A Dictionary of Cont..

hundred
in which something turns out the very opposite
of what was expected. Thus it is a common
irony of fate that rewards and honors passionately
desired when we are young are often conferred
when we are old and no longer prize
them.
Sarcasm derives from a Greek word meaning
a tearing of the flesh, or a biting of the lips in
rage. It designates a sneer or a taunt uttered in
contempt or bitterness. It sometimes employs
irony, but when it does so it makes no effort
to conceal the real meaning under the apparent
one. Aren’t you clever! spoken tauntingly after
someone’s blunder or exhibition of ignorance
would be a piece of sarcasm. Montesquieu was
being sarcastic when he said that it would not
do to suppose that Negroes were men, lest it
should turn out that Whites were not. Sarcasm
is usually violent in its aggressiveness, rough
and brutal in the extreme, the very opposite of
humor.
Satire is the employment of irony, sarcasm,
ridicule, and so on, for the purpose of exposing
vice, denouncing folly or indecorum. It differs
from invective in that it remains humorous.
Swift left his fortune to found a lunatic asylum
in Ireland,
To show [he said] by one satiric touch
No nation wanted it so much.
See also burlesque, jocularity.
hundred. This word was originally a noun and
was followed by of, as in one hundred of
leagues. Today the singular form hundred is
treated as a cardinal number. That is, it is
treated as an adjective and used without of, as
in three hundred Spartans, except when referring
to part of a specified group, as in two hundred
of these men. An expression involving
hundred is usually treated as a plural, as in
three hundred men were admitted, but it may
also be treated as a singular, as in two hundred
years is a very long time.
The plural form hundreds cannot be qualified
by a numeral. It is a noun and requires of when
followed by the name of anything countable,
as in hundreds of men; the of is omitted only
before a degree word such as more, less, too
many, as in hundreds more men.
Few usually takes the adjective construction,
as in a few hundred men; many usually takes
the noun construction, as in many hundreds of
men. But either form may be used with either
word.
hundredweight. This word has a regular plural
hundredweights, but only the singular form is
used with a number word, as in a few hundredweight
of coal. In Great Britain, a hundredweight
is 112 pounds.
hung. See hang.
hunt. An Englishman hunts foxes, hares, stags
and other wild mammals, but he shoots game
birds. An American hunts birds and beasts
alike. Except by the very few who indulge in
fox hunting, no American refers to a hunting
expedition as a hunt. One who hunts is in
America a hunter, not a huntsman or sports-
man. A hunter in England today is likely to be
a horse especially trained for hunting (He rode
with dash upon a thoroughbred hunter), but it
was not always so (The horn of the hunter is
heard on the hill).
hurl; hurdle; hurtle. To hurl is to fling violently
(He hurled the book across the room). To
hurdle is to leap over a barrier or hurdle or,
by extension, to overcome some difficulty that
can be conceived of as a hurdle on a racetrack.
To hurtle is to rush violently, to strike
together noisily, to resound noisily, as in collision
(The train hurtled through the station
with a great rushing wind that rattled the windows
and shook the doors and flung cinders
and gravel against the decrepit building). Hurtle
is sometimes used to mean hurl, especially when
the hurling is accompanied by noise, but on
the whole the word is bookish and slightly
archaic.
hurricane. See cyclone.
hurt. The past tense is hurt. The participle is aho
hurt.
husky in the sense of burly, sturdy, muscular is
an Americanism (Thirty-eight men he counted,
a wild and huskv crew). It is known in England,
from American- literature and moving pi&u-es;
but not used.
hussy; huzzy. See housewife.
hydrolysis. The plural is hydrolyses.
hymenal; hymeueal; hymenial. Hymenal relates
to the hymen. Hymeneal relates to marriage.
Hymenial relates to the hymenium, the sporebearing
surface in certain fungi.
hyper-; hypo-. The prefix hyper- means over,
above, and hence in excess. An organ which is
hypertrophied has grown larger than its proper
size. One who is hypersensitive is sensitive beyond
the normal. A hyperbole is an exaggeration.
The prefix hypo- means under. A hypodermic
needle goes under the skin or epidermis. A
hypocrite was originally a secondary figure on
the stage. Hypocrisy may thus derive from the
idea of playing a part like an actor. Or it may
mean one who conceals an evil intention under
a pretense of goodness. Shipley thinks it derives
from the fact that the secondary actor served
as what in stage parlance today is called “a
straight man.” That is, he answered back. And
we cannot believe that anyone who answers
back, who maintains an opinion opposed to our
own, is sincere.
hyperbole is the term in rhetoric for obvious
exaggeration. There is no intent to deceive. The
extravagant language is for emphasis only. Ours
is a hyperbolical age. We give a million thanks
for a trifling favor and are forever indebted for
something which we have forgotten before we
have turned the corner. Such a fashion may
sometimes make simple sincerity seem sullen
indifference but more often it serves by the
force of contrast to give plain speech great
weight and effectiveness.
hyphens. Hyphens are sometimes used to indicate
stammering, as in s-s-see, or spelling out, as in
c-a-n-d-y. Their more important uses are to join