

CitiPower has long been the main energy distributor in the city, overseeing more than 2,300 kilometres of massive cables that snake their way under almost every street in the Hoddle Grid.

Many of these cables run through tunnels previously used for other purposes, such as the tunnel Mal is wandering through now, in the bowels of Southern Cross Station — previously used as a transport route between the station and the Mail Exchange.

To enter these tunnels, Mal strolls onto one of the train platforms and waits to be buzzed into a gated-off sloping runway in its centre.

After a walk through the station's underbelly, he arrives at a nondescript door, with a telling 'high-voltage' warning attached to it — the hallmark of many of CitiPower's mostly blank CBD infrastructure entrances.

Inside is a roughly 40-metre long hallway, lit by a series of fluorescent tubes and holding a bit more than a dozen large black cables to its walls.

The cables snake their way into the tunnel via an underground pit beside its entrance, travel along the walls where they take their leave into tubes embedded in the wall — and continue their journey elsewhere in the CBD.

Melbourne's power needs are growing, spurring an investment in the infrastructure beneath the city. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)

Many of Melbourne's tunnels were once forgotten. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)

Cables run through brick walls, which hold the history of Melbourne's CBD. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)

Mal knows a bit about the history of these tunnels, including that this one was discovered during the most recent redevelopment of the station above.

Many others were discovered and repurposed by CitiPower, having been buried when the CBD was levelled in the 1800s.

"There's a lot of things buried deep that were buried in the 1850s, 1860s when they levelled it off and did the Hoddle Grid," he says.

'Urban legends' of the tunnels

"Every day's different," says the easygoing Mal, standing a couple of metres underneath the intersection of Spencer and Bourke streets, where he talks over the dull rumble of trams passing overhead.

"We find lots of stuff that's forgotten about or abandoned."

There was also a thick road surface discovered under Todd Road in Port Melbourne a few years back, which gave Mal's CitiPower crew an exciting opportunity to test their research skills.

"It was actually the old runway from World War II, where they built aircraft down at Fishermans Bend then rolled them out on the runway and flew them straight up to New Guinea," he says.

"Recently we also found an old cable car system in Lonsdale Street, including the culverts and a gear room that was just buried and abandoned in the city.

"There's all sorts of urban legends about the amount of tunnels in Melbourne, and I guess only time will tell."

Many of those legends include tales of underground transport routes and gold stockpiles. Asked if he's found any yet, Mal answers with a wry smile.

"No, not that. Or any bodies either."

Increasing power demand

CitiPower has opened up its "hidden" network of tunnels to the ABC amid a three-year, $24 million upgrade.

The electricity distributor's head of network planning, Andrew Dinning, says the need for the works is clear, with demand across the CBD expected to jump by at least 60 per cent over the next decade.

"Melbourne CBD is certainly growing," he says, standing inside a hulking substation hidden behind an unassuming facade in a Chinatown alleyway.

"Currently, the peak demand we see for that CBD network is around 500 megawatts. To set that in context, that's the same as one generation unit out at somewhere like Loy Yang power station, dedicated to supplying less than 3 square kilometres of CBD.

"We are forecasting that to increase up towards 700 megawatts in the next decade."

Census data shows the population in Melbourne's 3000 postcode almost tripled in the 15-year period from 2006 to 2021, from 14,538 to 43,084.

Andrew says the increasing number of people living and working in the city, along with a push for electrification and even a jump in the use of electric cars, was behind the increasing power demands.

CitiPower's $24 million upgrade began in late April, starting with a tunnel on Little Queen Street built in the 1930s, and stretching in an almost 100-metre loop.

It gets hot and muggy quickly down there, and the walls are lined with an organised chaos of red and black high-voltage power cables, which disappear into holes in the wall and stretch their way out underneath the city.

As works begin, Mal says he'd rather be down here than sitting at a desk all day.

"Every day is a mystery on this job, finding stuff buried underground when we're doing excavation works. Because even though Melbourne's not that old a city, it's been redeveloped multiple times," Mal says.

