Related:

• LINEN, n. "A kind of cloth the making of which, when made of hemp, entails a great waste of hemp.
  Calcraft the Hangman. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• HARBOR, n. A place where ships taking shelter from stores are exposed to the fury of the customs.
  -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• REPARATION, n. Satisfaction that is made for a wrong and deducted from the satisfaction felt in committing it.
  -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• EDUCATION, n. That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding.
  -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• LOVE, n. A temporary insanity curable by marriage or by removal of the patient from the influences under which he incurred the disorder.
  This disease, like _caries_ and many other ailments, is prevalent only among civilized races living under artificial conditio...
• NOMINEE, n. A modest gentleman shrinking from the distinction of private life and diligently seeking the honorable obscurity of public office.
  -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary...
• IMPOSTOR n. A rival aspirant to public honors. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary
• INTERREGNUM, n. The period during which a monarchical country is governed by a warm spot on the cushion of the throne.
  The experiment of letting the spot grow cold has commonly been attended by most unhappy results from the zeal of many worthy persons to make it warm again....
• OBLIVION, n. The state or condition in which the wicked cease from struggling and the dreary are at rest.
  Fame's eternal dumping ground. Cold storage for high hopes....