These were weaknesses; but such as they were, they are a key to explicate some of his writings.

Analytical and identical propositions which merely explicate the conception of the subject, but express nothing not already known, are, in spite of their indefeasible certitude, valueless for the extension of knowledge, and when taken for more than verbal explanations, mere absurdities.

To the former class belong the objects of mathematics, the truths of which, since they are analytic (i. e., merely explicate in the predicate the characteristics already contained in the subject, and add nothing new to this), and since they concern possible relations only, not reality, possess intuitive or demonstrative certainty.

The syllogism has the advantage of yielding universal and necessary truth, but it can only explicate and establish knowledge, not increase it.

There was a tense, pregnant silence, broken by Mr. Sims in fervent expletive.

X. To excuse these faults, the swearer will be forced to confess that his oaths are no more than waste and insignificant words, deprecating being taken for serious, or to be understood that he meaneth anything by them, but only that he useth them as expletive phrases, [Greek], to plump his speech, and fill up sentences.

Let me die thee before!" "Mother, thou rue all of thy bairn; rue thou; all is only expletive

"Hähob!" exclaimed the mother, with a rising inflection, implying by the expletive that her child's buoyant spirit be not weighted with a denial.

That might explain" An expletive smacking more of Montmartre than of the Boulevard Capucines, fell from the nobleman's lips.

He could not think of an expletive mild enough for Mrs. Cary's ears.

" Norgate's emphatic expletive was only half-stifled as she continued.

" One thing we notice in most of the familiar letters of Byron,that he makes frequent use of a vulgar expletive.

How far Byron transgressed beyond the frequent use of this expletive, does not appear either in his letters or in his biography; yet from his irreverent nature, and the society with which he was associated, it is more than probable that in him profanity was added to the other vices of his times.

Diffuseness N. diffuseness &c adj.; amplification &c v.; dilating &c v.; verbosity, verbiage, cloud of words, copia verborum [Lat.]; flow of words &c (loquacity) 584; looseness. Polylogy^, tautology, battology^, perissology^; pleonasm, exuberance, redundancy; thrice-told tale; prolixity; circumlocution, ambages^; periphrase^, periphrasis; roundabout phrases; episode; expletive; pennya-lining; richness &c 577.

accumulation &c (store) 636; heap &c 72; drug, drug in the market; glut; crowd; burden. excess; surplus, overplus^; epact^; margin; remainder &c 40; duplicate; surplusage^, expletive; work of supererogation; bonus, bonanza.

crammed to overflowing, filled to overflowing; gorged, ready to burst; dropsical, turgid, plethoric; obese &c 194. superfluous, unnecessary, needless, supervacaneous^, uncalled for, to spare, in excess; over and above &c (remainder) 40; de trop [Fr.]; adscititious &c (additional) 37; supernumerary &c (reserve) 636; on one's hands, spare, duplicate, supererogatory, expletive; un peu fort

The gaping of the Vowels in the second Line, the Expletive do in the third, and the ten Monosyllables in the fourth, give such a Beauty to this Passage, as would have been very much admired in an Ancient Poet.

By this means, before they had sat long together, every one talking with the greatest Circumspection, and carefully avoiding his favourite Expletive, the Conversation was cleared of its Redundancies, and had a greater Quantity of Sense, tho' less of Sound in it.

Jim Holden turned round and looked at him as if he thought he had got hold of some new-fashioned expletive,possibly a pretty hard one.

* AN EXPLETIVE.

Suitable employment will be found for them in a high-expletive factory.

The pronoun it is often used without a definite reference to any antecedent, and is sometimes a mere expletive, and sometimes the representative of an action expressed afterwards by a verb; as, "Whether she grapple it with the pride of philosophy.

30.It is said by some grammarians, that, "The adverb there is often used as an expletive, or as a word that adds nothing to the sense; in which case, it precedes the verb and the nominative; as, 'There is a person at the door.

Some of the poets have often used the word that as an expletive, to fill the measure of their verse; as, "When that the poor have cried, Cæsar hath wept.

In the following text, the conjunction is more like an expletive; but even here it suggests an extension of the discourse then in progress: "Lord, and what shall this man do?"John, xxi, 21.

What pronoun is sometimes an expletive, and sometimes used with reference to an infinitive following it?

Wilbur ardently wished that Winona could have been there to hear this talk, because the peerless young things freely used the expletive "Darn!"

he concluded, his rising excitement for once bursting the carefully nourished bounds of English and overflowing into Arabic expletive.

And with the brief expletive he condemned his disloyalty to the sprightly, slender Dorothy; the Peter Pan of the Blue Mesa; the dream girl of that idle noon at the Big Spring.