Jonathan Swift
Satirist and essayist, 1667-1745
Cited as Swift. — 408 quotations
Adapt
For nature, always in the right, To your decays adapts my sight.
Address
The representatives of the nation addressed the king.
Advance
[He] made the like advances to the dissenters.
Agitation
The project now in agitation.
Alteration
Appius Claudius admitted to the senate the sons of those who had been slaves; by which, and succeeding alterations, that council degenerated into a most corrupt.
Annual
Oaths . . . in some sense almost annuals; . . . and I myself can remember about forty different sets.
Answer
Weapons must needs be dangerous things, if they answered the bulk of so prodigious a person.
Answerable
Will any man argue that . . . he can not be justly punished, but is answerable only to God?
Appetite
Power being the natural appetite of princes.
Aristocracy
The aristocracy of Venice hath admitted so many abuses, trough the degeneracy of the nobles, that the period of its duration seems approach.
Barren
Some schemes will appear barren of hints and matter.
Bear
In all criminal cases the most favorable interpretation should be put on words that they can possibly bear.
Beastly
The beastly vice of drinking to excess.
Before
Before this treatise can become of use, two points are necessary.
Beginner
A sermon of a new beginner.
Belch
I belched a hurricane of wind.
Beneficial
The war which would have been most beneficial to us.
Bespatter
Whom never faction could bespatter.
Bespeak
[They] bespoke dangers . . . in order to scare the allies.
Bevel
Their houses are very ill built, the walls bevel.
Blank
I can not write a paper full, I used to do; and yet I will not forgive a blank of half an inch from you.
Blubber
She wept, she blubbered, and she tore her hair.
Bodiless
Phantoms bodiless and vain.
Bombastry
Bombastry and buffoonery, by nature lofty and light, soar highest of all.
Bounce
Another bounces as hard as he can knock.
Out bounced the mastiff.
Brangle
A brangle between him and his neighbor.
Break
I see a great officer broken.
See how the dean begins to break; Poor gentleman! he droops apace.
All modern trash is Set forth with numerous breaks and dashes.
Breastplate
Before his old rusty breastplate could be scoured, and his cracked headpiece mended.
Brighten
The present queen would brighten her character, if she would exert her authority to instill virtues into her people.
Broach
Those very opinions themselves had broached.
Burden
Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone, To all my friends a burden grown.
Campanile
Many of the campaniles of Italy are lofty and magnificent structures.
Cane
Stir the fire with your master's cane.
Cant
To introduce and multiply cant words in the most ruinous corruption in any language.
Capital
Many crimes that are capital among us.
Carrier
The roads are crowded with carriers, laden with rich manufactures.
Cast
This was a cast of Wood's politics; for his information was wholly false.
Caution
You cautioned me against their charms.
Cheapen
Pretend to cheapen goods, but nothing buy.
Chiefly
Those parts of the kingdom where the . . . estates of the dissenters chiefly lay.
Choice
My choicest hours of life are lost.
Circulation
This continual circulation of human things.
Circumlocution
the plain Billingsgate way of calling names . . . would save abundance of time lost by circumlocution.
Civilian
Ancient civilians and writers upon government.
Clatter
You clatter still your brazen kettle.
Cleanliness
Cleanliness from head to heel.
Clear
I often wished that I had clear, For life, six hundred pounds a-year.
Advise him to stay till the weather clears up.
Clever
'T would sound more clever To me and to my heirs forever.
Cling
I clung legs as close to his side as I could.
Clip
In London they clip their words after one manner about the court, another in the city, and a third in the suburbs.
Clod
The clod Where once their sultan's horse has trod.
Closeness
Half stifled by the closeness of the room.
Club
The owl, the raven, and the bat, Clubbed for a feather to his hat.
Coat
Men of his coat should be minding their prayers.
Cock
Dick would cock his nose in scorn.
Cog
To cog a die, to load so as to direct its fall; to cheat in playing dice.
For guineas in other men's breeches, Your gamesters will palm and will cog.
Colbertine
Pinners edged with colbertine.
Collusion
By the ignorance of the merchants or dishonesty of the weavers, or the collusion of both, the ware was bad and the price excessive.
Commonplace
Whatever, in my reading, occurs concerning this our fellow creature, I do never fail to set it down by way of commonplace.
Communicative
Determine, for the future, to be less communicative.
Company
Nature has left every man a capacity of being agreeable, though not of shining in company.
Compass
To fix one foot of their compass wherever they please.
