Selections from Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary: “I”

Edited by Dan Leo, Horace P. Sternwall Professor of Spelling and Penmanship, Life Skills Coach, Olney Community College; author of Bozzie and Dr. Sam: The Zombies of Mayfair; the Olney Community College Press.

Illustrations by rhoda penmarq; lettering by roy dismas; colors by eddie el greco; a penmarq multinational studios™ production.

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Iatroleptic.  That which cures by anointing. *** Ichneumon.  A small animal that breaks the eggs of the crocodile. *** Ichthyophagy.  Diet of fish; the practice of eating fish. *** Iconoclast.  A breaker of images. *** Idiot.  A fool; one without the powers of reason. Life is a tale, Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.  Shakespeare’s Macbeth. *** Idle.  Lazy; averse from labour. For shame, so much to do, and yet idle.  Bull. *** To Illaqueate.  To entangle; to entrap; to ensnare. I am illaqueated, but not truly captivated into an assent to your conclusion.  More’s Divine Dialogues. *** Illnatured.   Habitually malevolent; wanting kindness or goodwill; mischievous. These ill qualities denominate a person illnatured, they being such as make him grievous and uneasy to all whom he deals and associates himself with.  South’s Sermons *** Incest.  Unnatural and criminal conjunction of persons within degrees prohibited. We may easily guess with what impatience the world would have heard an incestuous Herod discoursing of chastity.  South *** Imp.  A subaltern devil, a puny devil. In this sense ‘tis still retained. Such we deny not to be the imps and limbs of Satan.  Hook. *** Intestine.  The gut; the bowel: most commonly without a singular. The intestines or guts may be inflamed by an acid substance taken inwardly.  Arbuthnot on Diet. *** Inthrall.  To enslave; to shackle; to reduce to servitude. A word now seldom used, at least in prose. She soothes, but never can inthrall my mind: Why may not peace and love for once be join’d.  Prior *** Inustion.  The act of burning. *** Inutility.  Uselessness; unprofitableness. *** (Our illustrated adaptation of Boswell’s Life of Johnson will resume next week. Classix Comix is made possible in part through  a generous grant from the Bob’s Bowery Bar™ Foundation for the Arts: “When next you find yourself in the neighborhood of Bleecker and the Bowery, may I suggest a refreshing stop at Bob’s Bowery Bar™ – tell them Horace P. Sternwall sent you, and receive a half-price discount on your first mug of Bob’s justly-celebrated ‘basement-brewed’ house bock!” – Horace P. Sternwall, host of The Bob’s Bowery Bar Mystery Hour, exclusively on the Dumont Television Network, Tuesdays at 10pm, EST.) "J"