Option is immediately of Latin derivation, and is consequently a term of less frequent use than the word choice, which has been shown (v. To choose) to be of Celtic origin. The former term, from the Greek Orтóμal to see or consider, implies an uncontrolled act of the mind; the latter a simple leaning of the will. We speak of option only as regards one's freedom from external constraint in the act of choosing: one speaks of choice only as the simple act itself. The option or the power of choosing is given; the choice itself is made: hence we say a thing is at a person's option, or it is his own option, or the option is left to him, in order to designate his freedom of choice more strongly than is expressed by the word choice itself; Whilst they talk we must make our choice, they or the jacobins. We have no other option.' BURke. TO GATHER, COLLECT. To gather, in Saxon gatherian, probably contracted from get here, signifies simply to bring to one spot. To collect, from colligo or col, cum, and lego to gather into one place, annexes also the idea of binding or forming into a whole; we gather that which is scattered in different parts: thus stones are gathered into a heap; vessels are collected so as to form a fleet. Gathering is a mere act of necessity or convenience; As the small ant (for she instructs the man, The royal bee, queen of the rosy bower, We gather apples from a tree, or a servant gathers the books from the table; the antiquarian collects coins, or the bibliomaniac collects rare books. ACCEPTABLE, GRATEFUL, WELCOME. Acceptable signifies worthy to be accepted; grateful, from the Latin gratus pleasing, signifies altogether pleasing; it is that which recommends itself. The acceptable is a relative good; the grateful is positive: the former depends upon our external condition, the latter on our feelings and taste: a gift is acceptable to a poor man, which would be refused by one less needy than himself; I cannot but think the following letter from the Emperor of China to the Pope of Rome, proposing a coalition of the Chinese and Roman Churches, will be acceptable to the curious.' STEELE. Harmonious sounds are always grateful to a musical ear; The kids with pleasure browze the bushy plain : DRYDEN. Acceptable and welcome both apply to external circumstances, and are therefore relatively employed; but acceptable is confined to such things as are offered for our choice; but welcome, signifying come well or in season, refers to whatever happens according to our wishes we may not always accept that which is acceptable, but we shall never reject that which is welcome it is an insult to offer any thing by way gift to another which is not acceptable; it is a grateful task to be the bearer of welcome intelligence to our friends; Whatever is remote from common appearances is always welcome to vulgar as to childish credulity.' JOHNSON. 6 ACCEPTANCE, ACCEPTATION, of a Though both derived from the verb accept, have this difference, that the former is employed to express the abstract action generally; the latter only in regard to particular objects. A book, or whatever else is offered to us, may be worthy of our acceptance or not; 'It is not necessary to refuse benefits from a bad man, when the acceptance implies no approbation of his crimes.' JOHNSON. A word acquires its acceptation from the manner in which it is generally accepted by the learned; On the subject of dress I may add by way of caution that the ladies would do well not to forget themselves. I do not mean this in the common acceptation of the phrase, which it may be sometimes convenient and proper to do.' MACKENZIE. To admit is a general term, the sense of which depends upon what follows; to receive has a complete sense in itself: we cannot speak of admitting, without associating with it an idea of the object to which one * Girard: "Amettre, recevoir.” A person is received only by the actual consent of some individual; He star'd and roll'd his haggard eyes around; We may be admitted in various capacities; we are received only as guests, friends, or inmates. Persons are admitted to the tables, and into the familiarity or confidence of others; The Tyrian train, admitted to the feast, Approach, and on the painted couches rest. Dryden. Persons are hospitably received by those who wish to be their entertainers; Pretending to consult About the great reception of their king Thither to come. MILTON. we receive We admit willingly or reluctantly; politely or rudely. Foreign ambassadors are admitted to an audience, and received at court. It is necessary to be cautious not to admit any one into our society, who may not be agreeable and suitable companions; but still more necessary not to receive any one into our houses whose character may reflect disgrace on ourselves. Whoever is admitted as a member of any community should consider himself as bound to conform to its regulations: whoever is received into the service of another should study to make himself valued and esteemed. A winning address, and agreeable manners, gain a person admittance into the genteelest circles: the talent for affording amusement procures a person a good reception among the mass of mankind. When applied to unconscious agents there is a similar distinction between these terms: ideas are admitted into the mind by means of association and the like; There are some ideas which have admittance only through one sense, which is peculiarly adapted to receive them.' LOCKE. Things are received by others in consequence of their adaptation to each other; The thin-leav'd arbute hazel-grafts receives, ADMITTANCE, ACCESS, APPROACH. Admittance marks the act or liberty of admitting (v. To admit, receive); access, from accedo to approach or come up to, marks the act or liberty of approaching; approach, from ap or ad and proximus nearest, signifies coming near or drawing near. We get admittance into a place or a society; we have access to a person; and make an approach either towards a person or a thing. Admittance may