Complaint
The poverty of the clergy in England hath been the complaint of all who wish well to the church.
Compliance
What compliances will remove dissension?
Conceited
If you think me too conceited Or to passion quickly heated.
Conceive
You will hardly conceive him to have been bred in the same climate.
Concert
All these discontents, how ruinous soever, have arisen from the want of a due communication and concert.
Concession
When a lover becomes satisfied by small compliances without further pursuits, then expect to find popular assemblies content with small concessions.
Concurrence
Tarquin the Proud was expelled by the universal concurrence of nobles and people.
Confirm
That treaty so prejudicial ought to have been remitted rather than confimed.
Confounded
He was a most confounded tory.
Congé
The captain salutes you with congé profound.
Contract
Such behavior we contract by having much conversed with persons of high station.
Convenience
A pair of spectacles and several other little conveniences.
Conventicle
A sort of men who . . . attend its [the curch of England's] service in the morning, and go with their wives to a conventicle in the afternoon.
Conviction
To call good evil, and evil good, against the conviction of their own consciences.
Coquet
You are coquetting a maid of honor.
Cotton
A quarrel will end in one of you being turned off, in which case it will not be easy to cotton with another.
Count
I think it a great error to count upon the genius of a nation as a standing argument in all ages.
Counterview
I have drawn some lines of Linger's character, on purpose to place it in counterview, or contrast with that of the other company.
Couple
A parson who couples all our beggars.
Cram
He will cram his brass down our throats.
Crambo
His similes in order set And every crambo he could get.
Crust
Very foul and crusted bottles.
Cue
Give them [the servants] their cue to attend in two lines as he leaves the house.
Cumbrous
He sunk beneath the cumbrous weight.
Cure
I never knew any man cured of inattention.
Dangle
The Presbyterians, and other fanatics that dangle after them, are well inclined to pull down the present establishment.
Darn
He spent every day ten hours in his closet, in darning his stockings.
Deal
The deal, the shuffle, and the cut.
Deanship
I dont't value your deanship a straw.
Dearness
The dearness of corn.
Declarative
The “vox populi,” so declarative on the same side.
Decline
Their fathers lived in the decline of literature.
Defile
He is . . . among the greatest prelates of this age, however his character may be defiled by . . . dirty hands.
Degenerate
Degenerate from their ancient blood.
Delph
Five nothings in five plates of delph.
Deportment
The gravity of his deportment carried him safe through many difficulties.
Deserving
A person of great deservings from the republic.
Dilemma
A strong dilemma in a desperate case! To act with infamy, or quit the place.
Din
This hath been often dinned in my ears.
Director
In all affairs thou sole director.
Discard
They blame the favorites, and think it nothing extraordinary that the queen should . . . resolve to discard them.
Disfavor
Countenanced or disfavored according as they obey.
disqualify
My common illness disqualifies me for all conversation; I mean my deafness.
Dissipation
Prevented from finishing them [the letters] a thousand avocations and dissipations.
Distance
If a man makes me keep my distance, the comfort is he keeps his at the same time.
Divider
Money, the great divider of the world.
Double
I was double their age.
Dribble
Let the cook . . . dribble it all the way upstairs.
Drill
This accident hath drilled away the whole summer.
Drip
Which from the thatch drips fast a shower of rain.
Droop
I saw him ten days before he died, and observed he began very much to droop and languish.
Drunken
The drunken quarrels of a rake.
Dun
Hath she sent so soon to dun?
Dunce
I never knew this town without dunces of figure.
Dwindle
Religious societies, though begun with excellent intentions, are said to have dwindled into factious clubs.
Ease
Give yourself ease from the fatigue of watching.
economy
I have no other notion of economy than that it is the parent to liberty and ease.
Emergency
To whom she might her doubts propose, On all emergencies that rose.
Engrossment
Engrossments of power and favor.
Even
Without . . . making us even sensible of the change.
Exist
Who now, alas! no more is missed Than if he never did exist.
Expectant
Those who had employments, or were expectants.
Extract
I have extracted out of that pamphlet a few notorious falsehoods.
Fall
The Romans fell on this model by chance.
Fasten
The words Whig and Tory have been pressed to the service of many successions of parties, with very different ideas fastened to them.
Fat
Persons grown fat and wealthy by long impostures.
Father
Men of wit Often fathered what he writ.
favor
I could not discover the lenity and favor of this sentence.
[The painter] has favored her squint admirably.
Fit
All fits of pleasure we balanced by an equal degree of pain.
Flag
The pleasures of the town begin to flag.
