f" follows a reverse process, and
leads the mind from the conclusion to the premises. We say: "What do you
infer _from_ this?" and "How do you _prove_ that?"[5] Another
illustration may be quoted in the synonyms, "expense" and "cost." The
same article may be expensive and costly; but we speak of _expense_ in
reference to the means of the purchaser; of _cost_, in reference to the
actual value of the article.'

This work does not profess to deal much with _etymologies_; the author
thinking that any very strict attention to the _derivation_ of words, in
connection with synonyms, would only tend to confuse the subject. The
history of the origin and growth of words must undoubtedly throw light
upon their meanings; but he, nevertheless, holds the two questions to be
completely distinct and separable; and thinks that, in an inquiry into
the _actual_ and _present_ meaning of a word, the consideration of what
it originally meant may frequently lead us into error. A few suggestive
remarks are given upon this matter.

'Our question is, not what _ought_ to be, or formerly was, the meaning
of a word, but what it _now_ is; nor can we be completely guided by
quotations from Shakspeare or Milton, or even from Addison or Johnson.
Language has undergone such changes, even within the last sixty or
seventy years, that many words, at that time considered pure, are now
obsolete; while others--of which the word "mob" is a specimen--formerly
slang, are now used by our best writers, and received, like pardoned
outlaws, into the body of respectable citizens.' The standard,
accordingly, to which the author refers in the work before us, is the
sense in which a word is used by the purest writers and most correct
speakers of our own days.

The synonyms are arranged or classed according to the parts of speech to
which they belong--namely, into particles, nouns, adjectives, and verbs.
The uses of all the words are well defined, and sufficiently illustrated
by examples; a table of contents and a complete index are also added,
rendering reference to any word as easy as looking for it in a
dictionary. The table of contents, indeed, will be found to serve most
of the purposes of a vocabulary of synonyms: a glance at it will
frequently give you all the words of similar signification to the
particular one for which you may happen to require an equivalent. From
the part of the book relating to _verbs_, we take the following; the
words under notice being,