exclude every thing which comes not under the
name." [453] The example may be amended thus: "A definition is a _short and
lucid_ description of a _thing, or species, according to its nature and
properties._"]

(2.) "Language, in general, signifies the expression of our ideas by
certain articulate sounds, which are used as the signs of those
ideas."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 53. (3.) "A WORD is an articulate _sound_ used
by common consent as the sign of an idea,"--_Bullions, Analyt. and Pract.
Gr._, p. 17. (4.) "A word is a sound, or combination of sounds, which is
used in the expression of thought"--_Hazen's Gram._, p. 12. (5.) "_Words_
are articulate sounds, used as _signs_ to convey our ideas."--_Hiley's
Gram._, p. 5. (6.) "A _word_ is a number of letters used together to
represent some idea."--_Hart's E. Gram._, p. 28. (7.) "A _Word_ is a
combination of letters, used as the sign of an idea."--_S. W. Clark's
Practical Gram._, p. 9. (8.) "A _word_ is a letter or a combination of
letters, used as the sign of an idea."--_Wells's School Gram._, p. 41. (9.)
"Words are articulate sounds, by which ideas are communicated."--_Wright's
Gram._, p. 28. (10.) "Words are certain articulate sounds used by common
consent as signs of our ideas."--_Bullions, Principles of E. Gram._, p. 6;
_Lat. Gram._, 6; see _Lowth, Murray, Smith, et al._ (11.) "Words are sounds
used as signs of our ideas."--_W. Allen's Gram._, p. 30. (12.) "Orthography
means _word-making_ or _spelling_.'"--_Kirkham's Gram._, p. 19; _Smith's
New Gram._, p. 41. (13.) "A vowel is a letter, the name of which
constitutes a full, open sound."--_Hazen's Gram._, p. 10; _Lennie's, 5;
Brace's, 7._ (14.) "Spelling is the art of reading by naming the letters
singly, and rightly dividing words into their syllables. Or, in writing, it
is the expressing of a word by its proper letters."--_Lowth's Gram._, p. 5;
_Churchill's_, 20. (15.) "Spelling is the art of rightly dividing words
into their syllables, or of expressing a word by its proper
letters."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 21; _Ingersoll's, 6; Merchant's, 10;
Alger's, 12; Greenleaf's, 20_; and others. (16) "Spelling is the art of
expressing words by their proper letters; or of rightly dividing words into
syllables."--_Comly's Gram._, p. 8. (17.) "Spelling is the art of
expressing a word by its proper letters, and rightly dividing it into
syllables."--_Bullions's Princ. of E. Gram._, p. 2. (18.) "Spelling is the
art of expressing a word by