Fling
I, who love to have a fling, Both at senate house and king.
Flout
Fleer and gibe, and laugh and flout.
For
For anything that legally appears to the contrary, it may be a contrivance to fright us.
Forcible
In embraces of King James . . . forcible and unjust.
Foreign
This design is not foreign from some people's thoughts.
Foreigner
Nor could the majesty of the English crown appear in a greater luster, either to foreigners or subjects.
Forelock
Time is painted with a lock before and bald behind, signifying thereby that we must take time by the forelock; for when it is once past, there is no recalling it.
Fortune
His father dying, he was driven to seek his fortune.
Frequent
He has been loud and frequent in declaring himself hearty for the government.
Gain
My good behavior had so far gained on the emperor, that I began to conceive hopes of liberty.
Gape
She stretches, gapes, unglues her eyes, And asks if it be time to rise.
Gibe
Fleer and gibe, and laugh and flout.
Draw the beasts as I describe them, From their features, while I gibe them.
Glance
He glanced at a certain reverend doctor.
Go
They never go about . . . to hide or palliate their vices.
Gobble
Supper gobbled up in haste.
Graze
A field or two to graze his cows.
Grudge
I have often heard the Presbyterians say, they did not grudge us our employments.
Hale
Last year we thought him strong and hale.
Happy
One gentleman is happy at a reply, another excels in a in a rejoinder.
Hardly
He has in many things been hardly used.
Hastily
We hastily engaged in the war.
Hatcher
A great hatcher and breeder of business.
Haunt
Those cares that haunt the court and town.
Hawk
His works were hawked in every street.
Help
The god of learning and of light Would want a god himself to help him out.
Hit
And millions miss for one that hits.
Hoot
Partridge and his clan may hoot me for a cheat.
Household
And calls, without affecting airs, His household twice a day to prayers.
Hucksterer
Those hucksterers or money-jobbers.
Huddle
Now, in all haste, they huddle on Their hoods, their cloaks, and get them gone.
Hyp
Heaven send thou hast not got the hyps.
Ignominious
One single, obscure, ignominious projector.
Impeachment
The consequence of Coriolanus' impeachment had like to have been fatal to their state.
Impertinence
We should avoid the vexation and impertinence of pedants who affect to talk in a language not to be understood.
Importune
Their ministers and residents here have perpetually importuned the court with unreasonable demands.
Impropriety
Many gross improprieties, however authorized by practice, ought to be discarded.
In
Nine in ten of those who enter the ministry.
Inconsistency
If a man would register all his opinions upon love, politics, religion, and learning, what a bundle of inconsistencies and contradictions would appear at last!
Incumbency
These fines are only to be paid to the bishop during his incumbency.
Incumbent
The incumbent lieth at the mercy of his patron.
Information
He should get some information in the subject he intends to handle.
Infuse
Why should he desire to have qualities infused into his son which himself never possessed?
Infusion
His folly and his wisdom are of his own growth, not the echo or infusion of other men.
Injustice
Cunning men can be guilty of a thousand injustices without being discovered, or at least without being punished.
Innuendo
Pursue your trade of scandal picking; Your innuendoes, when you tell us, That Stella loves to talk with fellows.
Interfere
To interfere with party disputes.
Intermarry
About the middle of the fourth century from the building of Rome, it was declared lawful for nobles and plebeians to intermarry.
Intermingle
Party and faction will intermingle.
Intrigue
The hero of a comedy is represented victorious in all his intrigues.
Jade
She shines the first of battered jades.
Jealous
The people are so jealous of the clergy's ambition.
Jeer
Midas, exposed to all their jeers, Had lost his art, and kept his ears.
Jog
To give them by turns an invisible jog.
Jolt
The first jolt had like to have shaken me out.
Knack
The dean was famous in his time, And had a kind of knack at rhyme.
Lame
If you happen to let child fall and lame it.
Lank
Meager and lank with fasting grown.
Lapse
A tendency to lapse into the barbarity of those northern nations from whom we are descended.
Learned
Every coxcomb swears as learnedly as they.
Level
Somebody there of his own level.
Lifeblood
Money [is] the lifeblood of the nation.
Line
Till coffee has her stomach lined.
Listless
I was listless, and desponding.
Literature
Some gentlemen, abounding in their university erudition, fill their sermons with philosophical terms.
Litter
Strephon, who found the room was void. Stole in, and took a strict survey Of all the litter as it lay.
The room with volumes littered round.
Livelong
How could she sit the livelong day, Yet never ask us once to play?
