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Defining the World:

The Extraordinary Story of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary
Front Cover
18 Reviews
Macmillan, 2005 - Biography & Autobiography - 292 pages
By the early eighteenth century, France and Italy had impressive lexicons, but there was no authoritative dictionary of English. Sensing the deficit, and impelled by a mixture of national pride and commercial expedience, the prodigious polymath Samuel Johnson embraced the task, turning over the garret of his London home to the creation of his own giant dictionary.
Johnson imagined that he could complete the job in three years. But the complexity of English meant that his estimate was wildly inadequate. Only after he had expended nearly a decade of his prime on the task did the dictionary finally appear - magisterial yet quirky, dogmatic but generous of spirit, and steeped in the richness of English literature. It would come to be seen as the most important British cultural monument of the eighteenth century, and its influence fanned out across Europe and throughout Britain's colonies - including, crucially, America.
Brilliantly entertaining and enlightening, " Defining the World" is the story of Johnson's heroic endeavor, 250 years after the first publication of the "Dictionary." In alphabetically sequenced chapters, Henry Hitchings describes Johnson's adventure - his ambition and vision, his moments of despair, the mistakes he made along the way, and his ultimate triumph.
  

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Review: Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr Johnson's Dictionary

User Review  - Jen - Goodreads

I found the concept of this book -- the story of how Johnson wrote the first English dictionary -- fascinating. What I didn't find fascinating was Hitchings' writing style or his analysis. Just ... Read full review

Review: Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr Johnson's Dictionary

User Review  - Phillip - Goodreads

Hitchings' book is as much a promotion of Johnson's dictionary, as a piece of literature to read, as it is a biography of Dr. Johnson. It does both well. Of particular interest to me. I had forgotten ... Read full review

All 18 reviews »

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Contents

Adventurous
3
Amulet
9
Apple
15
Bookworm
18
Commoner
22
Darkling
26
To Decamp
35
To Dissipate
45
To Note
141
Opinionist
150
Opulence
162
Pastern
172
Patron
180
Philology
187
Pleasureful
194
To Preface
203

English
50
Entrance
57
Factotum
64
To Gather
69
Higgledypiggledy
78
Lexicographer
87
Library
102
Melancholy
112
Microscope
125
Network
131
Nicety
135
Publication
208
Reception
215
Triumphant
222
Ubiquity
228
Variety
233
Weightiness
239
Zootomy
257
Notes
261
Acknowledgements
279
Index
281
Copyright

Common terms and phrases

References to this book

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The Prodigal Tongue: Dispatches from the Future of English

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Going on an Antedate
KENNETH M WEISS, JEFFREY A KURLAND - 2007 - Evolutionary Anthropology

References from web pages

Bookslut | Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr ...
Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary by Henry Hitchings. A biography of Samuel Johnson, creator of Johnson's Dictionary, ...
www.bookslut.com/ nonfiction/ 2006_01_007449.php

Defining the World | Samuel Johnson | Henry Hitchings
Defining the World | Samuel Johnson | Henry Hitchings
www.ralphmag.org/ EQ/ samuel-johnson.html

‘Defining the World’ - New York Times
Samuel Johnson’s giant ‘Dictionary of the English Language’ was an audacious attempt to tame his unruly native tongue.
www.nytimes.com/ 2005/ 12/ 04/ books/ chapters/ 1204-1st-hitc.html?pagewanted=print

Horizon Information Portal
Defining the world : the extraordinary story of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary /. by Hitchings, Henry, 1974- · View full image. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. ...
hip.wright.lib.oh.us/ ipac20/ ipac.jsp?session=1194LA090S968.965& profile=dial& uri=link=1100002~!312415~!1100001~!11000...

Mr. S.'s biblioblog
Henry Hitchings, Defining The World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary. Back in 1988 at Saint Xavier University, I took a class taught by ...
biblioblog204.blogspot.com/ 2007/ 01/ henry-hitchings-defining-world.html

Johnson, Samuel: Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr ...
Johnson, Samuel Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary. Henry Hitchings. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005. 292 pp. ...
findarticles.com/ p/ articles/ mi_hb032/ is_200601/ ai_n18829325

Johnson, Samuel: Defining the World: The Extraordinary
Johnson, Samuel Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary. Henry Hitchings. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005. 2.
www.encyclopedia.com/ doc/ 1G1-146347006.html

89.3 KPCC | airtalk archives for 1/16/2006 - 1/20/2006
KPCC / Southern California Public Radio's home page with news, forums, radio broadcast schedules, and links to its productions including airtalk with host ...
www.scpr.org/ programs/ airtalk/ listings/ 2006/ 01/ airtalk_20060116.shtml

Macmillan: Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr ...
Macmillan: Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr Johnson's Dictionary Henry Hitchings: Bonus Publisher Materials: Praise, Author Biography.
us.macmillan.com/ definingtheworld

Guide to Johnson — The Dictionary
Henry Hitchings, Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary (New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2005). ...
andromeda.rutgers.edu/ ~jlynch/ Johnson/ Guide/ dict.html

About the author (2005)

Henry Hitchings was born in 1974. Educated at the universities of Oxford and London, he is the author of "Defining the World "and has contributed to many newspapers and magazines.

Bibliographic information