Emily Dickinson Lexicon

B,

Stimulating; invigorating; rejuvenating; enlivening; energizing; exhilarating; exciting; interesting; unusual; uncommon. 711/770 Strong Draughts of Their Refreshing Minds / To drink – enables Mine refugee, n. [Fr. < L. re-, again + fugěre, flee.] (webplay: foreign, protection). Stranger; foreigner; outcast; homeless person. 1096/805 These Strangers, in a foreign World, / Protection asked of me – / Befriend them, lest yourself in Heaven / Be found a Refugee refund, v. [OFr refunder or L. re-, again + funděre, pour.]

B,

Return to; restore to; give back to. 1260/1314 If “God is Love” … He will refund us finally / Our confiscated Gods refuse (-d), v. [Fr. < popular L. refūsum; see refund, v.] (webplay: offer, request).

B,

Decline; be unwilling; be averse; be loath; be adamantly opposed. 743/780 The Heart – to stimulate the Eye / refused … I offered Her no word

B,

Esteem; admire; revere; venerate; hold in respect or affection. 126/138 The Cavalry of Wo // Who win, and nations do not see – / Who fall – and none observe – / Whose dying eyes, no Country / Regards with patriot love

B, [Fig.]

host of forest creatures; group of animals. 64/162 The Regiments of Wood and Hill / In bright detachment stand!

B,

Sign; enroll; enter; record one's name. 1570/1600 They registered in Nature's Book / As Robins – Sire and Son regret, n. [see regret, v.] (webplay: friends, life).

B,

Unfortunate fact; sad truth; knowledge which brings sorrow. 1400/1433 To pity those who know her not / Is helped by the regret / That those who know her, know her less / The nearer her they get.

B,

Adjust; calibrate; attune; accustom; [fig.] reassess; reexamine; review; reevaluate; ponder; consider; scrutinize. 1100/1100 She … struggled scarce – / Consented, and was dead … And then an awful leisure was / Belief to regulate rehearsal, n. [OFr re-, again + hercer, harrow.] (webplay: composition, telling).

B,

Preparation; practice; drill; attempt to improve; repetitive exercise. 503/378 Better – than Music! … the Composer – perfect Mozart … telling a tune … Humming – until my faint Rehearsal – / Drop into tune reign, v. [OFr regner < L. regěre, rule.] (webplay: queen).

B, [Fig.]

remain; prevail; live; exist. 1578/1614 Blossoms will run away – / Cakes reign but a Day reimburse (-d), v. [L. re-, again + im-, into + bursa, purse.] (webplay: lost).

B,

Compensate for; make up for. 1673/1722 Nature can do no more … Whatever Flower fail to come … Her crescent reimburse / If other Summers be rein (-ing), v. [see rein, n.] (webplay:). Move; travel; proceed; progress; wheel; advance steadily; fly across the sky as if pulled by Apollo's horse-drawn chariot in Greco-Roman mythology. 1636/1656 The Sun is reining to the West / Makes not as much of sound rein, n. [OFr rene < L. retinēre, retain.] (webplay: horse).

B,

Restraint; [fig.] captivity; imprisonment; bondage; hindrance to freedom. 1535/1555 The Life that tied too tight escapes / Will ever after run / With … spectres of the Rein reindeer, n. [ON hreindýri < hreinn, reindeer + dýr, deer.] (webplay: northern). Caribou; arctic deer; ruminant animal native to cold northern regions. 1696/1705 These are the days that Reindeer love / And pranks the northern star reinforce (-d), v. [Fr. < L. re-, again + in-, in + fortis, strong.] (webplay:). Lock; shut more tightly; close more soundly. 743/780 The Flowers – appealed … I reinforced the Door … trouble Me – no More reject (-ed, -s), v. [L. re-, back + jacěre, throw.] (webplay: chosen).

B,

Deem useless; consider unnecessary or superfluous. 983/1016 Ideals are the Fairy Oil / With which We help the Wheel / But when the Vital Axle turns / The Eye rejects the Oil. rejoice (-s), v. [OFr re-, again + joir, enjoy, welcome, rejoice.] (webplay: joy, pleasurable, wisdom).

B,

Gladden; cheer; delight; enliven; animate; invigorate; cause to feel happy; give reason to experience joy. 782/885 Frost is different from Dew … one – rejoices Flowers – / And one – the Flowers abhor

B,

Describe; explain; attempt to depict with words; endeavor to make understandable by drawing a comparison. 826/812 “As large as I” – relate the Sun … Itself is all the like it has related, verbal adj. [see relate, v.]

