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OBSOLETE, adj. No longer used by the timid. Said chiefly of words. A word which some lexicographer has marked obsolete is ever thereafter an object of dread and loathing to the fool writer . . .

Ambrose Bierce

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Ambrose Bierce
Born: 1842
Born: June 24
Aphorist
Journalist
Poet
Science Fiction Writer
Writer
Meigs County
Ohio
Dod Grile
William Herman
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce
Ambrose Bierce
Ever
Object
Lexicographer
Fool
Thereafter
Objects
Timid
Writer
Chiefly
Longer
Loathing
Word
Obsolete
Words
Marked
Used
Dread

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IMBECILITY, n. A kind of divine inspiration, or sacred fire affecting censorious critics of this dictionary.
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All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusions is called a philosopher.
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REALISM, n. The art of depicting nature as it is seem by toads. The charm suffusing a landscape painted by a mole, or a story written by a measuring-worm.
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Adolescence: A stage between infancy and adultery.
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Trial. A formal inquiry designed to prove and put upon record the blameless characters of judges, advocates and jurors.
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BODY-SNATCHER, n. A robber of grave-worms. One who supplies the young physicians with that with which the old physicians have supplied the undertaker.
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The furrier gets the skins of more foxes than asses.
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Cribbage, n. A substitute for conversation among those to whom nature has denied ideas.
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The slightest acquaintance with history shows that powerful republics are the most warlike and unscrupulous of nations.
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CLOCK, n. A machine of great moral value to man, allaying his concern for the future by reminding him what a lot of time remains to him.
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REBEL, n. A proponent of a new misrule who has failed to establish it.
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REPLICA, n. A reproduction of a work of art, by the artist that made the original. It is so called to distinguish it from a copy, which is made by another artist. When the two are mae with equal skill the replica is the more valuable, for it is suppose
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Doubt, indulged and cherished, is in danger of becoming denial but if honest, and bent on thorough investigation, it may soon lead to full establishment of the truth.
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BAIT, n. A preparation that renders the hook more palatable. The best kind is beauty.
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PRIVATE, n. A military gentleman with a field-marshal's baton in his knapsack and an impediment in his hope.
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Dictionary: a malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic
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Ambition. An overmastering desire to be vilified by enemies while living and made ridiculous by friends when dead.
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REPARATION, n. Satisfaction that is made for a wrong and deducted from the satisfaction felt in committing it.
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