"There are parts of Melbourne's underground that nobody knows exist, and we get to work in them every day, so it's not a bad office."

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Webster’s Dictionary 1828: Annotated

Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language declared Americans free from the tyranny of British institutions and their vocabularies.

Sometimes, a dictionary is more than just words and definitions—it may be intended to serve as a declaration of linguistic independence. When Noah Webster ’s first edition of the American Dictionary of the English Language was published in April 1828, it held 70,000 words, 12,000 of which were making their first appearance in dictionary form. Webster’s goals for the work were grand: “to furnish a standard of our vernacular tongue, which we shall not be ashamed to bequeath to three hundred millions of people, who are destined to occupy, and I hope, to adorn the vast territory within our jurisdiction.”

Noah Webster’s roles in the formation of the early United States were manifold: editor of the Federalist Papers , owner and editor of the first American daily newspaper, textbook author, a founder of Amherst College, promoter of the first US copyright laws, and author of one of the first works on epidemiology, used by nineteenth-century medical schools .

But his 1828 dictionary is what he’s remembered for, coming at a tremendous personal cost: twenty-one years invested, and a lifelong struggle with debt. In his preface to the three-volume work, he writes of his hopes that the dictionary will result in his fellow Americans’ “improvement and their happiness; and for the continued increase of the wealth, the learning, the moral and religious elevation of character, and the glory of my country.”

We have annotated his preface below, with scholarship covering Webster’s life and works, as well as education in the early republic, his debt to Samuel Johnson, and the dictionary’s reception at publication. As always, these linked resources are free to read and download.

_______________________________

In the year 1783, just at the close of the revolution, I published an elementary book for facilitating the acquisition of our vernacular tongue , and for correcting a vicious pronunciation, which prevailed extensively among the common people of this country . Soon after the publication of that work, I believe in the following year, that learned and respectable scholar, the Rev. Dr. Goodrich of Durham, one of the trustees of Yale College , suggested to me, the propriety and expediency of my compiling a dictionary, which should complete a system for the instruction of the citizens of this country in the language . At that time, I could not indulge the thought, much less the hope, of undertaking such a work; as I was neither qualified by research, nor had I the means of support, during the execution of the work, had I been disposed to undertake it. For many years therefore, though I considered such a work as very desirable, yet it appeared to me impracticable; as I was under the necessity of devoting my time to other occupations for obtaining subsistence.

About twenty-seven years ago, I began to think of attempting the compilation of a Dictionary . I was induced to this undertaking, not more by the suggestion of friends, than by my own experience of the want of such a work, while reading modern books of science . In this pursuit, I found almost insuperable difficulties, from the want of a dictionary, for explaining many new words, which recent discoveries in the physical sciences had introduced into use. To remedy this defect in part, I published my Compendious Dictionary in 1806 ; and soon after made preparations for undertaking a larger work.

My original design did not extend to an investigation of the origin and progress of our language ; much less of other languages. I limited my views to the correcting of certain errors in the best English Dictionaries, and to the supplying of words in which they are deficient. But after writing through two letters of the alphabet, I determined to change my plan. I found myself embarrassed, at every step , for want of a knowledge of the origin of words, which Johnson , Bailey, Junius, Skinner and some other authors do not afford the means of obtaining. Then laying aside my manuscripts, and all books treating of language, except lexicons and dictionaries, I endeavored, by a diligent comparison of words, having the same or cognate radical letters, in about twenty languages, to obtain a more correct knowledge of the primary sense of original words , of the affinities between the English and many other languages, and thus to enable myself to trace words to their source.

I had not pursued this course more than three or four years, before I discovered that I had to unlearn a great deal that I had spent years in learning, and that it was necessary for me to go back to the first rudiments of a branch of erudition, which I had before cultivated, as I had supposed, with success.

I spent ten years in this comparison of radical words , and in forming a synopsis of the principal words in twenty languages, arranged in classes, under their primary elements or letters. The result has been to open what are to me new views of language, and to unfold what appear to be the genuine principles on which these languages are constructed.

