Book detail: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World is presented as a focused source page for quotations connected with this book, collection, transcript, or source record.
This book is a compilation of satirical definitions, offering a humorous and critical take on a wide range of words and ideas, all presented from the viewpoint of a devil. The entries are known for their wit and sarcasm, challenging the reader's understanding of common terms and concepts.
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“Glutton- A person who escapes the evils of moderation by committing dyspepsia.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“ZENITH, n. The point in the heavens directly overhead to a man standing or a growing cabbage. A man in bed or a cabbage in the pot is not considered as having a zenith, though Horizontalists hold that the posture of the body was immaterial.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“REPENTANCE, n. The faithful attendant and follower of Punishment. It is usually manifest in a degree of reformation that is not inconsistent with continuity of sin.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“LECTURER, n. One with his hand in your pocket, his tongue in your ear and his faith in your patience.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“PITY, n. A failing sense of exemption, inspired by contrast.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“Hurry n: The dispatch of bunglers.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“USAGE, n. The First Person of the literary Trinity, the Second and Third being Custom and Conventionality. Imbued with a decent reverence for this Holy Triad an industrious writer may hope to produce books that will live as long as the fashion.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“Liar: A lawyer with a roving commission.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“WASHINGTONIAN, n. A Potomac tribesman who exchanged the privilege of governing himself for the advantage of good government. In justice to him it should be said that he did not want to.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“NEPOTISM, n. Appointing your grandmother to office for the good of the party.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“GUILLOTINE, n. A machine which makes a Frenchman shrug his shoulders with good reason.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“QUOTIENT, n. A number showing how many times a sum of money belonging to one person is contained in the pocket of another - usually about as many times as it can be got there.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“TZETZE (or TSETSE) FLY, n. An African insect ("Glossina morsitans") whose bite is commonly regarded as nature's most efficacious remedy for insomnia, though some patients prefer that of the American novelist ("Mendax interminabilis").”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“PRESIDE, v. To guide the action of a deliberative body to a desirable result. In Journalese, to perform upon a musical instrument; as, "He presided at the piccolo."”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“WEAKNESSES, n.pl. Certain primal powers of Tyrant Woman wherewith she holds dominion over the male of her species, binding him to the service of her will and paralyzing his rebellious energies.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“GEOGRAPHER, n. A chap who can tell you offhand the difference between the outside of the world and the inside.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“Duck-bill, n. Your account at your restaurant during the canvas-back season.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“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 . . .”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“DECALOGUE, n. A series of commandments, ten in number - just enough to permit an intelligent selection for observance, but not enough to embarrass the choice.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“POETRY, n. A form of expression peculiar to the Land beyond the Magazines.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“WEATHER, n. The climate of an hour. A permanent topic of conversation among persons whom it does not interest, but who have inherited the tendency to chatter about it from naked arboreal ancestors whom it keenly concerned. The setting up of official weather bureaus and their maintenance in mendacity prove that even governments are accessible to suasion by the rude forefathers of the jungle.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“Opposition, n. In politics the party that prevents the government from running amuck by hamstringing it.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“ENOUGH, pro. All there is in the world if you like it.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“DELUGE, n. A notable first experiment in baptism which washed away the sins (and sinners) of the world.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“IMPALE, v.t. In popular usage, to pierce with any weapon which remains fixed in the wound . . . . properly, to put to death by thrusting an upright sharp stake into the body, the victim being left in a sitting position.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“UGLINESS, n. A gift of the gods to certain women, entailing virtue without humility.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“MONAD, n. The ultimate, indivisible unit of matter (see Molecule). The monad has body without bulk, and mind without manifestation - containing all the powers and possibilities needful to his evolution into a German philosopher . .”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“An appellate court which reverses the judgment of a popular author's contemporaries, the appellant being his obscure competitor.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“COMPULSION, n. The eloquence of power.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“MONUMENT, n. A structure intended to commemorate something which either needs no commemoration or cannot be commemorated.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“VANITY, n. The tribute of a fool to the worth of the nearest ass.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“RATIONAL, adj. Devoid of all delusions save those of observation, experience and reflection.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“MACE, n. A staff of office signifying authority. Its form, that of a heavy club, indicates its original purpose and use in dissuading from dissent.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“PROBOSCIS, n. The rudimentary organ of an elephant which serves him in place of the knife-and-fork that Evolution has as yet denied him. For purposes of humor it is popularly called a trunk.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“EJECTION, n. An approved remedy for the disease of garrulity. It is also much used in cases of extreme poverty.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“PERIPATETIC, adj. Walking about. Relating to the philosophy of Aristotle, who, while expounding it, moved from place to place in order to avoid his pupil's objections. A needless precaution - they knew no more of the matter than he.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“PRESBYTERIAN, n. One who holds the conviction that the government authorities of the Church should be called presbyters.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“RESPIRATOR, n. An apparatus fitted over the nose and mouth of an inhabitant of London, whereby to filter the visible universe in its passage to the lungs.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“ETHNOLOGY, n. The science that treats of the various tribes of Man, as robbers, thieves, swindlers, dunces, lunatics, idiots and ethnologists.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“MAGNETISM, n. Something acting upon a magnet. The two definitions immediately foregoing are condensed from the works of one thousand eminent scientists, who have illuminated the subject with a great white light, to the inexpressible advancement of human knowledge.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“April fool, n. The March fool with another month added to his folly.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“DELEGATION, n. In American politics, an article of merchandise that comes in sets.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“ADMINISTRATION, n. An ingenious abstraction in politics, designed to receive the kicks and cuffs due to the premier or president. A man of straw, proof against bad-egging and dead-catting.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“PLEBEIAN, n. An ancient Roman who in the blood of his country stained nothing but his hands. Distinguished from the Patrician, who was a saturated solution.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“EXILE, n. One who serves his country by residing abroad, yet is not an ambassador.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“Accordion, n. An instrument in harmony with the sentiments of an assassin.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“Respectability, n. The offspring of a liaison between a bald head and a bank account.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“Miss, n. A title which we brand unmarried women to indicate that they are in the market.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“LUMINARY, One who throws light upon a subject; as an editor by not writing about it.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World
“VIRTUES, n.pl. Certain abstentions.”
Source: The Devil's Dictionary: The Devil World