RESPIRATOR, N. An Apparatus Fitted Over The Nose And Mouth Of An Inhabitant Of London, Whereby To Filter The Visible Universe In Its Passage To The Lungs.

RESPIRATOR, N. An Apparatus Fitted Over The Nose And Mouth Of An Inhabitant Of London, Whereby To Filter The Visible Universe In Its Passage To The Lungs.

Home › Fortune Cookies › Miscellaneous Collections

RESPIRATOR, n. An apparatus fitted over the nose and mouth of an
inhabitant of London, whereby to filter the visible universe in its
passage to the lungs.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"

Related:

ALLEGIANCE, n. This thing Allegiance, as I suppose, Is a ring fitted in the subject's nose, Whereby that organ is kept rightly pointed To smell the sweetness of the Lord's anointed.
G....
SAW, n. A trite popular saying, or proverb. (Figurative and colloquial.
) So called because it makes its way into a wooden head....
Brain, n.: The apparatus with which we think that we think.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
brain, n: The apparatus with which we think that we think.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
PREJUDICE, n. A vagrant opinion without visible means of support.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
POLYGAMY, n. A house of atonement, or expiatory chapel, fitted with several stools of repentance, as distinguished from monogamy, which has but one.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
SAFETY-CLUTCH, n. A mechanical device acting automatically to prevent the fall of an elevator, or cage, in case of an accident to the hoisting apparatus.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...