B, [Fig.]

relative; not absolute; dependent upon context; not intrinsically valuable; defined only in relation to external variables. 1110/1135 Surfaces may be [related] / Did the Diamond grow / General as the Dandelion / Would you serve it so? relation (-s), n. [see relate, v.] (webplay: account, being).

B,

Connection; association; link; tie; bond. 1040/997 Not so the infinite Relations – Below / Division is Adhesion's forfeit relative, adj. [see relate, v.] Proportional; comparative; not absolute; dependent on context; defined only in relation to external variables. 1291/1262 Until the Desert knows / That Water grows / His Sands suffice … Utmost is relative relative, n. [see relate, v.] (webplay: absolute). Mortal; finite thing; earthly object; imperfect entity; changeable thing; that which is not absolute; [fig.] idol; false god. 765/488 The Absolute – removed / The Relative away – / That I unto Himself adjust / My slow idolatry relay, n. [OFr relais, hounds or horses held in reserve < relayer, relay.]

B,

Station; depot; temporary stopping point; resting place in the course of a long journey; [fig.] pause; break; intermission. 1652/1736 Advance is Life's condition / The Grave but a Relay / Supposed to be a terminus release, n. [OFr < L. relaxāre < re-, again + laxus, loose.] (webplay: pain).

B,

Liberation; freedom; discharge from restraint; [fig.] death; liberation from mortality; freedom to rise to a heavenly sphere. 1630/1651 from the Earth the light Balloon / Asks nothing but release

B,

Break; pause; interruption; intermission. 943/890 In it's diminished Plane – // A Grave – is a restricted Breadth – / Yet ampler than the Sun … To Him who on it's small Repose / Bestows a single Friend relieve (-s), v. [OFr < L. relevāre, raise again, assist < re-, again + levāre < levis, light.] Satisfy; sate; satiate; fill; appease the appetite; allay physical hunger; alleviate the need for nourishment; [pun on “re-live” or “re-life”] re-vitalize; resusitate; restore life. 439/626 Significance a starving man attaches / To Food … Partaken – it relieves religion, n. [Fr. or L. religiōn-em, possibly < relegěre, read over again or < religāre, religate < re-, again + ligāre, bind.] (webplay: belief, divine, moral). Faith; theology; philosophy; dogma; system of beliefs; set of doctrines. 1144/1449 The channel of the Dust … Invalidates the Balm of that Religion / That doubts – as fervently as it believes religious, adj. [see religion, n.] (webplay: man, true). Pious; godly; [fig.] pharisaical; sanctimonious; self-righteous; holier-than-thou; affectedly devout; outwardly virtuous; exhibiting an exaggerated sense of personal spirituality for the purpose of impressing others. 1207/1266 He preached … Truth until it proclaimed him a Liar … What confusion would cover the innocent Jesus / To meet so Religious a man relinquish (-ed), v. [OFr < L. re-, behind, back + linquěre, leave.] Renounce; resign; abdicate; abandon; give up; let go of. 1191/1222 All that is named of Summer Days / Relinquished our Estate relish (-ed, -es), v. [OFr relais, remainder < relaisser, leave behind.] (webplay: nature). Enjoy; savor; delight in; revel in; take pleasure in; appreciate gleefully. 1641/1657 Nature relishes the Pinks / Which she was taught to eat reluctant, adj. [L. re-, against + luctārī, struggle.]

B,

Begrudged; [fig.] rare; occasional. 335/528 We are … The shiverers round farmers' doors / For whose reluctant Crumb – / We stipulate reluctant (-ly), adv. [see reluctant, adj.] (webplay: heart).

B,

Slowly; hesitatingly; uncertainly; haltingly; tremblingly; with fear. 615/453 Our feet – reluctant – led … Between – / The Forest of the Dead rely, v. [OFr relier, bind together < L. re-, back +ligāre, bind.] (webplay: certainty, conviction, God).

B,

Phrase. “Rely on”: depend on; be sure of; be certain of; be assured of; have no doubt of; trust in; be fully confident of. 316/494 He's a transitive fellow – very – / Rely on that! remain (-ed, -eth, -ing, -s), v. [AFr < L. remanēre, re-, back + manēre, stay.] (webplay: abide, alive, all, away, brother, childless, duties, father's, forgotten, greater, inn, lay, leave, left, long, lost, low, morning, night, one, others, past, power, remove, rest, same, taken, till, time, wisdom, years).

B,

Would stay in place; would be remembered. 307/549 When Orient have been outgrown / And Occident – become Unknown / His Name – remain

B,

Recall; summon back; demand the return of. 788/739 So fleet thou wert … An Orient's Apparition – / Remanded of the Morn remark, n. [see remark, v.] (webplay: act, speaker).