After completing this synopsis, I proceeded to correct what I had written of the Dictionary, and to complete the remaining part of the work. But before I had finished it, I determined on a voyage to Europe, with the view of obtaining some books and some assistance which I wanted; of learning the real state of the pronunciation of our language in England, as well as the general state of philology in that country; and of attempting to bring about some agreement or coincidence of opinions, in regard to unsettled points in pronunciation and grammatical construction . In some of these objects I failed; in others, my designs were answered.

It is not only important, but, in a degree necessary, that the people of this country, should have an American Dictionary of the English Language ; for, although the body of the language is the same as in England, and it is desirable to perpetuate that sameness, yet some differences must exist. Language is the expression of ideas; and if the people of one country cannot preserve an identity of ideas, they cannot retain an identity of language. Now an identity of ideas depends materially upon a sameness of things or objects with which the people of the two countries are conversant. But in no two portions of the earth, remote from each other, can such identity be found. Even physical objects must be different. But the principal differences between the people of this country and of all others, arise from different forms of government, different laws, institutions and customs . Thus the practice of hawking and hunting, the institution of heraldry, and the feudal system of England originated terms which formed, and some of which now form, a necessary part of the language of that country; but, in the United States, many of these terms are no part of our present language,—and they cannot be, for the things which they express do not exist in this country. They can be known to us only as obsolete or as foreign words. On the other hand, the institutions in this country which are new and peculiar, give rise to new terms or to new applications of old terms, unknown to the people of England; which cannot be explained by them and which will not be inserted in their dictionaries, unless copied from ours. Thus the terms, land-office ; land-warrant ; locution of land ; consociation of churches; regent of a university; intendant of a city; plantation , selectmen , senate , congress , court , assembly , escheat , &c. are either words not belonging to the language of England, or they are applied to things in this country which do not exist in that. No person in this country will be satisfied with the English definitions of the words congress , senate and assembly , court , &c. for although these are words used in England, yet they are applied in this country to express ideas which they do not express in that country. With our present constitutions of government, escheat can never have its feudal sense in the United States.

But this is not all. In many cases, the nature of our governments, and of our civil institutions, requires an appropriate language in the definition of words, even when the words express the same thing, as in England. Thus the English Dictionaries inform us that a Justice is one deputed by the King to do right by way of judgment—he is a Lord by his office—Justices of the peace are appointed by the King’s commission —language which is inaccurate in respect to this officer in the United States. So constitutionally is defined by Todd or Chalmers, legally, but in this country the distinction between constitution and law requires a different definition. In the United States, a plantation is a very different thing from what it is in England. The word marshal , in this country, has one important application unknown in England or in Europe.

A great number of words in our language require to be defined in a phraseology accommodated to the condition and institutions of the people in these states, and the people of England must look to an American Dictionary for a correct understanding of such terms.

The necessity therefore of a Dictionary suited to the people of the United States is obvious ; and I should suppose that this fact being admitted, there could be no difference of opinion as to the time , when such a work ought to be substituted for English Dictionaries.

There are many other considerations of a public nature, which serve to justify this attempt to furnish an American Work which shall be a guide to the youth of the United States . Most of these are too obvious to require illustration.

One consideration however which is dictated by my own feelings, but which I trust will meet with approbation in correspondent feelings in my fellow citizens, ought not to be passed in silence. It is this. “The chief glory of a nation,” says Dr. Johnson, “arises from its authors.” With this opinion deeply impressed on my mind, I have the same ambition which actuated that great man when he expressed a wish to give celebrity to Bacon, to Hooker, to Milton and to Boyle.

I do not indeed expect to add celebrity to the names of Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jay, Madison, Marshall, Ramsay, Dwight, Smith, Trumbull, Hamilton, Belknap, Ames, Mason, Kent, Hare, Silliman, Cleaveland, Walsh, Irving , and many other Americans distinguished by their writings or by their science ; but it is with pride and satisfaction, that I can place them, as authorities, on the same page with those of Boyle , Hooker , Milton , Dryden , Addison , Ray , Milner , Cowper , Davy , Thomson and Jameson .

