Entry of the Day:
Abracadabra in Bailey's Dictionarium Britannicum
Nathan Bailey's Dictionarium Britannicum was the most comprehensive and most important English dictionary before Johnson's. It lacks much of the charm of Johnson's, but entries like this are delicious:
ABRACADAʹBRA, this Word is a Spell or Charm, which is still in Use and Esteem with some superstitious Persons, who pretend to do Wonders by it in the Cure of Agues and Fevers, which is to be written in the Form of a Triangle, decreasing one Letter every Line till it comes to a Point; and the Illiterate write the Letters in English Characters in the same Form.
א ר ב א ד א כ א ר ב א
ר ב א ד א כ א ר ב א
ב א ד א כ א ר ב א
א ד א כ א ר ב א
ד א כ א ר ב א
א כ א ר ב א
כ א ר ב א
א ר ב א
ר ב א
ב א
א
