Ambrose Bierce 
Cynic’s Word Book [PDF ebook] 

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. With reference to certain actual and possible questions of priority and orig inality, it may be explained that this Word Book was begun in the San Fran cisco Wasp in the year 1881, and has been continued, in a desultory way, in several journals and periodicals. As it was no part of the author’s purpose to define all the words in the language, or even to make a complete alphabetical series, the stopping-place of the book was determined by considerations of bulk. In the event of this volume proving acceptable to that part of the reading public to which in humility it.