false 49256 84 A virtual onslaught of acerbic, confrontational wordplay, The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary offers some 1,600 wickedly clever definitions to the vocabulary of everyday life. Little is sacred and few are safe, for Ambrose Bierce targets just about any pursuit, from matrimony to immortality, that allows our willful failings and excesses to shine forth. <P>This is the most extensively annotated edition of a work by Bierce ever published, and the first edition of The Devil's Dictionary to provide detailed bibliographical information on every entry. It will be celebrated by wits and word lovers everywhere. <P>First time in paperback. 865289 1911 The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary total:1326|5:602|4:489|3:201|2:29|1:5| 1326 5632 1963 121 4 36 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sat Dec 20 22:52:03 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 22 05:17:42 -0800 2008 goodreads, n. Website designed to prevent people who enjoy books from finding time to read them.

review, v.i. Demonstrate, through a short essay, appreciation for one's own wit.


]]> 5 3 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri May 04 20:46:32 -0700 2007 Tue May 08 04:56:39 -0700 2007 Conservative, n. A statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others.
Impiety, n. Your irreverence toward my deity.
Patriotism, n. Combustible rubbish ready to the torch of any one ambitious to illuminate his name. In D...more...]]> 5 3 false false Wed Dec 19 03:54:16 -0800 2007 Thu Oct 30 10:48:43 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Fri Jan 11 12:36:02 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 11 12:37:36 -0800 2008 5 1 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Fri Mar 02 12:23:29 -0800 2007 Fri Mar 02 12:30:43 -0800 2007
"Love: n. A temporary insanity curable by marriage or by removal of the patient from the influences under which he incurred the disorder. This disease, like caries and many o...more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Tue Jun 12 13:07:48 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 12 13:16:15 -0700 2007 His definition of Oblivion:The state or condition in which the wicked cease from struggling and the dreary are at rest. fame's eternal dumping ground. Cold storage fo...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 1969 Sun Jan 25 01:47:05 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 02:08:41 -0800 2009 1
We met when he did sophomore World History. Hank Kupjack, my first true friend in high school, if not in life, was...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Wed Dec 31 02:50:39 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 31 05:14:27 -0800 2008
...Some purists might claim that the only measure of cleverness that counts is whether one avoids "disappea...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun May 13 19:37:29 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 01 15:50:21 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu May 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Nov 30 18:19:12 -0800 2007 Fri Aug 08 12:20:21 -0700 2008
P.S. I was going to put up quotes from this book, but then I realized that pretty much everything in this book is quote-able. It's like a collection of quote-able-ness. Totally jokes.

P.P.S. The definition for "I" is fantastic.]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1986 Tue Jul 03 06:27:03 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 03 06:29:16 -0700 2007 4 1 false false Thu Aug 23 08:29:38 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 23 08:32:06 -0700 2007 5 1 false false Mon Oct 01 18:08:16 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 01 18:19:58 -0700 2007 5 1 false false Sun Mar 18 18:56:16 -0700 2007 Sun Apr 22 17:37:53 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Tue Jan 20 21:15:02 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 20 21:31:01 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Sun Jan 13 10:01:24 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 13 10:02:21 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Wed Feb 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 05:35:54 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 09:35:02 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Thu Oct 23 01:01:33 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 23 01:05:41 -0700 2008 Here are a few of my favorite entries.

Cannon
An instrument employed in the rectification of national boundaries.

Christ...more...]]> 3 2 false false Fri May 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 06 16:48:49 -0700 2008 Thu May 07 20:37:20 -0700 2009 Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary.

I giggled, I guffawed, I snorted, and I laughed in turns. I smiled at some particularly insightful bits of satire. I nodded happily when Bierce's wit assaulted his peers or scored a palpable hit on an issue or a word I...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 07 08:47:53 -0800 2007 Wed Jan 16 21:13:18 -0800 2008
LEXICOGRAPHER, n. A pestilent fellow who, under the pretense of recording some particular stage in the development of a language, does what he can to arrest its growth, stiffen its flexibility and mechanize its methods. For your lexi...more...]]>