ONIONS, C. T.. The Columbia Encyclopedia: Sixth Edition. 2000(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20)
Onions, C. (CharlesTalbutOnions), 1873–1965, English philologist, lexicographer, author, and editor.
After a post with British Naval Intelligence in World War I, he held a fellowship at Magdalen College, Oxford, and from 1927 to 1949 was a reader at Oxford.
Onions served as coeditor of the Oxford English Dictionary until its completion in 1933.
Onions, C. (CharlesTalbutOnions), 1873-1965, English philologist, lexicographer, author, and editor.
onion plant of the family Liliaceae (lily family), of the same genus (Allium) as the chive (A. schoenoprasum), garlic (A. sativum), leek (A. porrum), and shallot (A. ascalonium).
chowder stew of fish or shellfish with potatoes, onions, and pork (usually salt pork), thickened with crumbled hard bread.
The English grammarian and lexicographer C. (CharlesTalbut) Onions was an editor of the Oxford English Dictionary from 1895 and continued to write reference works for Oxford throughout a long and distinguished career.
Anyone who knew as much about etymology as he did could certainly claim to 'know his onions', and it is tempting to assume that this is where the phrase originated.
While it is true that 'know your onions' was coined at a time when C. Onions had established a reputation (i.e.
Lord Percy is counsel for the Gibson Girl, who claims to be an actress because she has three words to say in a musical comedy - "What price Romano's?" The witnesses in the case include Mr.
the lexicographer and grammarian, CharlesTalbutOnions (1873-1965)], Jane Cakebread [a notorious alcoholic], and a bookmaker.
Onions, a bookmaker, Jane Cakebread, Arthurius Robertus [the popular English comedian, Arthur Roberts (1852-1933)], and Mr.
Shall(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-20)
It should be noted that the preterite forms of will and shall, would and should respectively, abide by the same rules; however 'd does not stand for should; it is a contraction solely of the words would and had.
The main modification of this general rule is the surviving idiomatic use of the Old English senses of shall and will, which is said to be an infallible test of the correct English speaker (per Dr CharlesTalbutOnions).
Dr Onions' examples from An Advanced English Syntax are these: # I will (= am resolved to) live a bachelor.
A justly famous aid to the study of Shakespeare, this glossary--originally compiled by C.T. Onions, an editor of the Oxford English Dictionary--clarifies those words in Sshakespeare whose senses or connotations may be unfamiliar to the modern reader, with special attention given to dialect forms, idioms, and colloquial phrases.
Lamson Library » Blog Archive » The Oxford Dictionary Of English Etymology, Edited By C. Onions With The Assistance Of G. Friedrichsen And R. Burchfield
The Oxford Dictionary Of English Etymology, Edited By C. Onions With The Assistance Of G. Friedrichsen And R. Burchfield
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary On Historical Principles, Prepared By William Little … H.W. Fowler … J. Coulson … Revised And Edited By C.T. Onions
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Not that this could be the end of the story.
As soon as the Dictionary was finished, CharlesOnions and his assistants set to work on a Supplement, which dealt mainly with words and meanings added to the language during the previous fifty years.
The other surviving Editor, William Craigie, who was now editing the Dictionary of American English in Chicago, also provided much supplementary material on American usages.
