A Dictionary of Cont..

armed to the teeth. This expression would se:em
to refer to pirates or sailors who in a naval
engagement, pistols and knives thrust in their
belts, held their cutlasses in their teeth at the
moment of boarding, so that they might have
their hands free to clutch the rigging or the
gunwales. Or at least they are occasionally
so depicted in romantic drawings and stories.
The excess of ferocity of such overloading with
implements of war has about it-at least from
the safety of our distance from it-something
comic, and the phrase is almost always used
now with a humorous intention. Indeed, it
strikes us as incongruous to find the phrase
used seriously, as in William Cullen Bryant’s
apostrophe to Freedom: Armed to the teeth,
art thou.
It has, however, been more than a century
now since pirates have boarded ships, with or
without cutlasses in their teeth, and the phrase
is stale and should be avoided.
arms. When referring to weapons, this is a mass
word with plural form. It is followed by a
plural verb but cannot be used with a numeral
or a numeral word such as many or few. It
has no singular form an arm.
This does not apply to the compound firearms.
This is treated as a regular plural, as
in he had three firearms. The singular form
a firearm is rare but can be used.
aroma. An aroma was originally a spice. The
Ancren Riwle, an old English religious work,
says that the three Maries brought aromas for
to smear our Lord. Then it came to mean .the
odor of spices and then, its current meaning,
a spicy odor or bouquet.
Our forefathers, much given to euphemism
and jocularity, often used aroma facetiously
as a synonym for smell and, their humorous
intention forgotten, some continue to use it in
this way seriously, though they still keep
enough of the proper meaning to apply it to
pleasant smells. But, even so, it is better to
restrict it to its specific meaning.
The plural is aromas or aromata, not aromae.
arose. See arise.
around; round. In the United States round is
used to describe an object, as in this round
world, but otherwise the form around is preferred,
as in they flew around the world and
the earth turns around. In Great Britain around
has almost disappeared from speech and round
is generally preferred, as in they flew round
the-world and sleeping the clock round. The
British form is unusual in the United States
but it is acceptable. It should not be written
with an apostrophe, as in ‘round.
In Great Britain round always suggests a
circle. It means circular or surrounding. In
the United States around can also be used to
mean within a certain area, as in they traveled
around Europe, and approximately, as in he
is worth around a million. These uses have
been standard in the United States for at least
seventy-five years.
arrange. This word may be followed by an infinitive,
as in I arranged to meet him at five,
41 artillery
If the -ing form of a verb is used it must be
introduced by the preposition for, as in I
arranged for meeting him at five. Arrange may
also be followed by a clause, but the clause
verb must be a subjunctive or a subjunctive
equivalent, as in I arranged that 1. should
meet him at five. The infinitive construction is
generally preferred.
arrant. See errant.
arresting; striking; impressive. Arresting is recognized
by almost all dictionaries as a synonym
for striking, in the sense of impressive. But
the careful writer will, as always, try to select
the adjective that gives the exact meaning he
wants to express. An arresting occurrence is
one that stops and holds the attention. Impressive
(perhaps merely in its sound, which
is a considerable reason) suggests a more
massive impact than striking.
arrival. See advent.
arrive on the scene. It is better just to arrive.
The histrionics, obvious in the phrase, have
been overworked.
arrogance. See pride.
arrogate; arrogant. See abrogate.
art; artifice; artful; artificial; arty. The ordinary
man mistrusts the skilled man, assuming
(probably with full justification) that he will
employ his skill unscrupulously to his own
advantage. And the man who lacks a skill has
a tendency to revenge himself upon anyone
who has it by despising him. Hence although
art keeps its primary meaning of skill or the
product of a skill, it has a secondary meaning
of wiliness or trickery, and in most of its
derivatives the derogatory meaning has come
to predominate.
An artifice is now almost always a cunning
or crafty stratagem. (Both cunning and crafty
were once quite innocent words, meaning
simply knowing and able.) It was not always
so; formerly God himself was often called the
Great Artificer of the universe.
Artful is now definitely condemnatory, suggesting
one who takes unfair advantage, though
it once meant wise or admirably clever. Dickens’
Artful Dodger seems a more proper expression
to us today than Milton’s artful strains.
Artificial, as opposed to natural, has always
been condemnatory, though, amusingly, handmade
(which means the same thing) has come
in our machine age to be a term of high
approbation with much of the estimation
attached to natural. See also synthetic.
Arty is slang. The suffix expresses contempt.
Sometimes the contempt is just for art itself
but there is usually at least a pretense that it
is for exaggerated or deliberately contrived
effects that are more obvious than true skill
would have made them.
articles. In English grammar there are two
“articles” -the word a or an, which is called
the indefinite article, and the word the, which
is called the definite article. Articles qualify
nouns and are therefore a kind of adjective.
artillery. When referring to men this word usually
takes a plural verb, as in the artillery were