be open or excluded; access and approach may be free or difficult. We have admittance when we enter; we have access to him whom we address. There can be no access where there is no admittance; but there may be admittance without access. Servants or officers may grant us admittance into the palaces of princes; 'As my pleasures are almost wholly confined to those of the sight, I take it for a peculiar happiness that I have always had an easy and familiar admittance to the fair sex.' STEELE. The favorites of princes have access to their persons; Do not be surprised, most holy father, at seeing, instead of a coxcomb to laughat, your old friend who has taken this way of access to admonish you of your own folly.' STEELE. Access and admittance are here considered as the acts of conscious agents; approach is as properly the act of unconscious as conscious agents. We may speak of the approach of an army, or the approach of a war; "Tis with our souls Are dazzled at th' approach of sudden light. Admittance may likewise sometimes be taken figuratively, as when we speak of the admittance of ideas into the mind. ADMITTANCE, ADMISSION. These words differ according to the different acceptations of the primitive from which they are both derived; the former being taken in the proper sense or familiar style, and the latter in the figurative sense or in the grave style. The admittance to public places of entertainment is on particular occasions difficult; Assurance never failed to get admittance into the houses of the great." MOORE. The admission of irregularities, however trifling in the commencement, is mostly attended with serious consequences; The gospel has then only a free admission into the assent of the understanding, when it brings a passport from a rightly disposed will.” SOUTH. IMPERVIOUS, IMPASSABLE, INACCESSIBLE. Impervious, from the Latin in, per, and via, signifies not having a way through; impassable, not to be passed through; inaccessible, not to be approached. A wood is impervious when the trees, branches, and leaves are entangled to such a degree as to admit of no passage at all; The monster, Cacus, more than half a beast, DRYDEN A river is impassable that is so deep that it cannot be the particle de, to hold from another; the second, by forded; But lest the difficulty of passing back A rock or a mountain is inaccessible the summit of which is not to be reached by any path whatever; At least our envious foe hath fail'd who thought What is impervious is for a permanency; what is impassable is commonly so only for a time: roads are frequently impassable in the winter that are passable in the summer, while a thicket is impervious during the whole of the year: impassable is likewise said only of that which is to be passed by living creatures, but impervious may be extended to inanimate objects; a wood may be impervious to the rays of the sun. TO APPROACH, APPROXIMATE. Approach, in French approcher, compound of ap or ad and proche, or in Latin prope near, signifies to come near; approximate, compounded of ap and proximus to come nearest or next, signifies either to draw near or bring near. To approach is intransitive only; a person approaches an object; Lambs push at those that approach them with their heads before the first budding of a horn appears.' ADDISON. To approximate is both transitive and intransitive; a person approximates two objects; Shakspeare approximates the remote and far.' JOHNSON. To approach denotes simply the moving of an object towards another, but to approximate denotes the gradual moving of two objects towards each other: that which approaches may come into immediate conjunction; Comets, in their approaches towards the earth, are imagined to cause diseases, famines, and other such like judgments of God.' DERHAM. But bodies may approximate for some time before they form a junction, or may never form a junction. The approximations and recesses of some of the little stars I speak of, suit not with the observations of some very ancient astronomers.' DERHAM. An equivocation approaches to a lie. Minds approximate by long in tercourse. TO HOLD, KEEP, DETAIN, RETAIN. Hold, in Saxon healden, Teutonic holden; is probably connected with the verb to have, in Latin habeo, &c.; keep in all probability comes from capio to lay hold of; detain and retain both come from the Latin teneo to hold; the first signifies, by virtue of virtue of the particle re, signifies to hold back for oneself. To hold is a physical act; it requires a degree of bodily strength, or at least the use of the limbs; to keep is simply to have by one at one's pleasure. The mode of the action is the leading idea in the signification of hold; the durability of the action is the leading idea in the word keep: we may hold a thing only for a moment; but what we keep we keep for a time. On the other hand, we may keep a thing by holding, although we may keep it by various other means: we may therefore hold without keeping, and we may keep without holding. A servant holds a thing in his hand for it to be seen, but he does not keep it; he gives it to his master who puts it into his pocket, and consequently keeps, but does not hold it. thing may be held in the hand, or kept in the hand; in the former case, the pressure of the hand is an essential part of the action, but in the latter case it is simply a contingent part of the action: the hand holds, but the person keeps it. A What is held is fixed in position, but what is kept is left loose, or otherwise, at the will of the individual. Things are held by human beings in their hands, by beasts in their claws or mouths, by birds in their beaks; things are kept by human beings either about their persons or in their houses, according to conveni ence; France, thou mayst hold a serpent by the tongue, Detain and retain are modes of keeping; the former signifies keeping back what belongs to another; the latter signifies keeping a long time for one's own purpose. A person may be either held, kept, detained, or retained when he is held he is held contrary to his will by the hand of another; as suspected persons are held by the officers of justice, that they may not make their escape: he is kept, if he stops in any place, by the desire of another; as a man is kept in prison until his innocence is proved; or a child is kept at school, until he has finished his education: he is detained if he be kept away from any place to which he is going, or from any person to whom he belongs; as the servant of another is detained to take back a letter; or one is detained by business, so as to be prevented attending to an appointment: a person is retained, who is kept for a continuance in the service, the favor, or the power of another; as some servants are said to be retained, while others are dismissed; Too late it was for satyr to be told, In vain he seeks, that having, cannot hold. SPENSER. DRYDEN. 