AMERICANISMS. Words and phrases pe culiar to the United States. They are classified by one writer on this subject (Bartlett) as fol low,: I Archaisms, obsolete. or nearly so. in lreat Britain. (2) English words used in a. dif ferent sense. (3) Words used in the original sense in the United States. although not in Great Britain. 141 English provincialisms adopted into general use in America. 5) Newly-coined words owing their origin to productions or circum of the tountry. 16 Words derived from European languages, especially the French, Span ish, a nd Dutch. 7 I ndian words. (SI Negroisms. DO Peculiarities of pronunciation. Accepting for the present this arrangement. we may cite ex amples (•f archaisms, fall, for autumn, freshet. to lam. in the sense of to beat. to squelch. and to tarry. These are only a few: for an American philologist has stated that of the words, phrases. and constructions found in the Bible and Book of Common Prayer, "about one-sixth, which arc no longer used in England in ordinary prose writing, would apparently be used without thought or hesitation by an American author." Among the many English words used in a differ ent or perverted sense are born for stable: boards, for deals; buggy, a four-wheeled vehicle— in England. two-wheeled; calico, printed cotton, in England means unpriuted: clever, for good natured — in England, generally, intelligent or skillful: corn, for maize, whereas in England it means wheat, in Scotland, oats, and in Ireland, barley: cracker, for biscuit; depot, for station; dress, for gown: forehanded, well-to-do--in Eng land, means timely, early: hack, a hackney coach—in England. a hired horse; homely, plain featured—in England, homelike or unadorned; to je•, to haggle—in England. to cheat; likely, for promising; lumber, for timber; to mail, for to post: notify. to give notiee—in Eng land, to make known: pond. a natural pool of water—in England. artificial; reliable, for trustworthy; saloon, for tap-room: smart, for talented: smudge, a smouldering fire used to drive away insects—in England, simply an over powering smoke; store, for shop; tavern. for inn (a tavern in Great Britain provides no lodg ings) ; temper, with us meaning passion, is in England control of passion; ugly, for ill-natured; renison, deer's flesh—in England, meat of any wild animal ; track, for line: rest, for waistcoat.
We use also, in large number, different words for the same. thing, as conductor. for guard; edi torial, for leader: elevator, for lift; horse-car, for tram, and sleeper, for tie.
Examples of words retaining here their old meaning are: Ficshy, in the sense of stout: offal, the parts of a butchered animal not worth salt ing: sick, in the sense of and wilt, in the sense of wither. On the other hand, to heft, meaning with us, to weigh by lifting, keeps, in England, its original meaning, to lift. Many words called archaic or provincial by English writers are widely current among Americans in both speech and literature—among them adze, affectation, angry (wound), andiron, bay-window, bearer (at a funeral), to blaze (a tree). burly. cesspool, clodhopper. counterfeit money. cross-purposes, deft. din, hasp, loophole, ornate, ragamuffin, shingle. stand (speaker's), stock (cattle). thill, toadV, tramp, truck, and underpinning. Among newly-coined words and expressions are these, plainly their origin on the frontier or in the forest: backwoods, cache, clearing, to draw a bead, to fight fire. a gone coon. hogwal low. logging camp, prairie schooner. raft (of dead trees), squatter, squaw-man. the timber, and trapper. Ranch life has given us such words as corral, cowboy, roundup, and stampede; the min ing regions. bed-rock, diggings, to pan out, to prospect. and to stake a claim. From the farm and plantation we have obtained among others, bagasse, broom-corn. Hessian tly. Indian meal, and truck-patch: while trade has supplied us with bogus, drummer, posted up. and to settle (a bill). Many others might be added from the language of Wall Street. Our political terms and phrases include the following, most of which are the subject of special articles in this Encv elopa(dia: Agricultural wheel, barnburner, bloody shirt, boodle. buncombe. carpet-bagger. caucus. copperhead, to eat crow, dark horse, doughface, favorite sons, fence-riding. F. F. V.'s, filibuster, tire-eater, ,gerrymander. half breed, stalwart, bunker. jayhawker, Ku-Klux-Klan, loco-foco. log rolling, Lynch law, Mugwump. omnibus bill, pipe-laying, plank, primary, reconstruction, salt river, shinplaster, spellbinder, squatter sover eignty, Greeubacker, wire-puller, Yazoo fraud.