The Devils Dictionary
contributor: Eric Lease Morgan (Infomotions, Inc.)
creator: Bierce, Ambrose
date: 0000-00-00
extent: 396032
format: text/plain
language: en
publisher: Wiretap Electronic Text Archive
rights: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/GPL/2.0/
source: devils.txt
subject: man
subject: adj
subject: person
subject: word
subject: god
subject: expired
subject: released
subject: april
subject: entered
subject: aloysius
subject: tsftdotiote
subject: west
subject: darkside
subject: preface
subject: devil
subject: dictionary
subject: begun
subject: weekly
subject: paper
subject: bierce
subject: ambrose
subject: devils
subject: american
subject: literature
type: text
local mirror: bierce-devils-286.txt
concordance: http://infomotions.com/alex/cgi-bin/concordance.pl
plain html: bierce-devils-286.htm
sort title: Devils Dictionary, The
full text: The Internet Wiretap 1st Online Edition of THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY by AMBROSE BIERCE Copyright 1911 by Albert and Charles Boni, Inc. A Public Domain Text, Copyright Expired Released April 15 1993 Entered by Aloysius of &tSftDotIotE aloysius@west.darkside.com PREFACE _The Devil's Dictionary_ was begun in a weekly paper in 1881, and was continued in a desultory way at long intervals until 1906. In that year a large part of it was published in covers with the title _The Cynic's Word Book_, a name which the author had not the power to reject or happiness to approve. To quote the publishers of the present work: "This more reverent title had previously been forced upon him by the religious scruples of the last newspaper in which a part of the work had appeared, with the natural consequence that when it came out in covers the country already had been flooded by its imitators with a score of 'cynic' books -- _The Cynic's This_, _The Cynic's That_, and _The Cynic's t'Other_. Most of these books were merely stupid, though some of them added the distinction of silliness. Among them, they brought the word 'cynic' into disfavor so deep that any book bearing it was discredited in advance of publication." Meantime, too, some of the enterprising humorists of the country had helped themselves to such parts of the work as served their needs, and many of its definitions, anecdotes, phrases and so forth, had become more or less current in popular speech. This explanation is made, not with any pride of priority in trifles, but in simple denial of possible charges of plagiarism, which is no trifle. In merely resuming his own the author hopes to be held guiltless by those to whom the work is addressed -- enlightened souls who prefer dry wines to sweet, sense to sentiment, wit to humor and clean English to slang. A conspicuous, and it is hope not unpleasant, feature of the book is its abundant illustrative quotations from eminent poets, chief of whom is that learned and ingenius cleric, Fat…