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The Devil's Dictionary Trivia Quiz

The Devil's Dictionary is a collection of sharp, witty and cynical definitions by Ambrose Bierce, so bear this in mind when answering the questions. For example, his definition of a Coward, is 'One, who in a perilous emergency thinks with his legs.'

A multiple-choice quiz by exit10. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
exit10

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
55,727

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
948

Awards
Top 35% Quiz

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Dictionary, n. 'A malevolent literary device for cramping growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This ___________ however, is a most useful work.'

Answer: (One Word)

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Question 2 of 10

2. What is 'Purchasing the barrel of whiskey that you do not need, for the price of the cow that you cannot afford.'? Hint

Poverty

Cheerful

Stupidity

Economy

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Question 3 of 10

3. What is 'A species of snake. So called from its habit of adding funeral expenses to the other expenses of living.'? Hint

Rattlesnake

Asp

Adder

Python

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Question 4 of 10

4. Infancy, n. 'The period of our lives when according to ___________ 'Heaven lies about us.' The world begins lying about us pretty soon afterward.' Hint

Keats

Wordsworth

Browning

Shelley

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Question 5 of 10

5. What is 'A place of retirement for women who wish for leisure to meditate upon the vice of idleness.'? Hint

Convent

Swimming pool

Boudoir

Retirement village

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Question 6 of 10

6. What is 'An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance.'? Hint

Telephone

Car

Alcohol

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Question 7 of 10

7. Callous, adj. 'Gifted with great fortitude to bear the evils afflicting another.' Is this definition, according to Bierce, true or false?

Answer: (True or False)

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Question 8 of 10

8. Cemetery, n. 'An isolated suburban spot where...' Hint

stone-cutters spell for a wager

mourners match lies

all of these

poets write at a target

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Question 9 of 10

9. What is a 'Court Fool'? Hint

Jester

Plaintiff

Boyfriend

Janitor

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Question 10 of 10

10. What is 'One who ventures to believe that Adam need not have sinned unless he had a mind to...'? Hint

A Supralapsarian

A Sublapsarian

A Superlapsarian

An Infralapsarian

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Dictionary, n. 'A malevolent literary device for cramping growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This ___________ however, is a most useful work.'

Answer: Dictionary

Date: {1526;} Etymology: Medieval Latin dictionarium, from Late Latin diction-, dictio word, from Latin, speaking. He didn't think much of dictionaries, except of course his own.

2. What is 'Purchasing the barrel of whiskey that you do not need, for the price of the cow that you cannot afford.'?

Answer: Economy

Etymology: Middle French yconomie, from Medieval Latin oeconomia, from Greek oikonomia, from oikonomos household manager, from oikos house + nemein to manage.

3. What is 'A species of snake. So called from its habit of adding funeral expenses to the other expenses of living.'?

Answer: Adder

Etymology: Middle English, from an addre, alteration of a naddre, a snake, from Old English ndre, snake.

4. Infancy, n. 'The period of our lives when according to ___________ 'Heaven lies about us.' The world begins lying about us pretty soon afterward.'

Answer: Wordsworth

Coming from 14th century meaning 1) early {childhood;} 2) a beginning or early period of {existence;} 3) the legal status of an infant.

5. What is 'A place of retirement for women who wish for leisure to meditate upon the vice of idleness.'?

Answer: Convent

From 13th century. Etymology Middle English convent, from Old French, from Medieval Latin conventus, from Latin, assembly, from convenire.

6. What is 'An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance.'?

Answer: Telephone

From 1849. Usage: Often attributive. An instrument for reproducing sounds at a {distance;} specifically : one in which sound is converted into electrical impulses for transmission by wire.

7. Callous, adj. 'Gifted with great fortitude to bear the evils afflicting another.' Is this definition, according to Bierce, true or false?

Answer: True

'When Zeno was told that one of his enemies was no more he was observed to be deeply moved. 'What!' said one of his disciples, 'you weep at the death of an enemy?' 'Ah 'tis true,' replied the great Stoic, 'but you should see me smile at the death of a friend.'

8. Cemetery, n. 'An isolated suburban spot where...'

Answer: all of these

From 15th century. Etymology: Middle English cimitery, from Middle French cimitere, from Late Latin coemeterium, from Greek koimEtErion sleeping chamber, burial place, from koiman to put to {sleep;} akin to Greek keisthai to lie, Sanskrit sete he lies.

9. What is a 'Court Fool'?

Answer: Plaintiff

Text: 1) a person lacking in judgment or {prudence;} 2) a retainer formerly kept to provide casual {entertainment;} 3) one who is victimized or made to appear {foolish;} 4) one who is mentally deficient. Bierce obviously thought this summed up the situation perfectly.

10. What is 'One who ventures to believe that Adam need not have sinned unless he had a mind to...'?

Answer: An Infralapsarian

'... in opposition to the Supralapsarians, who hold that that luckless person's fall was decreed from the beginning. Infralapsarians are sometimes called Sublapsarians without material effect on the importance and lucidity of their views about Adam.'

Source: Author exit10

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