Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary Blog

The Beineke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale is blogging a word a day from Samuel Johnson’s seminal A Dictionary of the English Language. Their selections are so far tending toward the obscure (i.e. bandog), and include great photos of the book and many handwritten additions and corrections. I wonder how many of these words were actually in common usage in 1755, especially those where Shakespeare is given as the only reference. It’s a lexical cabinet of curiosities.