Luggage
I am gathering up my luggage, and preparing for my journey.
Maintenance
Those of better fortune not making learning their maintenance.
Mamma
Tell tales papa and mamma.
Mangle
To mangle a play or a novel.
Master
Where there are little masters and misses in a house, they are impediments to the diversions of the servants.
Matador
When Lady Tricksey played a four, You took it with a matadore.
Merely
Prize not your life for other ends Than merely to oblige your friends.
Mischief
The mischief was, these allies would never allow that the common enemy was subdued.
Mistake
Servants mistake, and sometimes occasion misunderstanding among friends.
Moderate
A number of moderate members managed . . . to obtain a majority in a thin house.
Monition
Sage monitions from his friends.
Morality
The system of morality to be gathered out of . . . ancient sages falls very short of that delivered in the gospel.
Mutton
The fat of roasted mutton or beef.
Mystery
If God should please to reveal unto us this great mystery of the Trinity, or some other mysteries in our holy religion, we should not be able to understand them, unless he would bestow on us some new faculties of the mind.
Notch
And on the stick ten equal notches makes.
Noxious
Too frequent an appearance in places of public resort is noxious to spiritual promotions.
Nutriment
Is not virtue in mankind The nutriment that feeds the mind?
Observer
Careful observers may foretell the hour, By sure prognostic, when to dread a shower.
Obstruction
A popular assembly free from obstruction.
Oddly
A great black substance, . . . very oddly shaped.
Odds
There appeared, at least, four to one odds against them.
Operate
A plain, convincing reason operates on the mind both of a learned and ignorant hearer as long as they live.
Oppressor
To relieve the oppressed and to punish the oppressor.
Ordinary
All the odd words they have picked up in a coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as flowers of style.
Outdo
I grieve to be outdone by Gay.
Pack
Poor Stella must pack off to town
Palliate
They never hide or palliate their vices.
Parade
In state returned the grand parade.
Be rich, but of your wealth make no parade.
Parallel
Twixt earthly females and the moon All parallels exactly run.
Pattern
He compares the pattern with the whole piece.
Peep
To take t' other peep at the stars.
People
People were tempted to lend by great premiums.
Perpetually
The Bible and Common Prayer Book in the vulgar tongue, being perpetually read in churches, have proved a kind of standard for language.
Pigtail
The tobacco he usually cheweth, called pigtail.
Please
That he would please 8give me my liberty.
Pop
A trick of popping up and down every moment.
Positiveness
Positiveness, pedantry, and ill manners.
Posy
We make a difference between suffering thistles to grow among us, and wearing them for posies.
Power
Power is no blessing in itself but when it is employed to protect the innocent.
Preacher
No preacher is listened to but Time.
Prejudge
The committee of council hath prejudged the whole case, by calling the united sense of both houses of Parliament“ a universal clamor.”
Presto
Presto! begone! 'tis here again.
Prevail
This kingdom could never prevail against the united power of England.
Prevail upon some judicious friend to be your constant hearer, and allow him the utmost freedom.
Prime
Give him always of the prime.
Princess
So excellent a princess as the present queen.
Privity
All the doors were laid open for his departure, not without the privity of the Prince of Orange.
Problematic
Diligent inquiries into remote and problematical guilt leave a gate wide open to . . . informers.
Procrastinate
I procrastinate more than I did twenty years ago.
Produce
Your parents did not produce you much into the world.
Proem
Thus much may serve by way of proem.
Prude
Less modest than the speech of prudes.
Publication
The publication of these papers was not owing to our folly, but that of others.
Pull
I awakened with a violent pull upon the ring which was fastened at the top of my box.
Pungent
With pungent pains on every side.
Push
We are pushed for an answer.
Put
These wretches put us upon all mischief.
Rail
Lesbia forever on me rails.
Rake
The statesman rakes the town to find a plot.
Ramble
Coming home, after a short Christmas ramble.
Rap
Many counterfeits passed about under the name of raps.
Rascally
Our rascally porter is fallen fast asleep.
Rational
A law may be reasonable in itself, although a man does not allow it, or does not know the reason of the lawgivers.
Read
I have read of an Eastern king who put a judge to death for an iniquitous sentence.
Really
Whose anger is really but a short fit of madness.
Refinement
From the civil war to this time, I doubt whether the corruptions in our language have not equaled its refinements.
Reflect
Neither do I reflect in the least upon the memory of his late majesty.
Reform
The example alone of a vicious prince will corrupt an age; but that of a good one will not reform it.
