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12. Several of his definitions have become famous for their
subjectivity.
Some Johnsonian Definitions.
There’re not many truly idiosyncratic definitions in the
Dictionary, but some have become famous.
LEXICOGRAPHER – a writer of dictionary, a harmless
drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing
the signification of words.
EXCISE – a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and
adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches
hired by those to whom excise is paid.
OATS – a grain, which in England is generally given to
horses, but in Scotland supports the people.
PATRON – one, who countenances, supports or protects.
PENSION – an allowance made to anyone without an
equivalent. In England it’s generally understood to mean pay
given to a state hireling for treason to his country.
His definitions sometimes got him into trouble. He was
threatened with libel over excise, and much lampooned over
pension.
So Johnson’s Dictionary was the first attempt at a truly
principled lexicography. It portrayed the complexity of the lexicon
and of English usage more accurately than ever before; and his
quotations initiated a practice which has informed English
dictionaries ever since. The dictionary influenced normalization of
the English vocabulary but at the same time it helped to preserve
the English spelling in its conservative form.
In 1857 the Philological Society of Great Britain, noting the
inadequacies of the English dictionaries then available, adopted the
decision to compile a dictionary including all the words existing in
the language from Anglo-Saxon times.
Twenty six years later in 1884 the first volume was
published; it contained words ginning with A and B. The editor of
this dictionary was James A. H. Murray. The aim was to produce a

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