Daily definitions
- Gnome
- n. In North-European mythology, a dwarfish imp inhabiting the interior parts of the earth and having special custody of mineral treasures. Bjorsen, who died in 1765, says gnomes were common enough in the southern parts of Sweden in his boyhood, and he frequently saw them scampering on the hills in the evening twilight. Ludwig Binkerhoof saw three as recently as 1792, in the Black Forest, and Sneddeker avers that in 1803 they drove a party of miners out of a Silesian mine. Basing our computations upon data supplied by these statements, we find that the gnomes were probably extinct as early as 1764.
- Beg
- v. To ask for something with an earnestness proportioned to the belief that it will not be given.
- Who is that, father? A mendicant, child, Haggard, morose, and unaffable — wild! See how he glares through the bars of his cell! With Citizen Mendicant all is not well.
- Why did they put him there, father?
- Because Obeying his belly he struck at the laws.
- His belly?
- Oh, well, he was starving, my boy — A state in which, doubtless, there’s little of joy. No bite had he eaten for days, and his cry Was “Bread!” ever “Bread!”
- What’s the matter with pie?
- With little to wear, he had nothing to sell; To beg was unlawful — improper as well.
- Why didn’t he work?
- He would even have done that, But men said: “Get out!” and the State remarked: “Scat!” I mention these incidents merely to show That the vengeance he took was uncommonly low. Revenge, at the best, is the act of a Siou, But for trifles —
- Pray what did bad Mendicant do?
- Stole two loaves of bread to replenish his lack And tuck out the belly that clung to his back.
- Is that all father dear?
- There’s little to tell: They sent him to jail, and they’ll send him to — well, The company’s better than here we can boast, And there’s —
- Bread for the needy, dear father?
- Um — toast.
- Atka Mip
- Debt
- n. An ingenious substitute for the chain and whip of the slave- driver.
- As, pent in an aquarium, the troutlet Swims round and round his tank to find an outlet, Pressing his nose against the glass that holds him, Nor ever sees the prison that enfolds him; So the poor debtor, seeing naught around him, Yet feels the narrow limits that impound him, Grieves at his debt and studies to evade it, And finds at last he might as well have paid it.
- Barlow S. Vode
- Commerce
- n. A kind of transaction in which A plunders from B the goods of C, and for compensation B picks the pocket of D of money belonging to E.
- Architect
- n. One who drafts a plan of your house, and plans a draft of your money.