Emily Dickinson Lexicon

Ishmael, proper n. [Heb. 'God will hear'.]

Son of Abraham by Hagar; [fig.] man of the wilderness; main character in Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby Dick; (see Genesis 16-17; ED's letters).

island (-s), n. [see isle + land.]

Atoll; [fig.] mound; knoll; small rise of land; elevated plot of earth surrounded by wetlands; [metaphor] grave site; person dead and buried; individual isolated from others by death.

isle (-s), n. [ME < OFr < L. insula, island.] (webplay: wait).

Island; area of land surrounded by water.

isolate, adj. [Fr. isoler.]

Detached; alone; separate; unconnected; solitary; unknown.

isolation, n. [see isolate, v.]

Solitude; condition of standing alone; separation from things and persons; condition of standing apart.

Israel, proper n. [Heb. 'he perseveres with God', 'let God prevail'; see Jacob.]

Family of Jacob the patriarch; group named after the grandson of Abraham; posterity of Isaac and Rebekah through their son Jacob; descendants of Jacob's twelve sons and one daughter; people of the covenant; twelve tribes of the Old Testament (see Genesis 25, 32, 49); stubborn people led by Moses from Egypt to Canaan; (see Exodus 13; ED's letters).

issue (-s), n. [ME < OFr. < L. 'exit'.]

Outflow; flux; egress; passing of fluid; [sense play] sally; sortie; military movement; [fig.] bloodshed; [metaphor] important matter; critical material.

it (-s, -'s), pron. [OE hit; third person singular neuter pronoun.] (webplay: affair, arms, ascertained, asked, betrayed, charmer, Christ, clause, diligence, earth, figure, general, heart, indefinitely, Judas, life, matter, nails, name, person, question, rains, saint, sentence, sinner, snows, state, substitute, teeth).

1. [Anaphoric reference, pointing back to a previously-mentioned noun in the text] that thing; the one mentioned.
2. [Cataphoric reference, pointing forward to a subsequent noun in the text] the event; this thing.
3. [Exophoric reference, pointing to a noun not mentioned directly in the text; “It sifts” = “Snow sifts”] this; the thing being described.
4. [Phatic “dummy” subject; “It will be Summer” = “Summer will happen”] someday; at some time.

italic, adj. [Fr. < L. Italicus < Gk.]

1. Right-sloping; cursive; hand-written; with inclining characters; [fig.] important; essential; significant; emphatic; underlined.
2. Twisted; deformed; distorted; lined with age; wrinkled with suffering; [fig.] frowning; sorrowful.

italic, n. [see italic, adj.]

Grandeur; magnificence; renaissance; classical style; [fig.] re-living; nostalgia; outstanding memory.