'He has described the passion of Calypso, and the indecent advances she made to detain him from his country.' BROOME. Having the address to retain the conquest she (Roxalana) had made, she kept possession of his (Solyman's) love without any rival for many years.' ROBERTSON. These words bear a similar analogy to each other in an extended application. A money-lender holds the property of others in pledge; the idea of a temporary and partial action is here expressed by hold, in distinction from keep, which is used to express something definite and permanent; Assuredly it is more shame for a man to lose that which he holdeth, than to fail in getting that which he never had.' HAYWARD. The money-lender keeps the property as his own, if the borrower forfeits it by breach of contract; This charge I keep until my appointed day When a person purchases any thing, he is expected to keep it, or pay the value of the thing ordered, if the tradesman fulfil his part of the engagement. What is detained is kept either contrary to the will, or without the consent, of the possessor: when things are suspected to be stolen, the officers of justice have the right of detaining them until inquiry be instituted; Haste! goddess, haste! the flying host detain, What is retained is continued to be kept; it supposes, however, some alteration in the terms or circumstances under which it is kept; a person retains his seat in a coach, notwithstanding he finds it disagreeable; or a lady retains some of the articles of millinery, which are sent for her choice, but she returns the rest; Let me retain The name, and all th' addition to a king. SHAKSPEARE. All are used in a moral application except detain; in this case they are marked by a similar distinction. A person is said to hold an office, by which simple possession is implied; he may hold it for a long or a short time, at the will of others, or by his own will, which are not marked: he keeps a situation, or he keeps his post, by which his continuance in the situation, or at the post, are denoted: he retains his office, by which is signified that he might have given it up, or lost it, had he not been led to continue in it. In like manner, with regard to one's sentiments, feelings, or external circumstances, a man is said to hold certain opinions, which are ascribed to him as a part of his creed; It is a certain sign of a wise government, when it can hold men's hearts by hopes.' BACON. A person keeps his opinions when no one can induce him to give them up; The proof is best when men keep their authority towards their children, but not their purse.' BACON. He retains his old attachments, notwithstanding the lapse of years, and change of circumstances, which have intervened, and were naturally calculated to wean him; Ideas are retained by renovation of that impression which time is always wearing away.' JOHNSON. TO HOLD, OCCUPY, POSSESS. Hold has the same general meaning as in the preceding article; occupy, in Latin occupo, or oc and capio to hold or keep, signifies to keep so that it cannot be held by others; possess, in Latin possideo, or potis and sedeo, signifies to sit as master of. We hold a thing for a long or a short time; we occupy it for a permanence: we hold it for ourselves or others; we occupy it only for ourselves: we hold it for various purposes; we occupy only for the purpose of converting it to our private use. Thus a person may hold an estate, or, which is the same thing, the title-deeds to an estate pro tempore, for another person's benefit; but he occupies an estate if he enjoys the fruit of it. On the other hand, to occupy is only to hold under a certain compact; but to possess is to hold as one's own. The tenant occupies the farm when he holds it by a certain lease, and cultivates it for his subsistence: but the landlord possesses the farm who possesses the right to let it, and to receive the rent. We may hold by force, or fraud, or right; He (the eagle) drives them from his fort, the towering seat, We occupy either by force or right; If the title of occupiers be good in a land unpeopled, why should it be bad accounted in a country peopled thinly.' RALEGh. We possess only by right; But now the feather'd youth their former bounds Ardent disdain, and weighing oft their wings, Demand the free possession of the sky. THOMSON. Hence we say figuratively, to hold a person in esteem or contempt, to occupy a person's attention, to occupy a place, &c. or to possess one's affection; I, as a stranger to my heart and me, Hold thee from this for ever. SHAKSPEARE. He must assert infinite generations before that first deluge, and then the earth could not receive them, but the infinite bodies of men must occupy an infinite space.' BENTLEY. Of fortune's favor long possess'd, He was with one fair daughter only bless'd. DRYDEN. TO HOLD, SUPPORT, MAINTAIN. Hold is here, as in the former article, a term of very general import; to support, from sub and porto to carry, signifying to bear the weight of a thing; and to maintain, from the French maintenir, and the Latin manus a hand, and teneo to hold, signifying to hold firmly, are