The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-11-24
Friday, November "A, 1893.
THE STUDY OF A WORD.
The Resources ansi Variety Of Information
II Is likely to Furnish.

The Resources ansl Variety OF Information
1t Is Likely to Furnish.
The great dictionaries are a library in
themselves and furnish an exhaustless
source of information. A study of a
single word like cross in the Century
Dictionary shows the and va
riety of information that a familiar
word may furnish. There are Isl col
aims devoted to this word and its COM
b~inations. There are "a pictorial illus
trations. All in all there are 25s differ
ent words made out of cross which have
to be defined. In the great Oxford Die
tionary there are II pages given to this
word, or twice as much as in the Cen
fury. In the Century the study is
highly fascinating. There are IA radical
" different sets of definitions to the
word itself.
the cross. the crux for c~rucifying, but it
has come to have a variety of meaning
- a monument. a cruciix, the atone
ment, the Christian religion itself, any
suffering for Christ's sake, anything that
thwarts or vexes, a mixing of breeds i'll
animal breeding, a term used in chang
ing plants. a joint in a pipe. the acct
dental contact of two electric wires, a
sportsman phrase for a contest dishon-
estly decided.
Then cross becomes an adjective, with
several meanings. as falling, athwart,
passing from one of two positions, per-
verse, ETC., to the other, being opposed.
-1eing peevish OF fretful, i'll tempered,
thoroughly contrary, in the breeders
vocabulary. Then it becomes an adverb,
meaning t~ransversely or adversely. Then
it becomes a verb, with all kinds Of sig
n~ifcance, from the running of a line to
o q thing, to cancel by crossing, to
cross ones self i~ndevotion, passing from
eide to side of a man, to go over a body
of water, to Obstruct, to cause to inter-
fere, to cross plants, to hoist from the
deck to its place Oh the mast any of the
lighter yards.
Then there is the proposition, in riding
~sCxOss-country or walking cross-lots. All
this with the simple word itself. which
goes cavorting from the most sacred
thought in the world to the breeders
and the sportsman's language of the
coop and ranch.
After this the mysteries begin. There
are crosses-anserated, arellane, bezan-
ty, bretesse, catoosed, commisse, Gre
nele, estoile, ftche, feury, gringole, lam
beaux, moline, nowyed, nyle, quatre-
foil, ~saltier, s~arele, resarceled. Then
there are the iunumerable compounds Of
cross from cross-;irined, cross-bated,
crOss-biter, cross-bar and cross-bun.
through cross-flucan, cross-rutf. cross,
sower and cross-spale to crossword.
Then there are II c~ru,s-grained set of
crosses, such as crossarchinal, cross
archus, crossette, crossopinai, crossop
terygia, crossopterysian. crossopterygi-
dae. crossopterygii. crosso.terygia. cross
O~pterygiuln, crossopus. crossOrnlned ana
crossorhininae.
1t is incomprehensible that ii word So
simple should have gone r%ollicking all
over the earth, into the bowels of the
earth, into tho depths of the sea, among
the fowls Of the air. the horse upon the
turf, to card table, to the ships upon the
sea. to the fishes III their giee. to the
sharks III their ferocity. to the architect
and plumber. to the farmer in his har-
rowing, to the railroad in It's building,
to the engine III its working, to the seam
stress in her labors, to the spider in his
webbing, to the spinner at his loom, to
the lawyers in their pleading, to a shrew
in her wrangins, to the gunner III the
fort. to the miner at his lode, to the
sTurk as he sits. to the sword OF the glad
iator. to the expert with his telescope, to
the woman III her gazing aud in hel
dressing, to the athletes IN their wres-
Ting and to the swindler at Lis arts.-A.
E. Winship in journal OF Education.
Queer Phenomena of Falling Bodies.