Relax
The statute of mortmain was at several times relaxed by the legislature.
Reserve
Reserve your kind looks and language for private hours.
Resolutely
Some . . . facts he examines, some he resolutely denies.
Retaliate
It is unlucky to be obliged to retaliate the injuries of authors, whose works are so soon forgotten that we are in danger of appearing the first aggressors.
Ride
Let your master ride on before, and do you gallop after him.
The nobility could no longer endure to be ridden by bakers, cobblers, and brewers.
Rummage
I have often rummaged for old books in Little Britain and Duck Lane.
Rump
The Rump abolished the House of Lords, the army abolished the Rump, and by this army of saints Cromwell governed.
Run
When we desire anything, our minds run wholly on the good circumstances of it; when it is obtained, our minds run wholly on the bad ones.
Temperate climates run into moderate governments.
Heavy impositions . . . are a strong temptation of running goods.
Satirize
It is as hard to satirize well a man of distinguished vices, as to praise well a man of distinguished virtues.
Save
Just saving the tide, and putting in a stock of merit.
Scandalously
His discourse at table was scandalously unbecoming the dignity of his station.
Scarf
Put on your hood and scarf.
Scheme
The stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires, is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes.
Score
Madam, I know when, Instead of five, you scored me ten.
Scratch
Be mindful, when invention fails, To scratch your head, and bite your nails.
Scrawl
Though with a golden pen you scrawl.
Scrub
No little scrub joint shall come on my board.
Scurvy
That scurvy custom of taking tobacco.
Security
Some . . . alleged that we should have no security for our trade.
Sempstress
Two hundred sepstress were employed to make me shirts.
Send
Servants, sent on messages, stay out somewhat longer than the message requires.
Senseless
They were a senseless, stupid race.
Servant
Our betters tell us they are our humble servants, but understand us to be their slaves.
Set
Those men who set up for mortality without regard to religion, are generally but virtuous in part.
Settle
It will settle the wavering, and confirm the doubtful.
Shalloon
In blue shalloon shall Hannibal be clad.
Shift
Shift the scene for half an hour; Time and place are in thy power.
Shine
Few are qualified to shine in company; but it in most men's power to be agreeable.
Shiver
Prometheus is laid On icy Caucasus to shiver.
Shove
I rested . . . and then gave the boat another shove.
Shrug
They grin, they shrug. They bow, they snarl, they snatch, they hug.
Shy
The horses of the army . . . were no longer shy, but would come up to my very feet without starting.
Sideling
A fellow nailed up maps . . . some sideling, and others upside down.
Signify
The government should signify to the Protestants of Ireland that want of silver is not to be remedied.
Sink
If sent with ready money to buy anything, and you happen to be out of pocket, sink the money, and take up the goods on account.
Size
The middling or lower size of people.
Skewer
Meat well stuck with skewers to make it look round.
Skill
Phocion, . . . by his great wisdom and skill at negotiations, diverted Alexander from the conquest of Athens.
Smatter
Of state affairs you can not smatter.
Sneer
And sneers as learnedly as they, Like females o'er their morning tea.
Midas, exposed to all their jeers, Had lost his art, and kept his ears.
Snuff
If the burning snuff happens to get out of the snuffers, you have a chance that it may fall into a dish of soup.
Snug
Lie snug, and hear what critics say.
So
As a war should be undertaken upon a just motive, so a prince ought to consider the condition he is in.
Solemnly
I do solemnly assure the reader.
Sottish
How ignorant are sottish pretenders to astrology!
Sour
So the sun's heat, with different powers, Ripens the grape, the liquor sours.
Spawl
Why must he sputter, spawl, and slaver it In vain, against the people's favorite.
Speech
The constant design of these orators, in all their speeches, was to drive some one particular point.
Spirit
Many officers and private men spirit up and assist those obstinate people to continue in their rebellion.
Spot
It was determined upon the spot.
Spring
The friends to the cause sprang a new project.
Spud
My spud these nettles from the stone can part.
Sputter
In the midst of caresses, and without the least pretended incitement, to sputter out the basest accusations.
Spy
One, in reading, skipped over all sentences where he spied a note of admiration.
Squash
My fall was stopped by a terrible squash.
Stage
I went in the sixpenny stage.
Standard
The court, which used to be the standard of propriety and correctness of speech.
Standish
I bequeath to Dean Swift, Esq., my large silver standish.
State
When he went to court, he used to kick away the state, and sit down by his prince cheek by jowl.