particular modes of holding. Hold and support are employed in the proper sense, maintain in the improper sense. To hold is a term unqualified by any circumstance; we may hold a thing in any direction, hold up or down, straight or crooked: support is a species of holding up; to hold up, however, is a personal act, or a direct effort of the individual; to support may be an indirect and a passive act; he who holds any thing up keeps it in an upright posture, by the exertion of his strength; he who supports a thing only bears its weight, or suffers it to rest upon himself: persons or voluntary agents can hold up; inanimate objects may support: a servant holds up a child that it may see; a pillar supports a building. Hold, maintain, and support are likewise employed still farther in a moral application, as it respects the different opinions and circumstances of men; opinions are held and maintained as one's own; they are supported when they are another's. We hold and maintain when we believe; we support the belief or doctrine of another, or what we ourselves have asserted and maintained at a former time. What is held is held by the act of the mind within one's self; what is maintained and supported is openly declared to be held. To hold marks simply the state of one's own mind; It was a notable observation of a wise father, that those which held and persuaded pressure of consciences were commonly interested therein themselves for their own ends.' BACON. To maintain indicates the effort which one makes to inform others of this state; If any man of quality will maintain upon Edward, Earl of Glo'ster, that he is a manifold traitor, let him appear."' SHAKSPEARE. To support indicates To support indicates the efforts which one makes to justify that state. We hold an opinion only as it regards ourselves; we maintain and support it as it regards others; that is, we maintain it either with others, for others, or against others: we support it in an especial manner against others we maintain it by assertion; we support it by argument. Bad principles do harm only to the individual when they are held; they will do harm to all over whom our influence extends when we maintain them; they may do harm to all the world, when we undertake to support them. Good principles need only be held, or at most maintained, unless where adversaries set themselves up against them, and render it necessary to support them. Infidel principles have been held occasionally by individuals in all ages, but they were never maintained with so much openness and effrontery at any time, as at the close of the eighteenth century, when supporters of such principles were to be found in every tap-room. Hold is applied not only to principles and opinions, but also to sentiments; maintain and support are confined either to abstract and speculative opinions, or to the whole mind: we hold a thing dear or cheap, we hold it in abhorrence, or we hold it sacred; As Chaucer is the father of English poetry, so I hold him in the same degree of veneration as the Grecians held Homer, or the Romans Virgil.' DRYDEN. maintain or support truth or error; we maintain an influence over ourselves, or maintain a cause; Who then is free? The wise, who well maintains We We support our resolution or our minds; Nothing can support the minds of the guilty from drooping.' SOUTH. * Vide Abbé Girard: TO HAVE, POSSESS. Have, in German haben, Latin habeo, not improbably from the Hebrew nas to desire, or ans he loved, because those who have most, desire most, or because men love worldly possessions above every thing else; possess has the same meaning as in the preceding article; have is the general, possess is the particular term: have designates no circumstance of the action; possess expresses a particular species of having. To have is sometimes to have in one's hand or within one's reach; but to possess is to have as one's own: a clerk has the money which he has fetched for his employer; the latter possesses the money, which he has the power of turning to his use. To have is sometimes to have the right to, to belong; to possess is to have by one and at one's command: a debtor has the property which he has surrendered to his creditor; but he cannot be said to possess it, because he has it not within his reach, and at his disposal: * we are not necessarily masters of that which we have; although we always are of that which we possess: to have is sometimes only temporary; to possess is mostly permanent: we have money which we are perpetually disposing of; we possess lands which we keep for a permanency: a person has the good graces of those whom he pleases; he possesses the confidence of those who put every thing in his power: the stoutest heart may have occasional alarms, but will never lose its self-possession: a husband has continual torments who is possessed by the demon of jealousy: a miser has goods in his coffers, but he is not master of them; they possess his heart and affections: we have things by halves when we share them with others; we possess them only when they are exclusively ours and we enjoy them undividedly; That I spent, that I had; That I gave, that I have; That I left, that I lost. EPITAPH ON A CHARITABLE MAN. 6 A lover has the affections of his mistress by whom he is beloved; he possesses her whole heart when she loves him only one has an interest in a mercantile concern in which he is a partner; the lord of a manor possesses all the rights annexed to that manor; The various objects that compose the world were by nature formed to delight our senses; and as it is this alone that makes them desirable to an uncorrupted taste, a man may be said naturally to possess them when he possesseth those enjoyments which they are fitted by nature to yield.' BERKELEY. TO LAY OR TAKE HOLD OF, CATCH, SEIZE, SNATCH, GRASP, GRIPE. To lay or take hold of is here the generic expression it denotes simply getting into the possession, which is the common idea in the signification of all "Avoir, posséder." |