Related:

• HURRICANE, n. An atmospheric demonstration once very common but now generally abandoned for the tornado and cyclone.
  The hurricane is still in popular use in the West Indies and is preferred by certain old-fashioned sea-captains....
• GALLOWS, n. A stage for the performance of miracle plays, in which the leading actor is translated to heaven.
  In this country the gallows is chiefly remarkable for the number of persons who escape it....
• COENOBITE, n. A man who piously shuts himself up to meditate upon the sin of wickedne
  and to keep it fresh in his mind joins a brotherhood of awful examples....
• SAW, n. A trite popular saying, or proverb. (Figurative and colloquial.
  ) So called because it makes its way into a wooden head....
• ALLIGATOR, n. The crocodile of America, superior in every detail to the crocodile of the effete monarchies of the Old World.
  Herodotus says the Indus is, with one exception, the only river that produces crocodiles, but they appear to have gone West and grown up with the other rivers....
• WITCH, n. (1) Any ugly and repulsive old woman, in a wicked league with the devil.
  (2) A beautiful and attractive young woman, in wickedness a league beyond the devil....
• CANNIBAL, n. A gastronome of the old school who preserves the simple tastes and adheres to the natural diet of the pre-pork period.
  -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• REACH, n. The radius of action of the human hand. The area within which it is possible (and customary) to gratify directly the propensity to provide.
  This is a truth, as old as the hills, That life and experience teach...
• Creativity is the art of taking a fresh look at old knowledge.