Stick
This is the difficulty that sticks with the most reasonable.
Stickler
The Tory or High-church were the greatest sticklers against the exorbitant proceedings of King James II.
Stifle
I took my leave, being half stifled with the closeness of the room.
Storm
The master storms, the lady scolds.
Strain
There can be no other meaning in this expression, however some may pretend to strain it.
Prudes decayed about may track, Strain their necks with looking back.
Stroll
These mothers stroll to beg sustenance for their helpless infants.
Study
I found a moral first, and then studied for a fable.
Stuff
An Eastern king put a judge to death for an iniquitous sentence, and ordered his hide to be stuffed into a cushion, and placed upon the tribunal.
Taught harmless man to cram and stuff.
Stupid
Observe what loads of stupid rhymes Oppress us in corrupted times.
Style
Proper words in proper places make the true definition of style.
Subject
The subject must obey his prince, because God commands it, human laws require it.
Submit
Whether the condition of the clergy be able to bear a heavy burden, is submitted to the house.
Subordination
Persons who in their several subordinations would be obliged to follow the example of their superiors.
Substance
We are destroying many thousand lives, and exhausting our substance, but not for our own interest.
Surmise
No man ought to be charged with principles he actually disowns, unless his practicies contradict his profession; not upon small surmises.
Suspicious
We have a suspicious, fearful, constrained countenance.
Sweaty
No noisome whiffs or sweaty streams.
Symptom
Like the sick man, we are expiring with all sorts of good symptoms.
Tattle
[They] told the tattle of the day.
Thing
I have a thing in prose.
Thrifty
I am glad he hath so much youth and vigor left, of which he hath not been thrifty.
Thump
A watchman at midnight thumps with his pole.
Tip
A third rogue tips me by the elbow.
Touch
Print my preface in such form as, in the booksellers' phrase, will make a sixpenny touch.
Toward
I am toward nine years older since I left you.
Tract
The church clergy at that time writ the best collection of tracts against popery that ever appeared.
Train
If things were once in this train, . . . our duty would take root in our nature.
Treat
Inform us, will the emperor treat!
trial and error
And millions miss for one that hits.
Try
To ease her cares the force of sleep she tries.
Turn
Conditions of peace certainly turn upon events of war.
Twine
As rivers, though they bend and twine, Still to the sea their course incline.
Under
There are several hundred parishes in England under twenty pounds a year.
Several young men could never leave the pulpit under half a dozen conceits.
Undo
To-morrow, ere the setting sun, She 'd all undo that she had done.
Unfair
You come, like an unfair merchant, to charge me with being in your debt.
Unglue
She stretches, gapes, unglues her eyes, And asks if it be time to rise.
Uppermost
Whatever faction happens to be uppermost.
Utter
The whole kingdom should continue in a firm resolution never to receive or utter this fatal coin.
Valetudinarian
Valetudinarians must live where they can command and scold.
Vamp
I had never much hopes of your vamped play.
Vault
To banish rats that haunt our vault.
Vein
He can open a vein of true and noble thinking.
Verge
I find myself verging to that period of life which is to be labor and sorrow.
Volatile
You are as giddy and volatile as ever.
Vote
Parliament voted them one hundred thousand pounds.
Vouch
He will not believe her until the elector of Hanover shall vouch for the truth of what she has . . . affirmed.
Waiter
The waiters stand in ranks; the yeomen cry, “Make room,” as if a duke were passing by.
Want
Nothing is so hard for those who abound in riches, as to conceive how others can be in want.
Waster
Sconces are great wasters of candles.
Wean
The troubles of age were intended . . . to wean us gradually from our fondness of life.
Weighty
Let me have your advice in a weighty affair.
Wherein
There are times wherein a man ought to be cautious as well as innocent.
Whiffler
Every whiffler in a laced coat who frequents the chocolate house shall talk of the constitution.
Whimsey
Men's folly, whimsies, and inconstancy.
Wind
A pack of dogfish had him in the wind.
Wink
Wink at the footman to leave him without a plate.
The stockjobber thus from Change Alley goes down, And tips you, the freeman, a wink.
Wistful
Lifting up one of my sashes, I cast many a wistful, melancholy look towards the sea.
Wonder
I could not sufficiently wonder at the intrepidity of these diminutive mortals.
Worm
They find themselves wormed out of all power.
Worry
Worry him out till he gives consent.
Wrench
You wrenched your foot against a stone.
Wriggle
Both he and successors would often wriggle in their seats, as long as the cushion lasted.