_Young._" [The definition here
is hardly complete; since the word means also to burn longer than.]
"OUT-CANT, _v. a._ To surpass in canting. _Pope._"
"OUT-CHEAT, _v. a._ To surpass in cheating."
"OUT-CURSE, _v. a._ To surpass in cursing."
"OUT-DRINK, _v. a._ To exceed in drinking. _Donne._"
"OUT-FAWN, _v. a._ To excel in fawning. _Hudibras._"
"OUT-FEAT, _v. a._ To surpass in feats. _Smart._"
"OUT-FLASH, _v. a._ To surpass in flashing. _Clarke._"
Similar words occur at frequent intervals through nine columns. Dr.
Webster is equally relentless, (even roping in a few estrays in his
Appendix,) and we hardly know which has out-worded the other. We were
surprised to find in neither the useful and legitimate substantive form
of _outgo_, as the opposite of _income_. This superfluousness (unless
we apply Voltaire's saying, "_Le superflu, chose bien necessaire_" to
dictionaries also) is the result, we suppose, of the rivalry of
publishers, who have done their best to persuade the public that
numerosity is the chief excellence in works of this kind, and that
whoever buys their particular quarto may be sure of an honest
pennyworth and of owning a thousand or two more words than his less
judicious neighbors. In this way a false standard is manufactured, to
which the lexicographer must conform, if he would have a remunerative
sale for his book.
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