Johnson's Dictionary
A Dictionary of the English Language, by Dr Samuel Johnson
Or, to give it it’s full title: ‘A dictionary of the English Language: in which the words are deduced from their originals, and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers. To which are prefixed, a history of the language, and an English grammar'.
Johnson arrived in London aged 28 and began work as a hack writer, producing and editing articles for The Gentleman’s Magazine, and quickly achieved critical success with his poem, London, published in 1738.
This success, however, did not bring any relief to Johnson’s extremely constrained finances, and he continued as a struggling writer for some years until finally, in 1746, he was approached by a consortium of publishers in and around Fleet Street. They had identified the need for a much-improved English dictionary and commissioned Johnson to compile one.
Gough Square
The contract with William Strahan and associates, worth 1,500 guineas, was signed on the morning of 18 June 1746. Johnson quickly produced and printed his Plan of the dictionary, in which he explored the approach he would take, and moved into his (rented) home at 17 Gough Square in 1747. In the near 50 years that Johnson ultimately lived in London - in at least 17 different addresses – it was here in Gough Square that he spent the longest period of time, it’s where he had the most prolific decade of his life as a writer (not least with his Dictionary) and it is the only one of all those buildings which is still standing to this day.
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‘Dictionaries are like watches: the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.’ Dr Johnson, Letter to Francesco Sastres, 21 August 1784
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Johnson had agreed to finish the Dictionary within three years. At this time, and well known to Johnson, the Académie Française supposedly had 40 scholars spending 40 years to complete their dictionary, which prompted Johnson to claim, ‘This is the proportion. Let me see; forty times forty is sixteen hundred. As three to sixteen hundred, so is the proportion of an Englishman to a Frenchman.’ Although he did not succeed in completing the work in three years, he did manage to finish it within nine, publishing his Dictionary of the English Language in 1755 with the title page noting that the University of Oxford had awarded Johnson a Master of Arts degree in anticipation of the work. From then on Johnson’s fame was assured and he was known as ‘Dictionary Johnson’. ​
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It may gratify curiosity to inform it, that the English Dictionary was written with little assistance of the learned, and without any patronage of the great; not in the soft obscurities of retirement, or under the shelter of academick bowers, but amidst inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow.’ Preface, Dictionary of the English Language
Assistants
Johnson’s constant work on the Dictionary disrupted his and Tetty’s (his wife) living conditions. He had to employ a number of ‘amanuenses’ as assistants, which filled the house with incessant noise and clutter. He was always busy, and kept hundreds of books around him. His friend, the writer John Hawkins, described the scene: ‘The books he used for this purpose were what he had in his own collection, a copious but a miserably ragged one, and all such as he could borrow; which latter, if ever they came back to those that lent them, were so defaced as to be scarce worth owning.’ Johnson’s process included underlining words in the numerous books he wanted to include in his Dictionary, and mark the sentence in which the word featured. The assistants would contribute to this empirical research, and would then copy out the underlined sentences on individual paper slips, which would later be alphabetized and accompanied with examples.
In preparation, Johnson had written a Plan for the Dictionary. Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, was the patron of the Plan, to Johnson’s displeasure. Seven years after first meeting Johnson to go over the work, Chesterfield wrote two anonymous essays in The World recommending the Dictionary. He complained that the English language lacked structure and argued in support of the dictionary. Johnson did not like the tone of the essays, and he felt that Chesterfield had not fulfilled his obligations as the work's patron.[87] In a letter to Chesterfield, Johnson expressed this view and harshly criticised Chesterfield, saying ‘Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind: but it has been delayed till I am indifferent and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary and cannot impart it; till I am known and do not want it.’ Chesterfield, impressed by the language, kept the letter displayed on a table for his visitors to read.
Literary Quotations
The Dictionary as published was a large book. Its pages were nearly 18 inches (46 cm) tall, and the book was 20inches (51cm) wide when opened; it contained 42,773 entries, to which only a few more were added in subsequent editions, and it sold for the extravagant price of £4 10s, roughly the equivalent of a few hundred pounds today - or about 8 months’ wages for the average servant at this time. It sold well and was quickly reprinted.
An important innovation in English lexicography was to illustrate the meanings of his words by literary quotation, of which there were approximately 114,000. The authors most frequently cited include William Shakespeare, John Milton and John Dryden. It was years before Johnson's Dictionary, as it came to be known, turned a profit. Authors’ royalties were unknown at the time, and Johnson, once his contract to deliver the book was fulfilled, received no further money from its sale and Johnson continued to suffer some financial difficulty. Years later, many of its quotations were repeated by various editions of the Noah Webster’s Dictionary.
Hotcockles, Jiggumbob, Twittletwattle
and other tongue twisters from Dr Johnson’s Dictionary
Anatiferous, adjective: Producing ducks.
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Backfriend, noun: A friend backwards; that is, an enemy in secret.
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Camelopard, noun: An Abyssinian animal, taller than an elephant, but not so thick. He is so named, because he has a neck and head like a camel; he is spotted like a pard, but his spots are white upon a red ground. The Italians call him giaraffa.
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Cynanthropy, noun: A species of madness in which men have the qualities of dogs.
Dull, adjective: Not exhilarating; not delightful: as, to make dictionaries is dull work.
Fart, noun: Wind from behind.
Love is the fart
Of every heart;
It pains a man when ‘tis kept close;
And others doth offend, when ‘tis let loose
Gynecocracy, noun: Petticoat government; female power.
Hotcockles, noun: A play [game] in which one covers his eyes, and guesses who strikes him."
Jiggumbob, noun: A trinket; a knick-knack; a slight contrivance in machinery.
He rifled all his pokes and fobs
Of gimcracks, whims, and jiggumbobs. Hudibras, p. iii.
Lexicographer, noun: A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words.
Monsieur, noun [French]: A term of reproach for a Frenchman.
Mouth-friend, noun: One who professes friendship without intending it.
Oats, noun: A Grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.
Patron, noun: One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery.
Pension, noun: An allowance made to anyone without an equivalent. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country.
Pissburnt, adjective: Stained with urine.
Politician, noun: 1. One versed in the arts of government; one skilled in politicks. 2. A man of artifice; one of deep contrivance.
Shapesmith, noun: One who undertakes to improve the form of the body – aka. a personal trainer.
Slubberdegullion, noun: A paltry, dirty, sorry wretch.
"Quoth she, although thou hast deserv'd,
Base slubberdegullion, to be serv'd
As thou did'st vow to deal with me,
If thou had'st got the victory. Hudibras"
Sock, noun: Something put between the foot and shoe.
Tarantula, noun: An insect whose bite is only cured by musick.
Trolmydames, noun: Of this word I know not the meaning.
Twittletwattle, noun: (A ludicrous reduplication of twattle.) Tattle; gabble. A vile word.
Watermelon, noun: A plant. It hath trailing branches, as the cucumber or melon, and is distinguished from other cucurbitaceous plants, by its leaf deeply cut and jagged, and by its producing uneatable fruit.
To worm, verb: To deprive a dog of something, nobody knows what, under his tongue, which is said to prevent him, nobody knows why, from running mad.
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