A life devoted to reading and to an investigation of the origin and principles of our vernacular language, and especially a particular examination of the best English writers, with a view to a comparison of their style and phraseology, with those of the best American writers, and with our colloquial usage, enables me to affirm with confidence, that the genuine English idiom is as well preserved by the unmixed English of this country, as it is by the best English writers. Examples to prove this fact will be found in the Introduction to this work. It is true, that many of our writers have neglected to cultivate taste, and the embellishments of style; but even these have written the language in its genuine idiom . In this respect, Franklin and Washington, whose language is their hereditary mother tongue, unsophisticated by modern grammar, present as pure models of genuine English, as Addison or Swift. But I may go farther, and affirm, with truth, that our country has produced some of the best models of composition. The style of President Smith; of the authors of the Federalist; of Mr. Ames; of Dr. Mason; of Mr. Harper; of Chancellor Kent; [the prose] of Mr. Barlow; of the legal decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States; of the reports of legal decisions in some of the particular states; and many other writings; in purity, in elegance and in technical precision, is equaled only by that of the best British authors, and surpassed by that of no English compositions of a similar kind.

The United States commenced their existence under circumstances wholly novel and unexampled in the history of nations . They commenced with civilization, with learning, with science, with constitutions of free government, and with that best gift of God to man, the christian religion. Their population is now equal to that of England; in arts and sciences, our citizens are very little behind the most enlightened people on earth; in some respects, they have no superiors; and our language, within two centuries, will be spoken by more people in this country, than any other language on earth, except the Chinese, in Asia, and even that may not be an exception.

It has been my aim in this work, now offered to my fellow citizens, to ascertain the true principles of the language, in its orthography and structure; to purify it from some palpable errors, and reduce the number of its anomalies, thus giving it more regularity and consistency in its forms, both of words and sentences; and in this manner, to furnish a standard of our vernacular tongue, which we shall not be ashamed to bequeath to three hundred millions of people, who are destined to occupy, and I hope, to adorn the vast territory within our jurisdiction .

If the language can be improved in regularity, so as to be more easily acquired by our own citizens, and by foreigners, and thus be rendered a more useful instrument for the propagation of science, arts, civilization and Christianity; if it can be rescued from the mischievous influence of sciolists and that dabbling spirit of innovation which is perpetually disturbing its settled usages and filling it with anomalies; if, in short, our vernacular language can be redeemed from corruptions, and our philology and literature from degradation; it would be a source of great satisfaction to me to be one among the instruments of promoting these valuable objects . If this object cannot be effected, and my wishes and hopes are to be frustrated, my labor will be lost, and this work must sink into oblivion.

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This Dictionary, like all others of the kind, must be left, in some degree, imperfect ; for what individual is competent to trace to their source, and define in all their various applications, popular, scientific and technical, sixty or seventy thousand words! It satisfies my mind that I have done all that my health, my talents and my pecuniary means would enable me to accomplish . I present it to my fellow citizens, not with frigid indifference, but with my ardent wishes for their improvement and their happiness; and for the continued increase of the wealth, the learning, the moral and religious elevation of character, and the glory of my country.

To that great and benevolent Being , who, during the preparation of this work, has sustained a feeble constitution, amidst obstacles and toils, disappointments, infirmities and depression; who has twice borne me and my manuscripts in safety across the Atlantic, and given me strength and resolution to bring the work to a close, I would present the tribute of my most grateful acknowledgments . And if the talent which he entrusted to my care, has not been put to the most profitable use in his service, I hope it has not been ” kept laid up in a napkin,” and that any misapplication of it may be graciously forgiven.

New Haven, 1828.—N.WEBSTER.

[Text taken from the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/americandictiona01websrich/page/3/mode/1up ]

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