But in consulting it think only of idea, not of form. You are not
training yourself in dictionary definitions, but in the sharpness and
clarity of your understanding of meanings.
About the only rule to be laid down regarding the definition of verbs,
adjectives, and adverbs is that you must not define a word in terms of
itself. Thus if you define _grudgingly_ as "in a grudging manner,"
you do not dissipate your hearer's uncertainty as to what the word means.
If you define it as "unwillingly" or "in a manner that shows reluctance to
yield possession," you give your hearer a clear-cut idea in no wise
dependent upon his ability to understand the word that puzzled him in the
first place.
Normally, in defining a noun you should assign the thing named to a
general class, and to its special limits within that class; in other
words, you should designate its genus and species. You must take care to
differentiate the species from all others comprised within the genus.
You will, in most instances, first indicate the genus and then the
species, but at your convenience you may indicate the species first. Thus
if you affirm, "A cigar is smoking-tobacco in the form of a roll of
tobacco-leaves," you name the genus first and later the characteristics of
the species.
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