n of traits or
qualities a man should possess; it may be used of immature persons.
_Virile_ implies maturity and robust masculinity; it is also used of
the power to procreate. "A ____ lad." "A ____ reply." "____ energy."
"____ and aggressive." "____ forbearance,"
. _Inner_ is somewhat within, or more within
than something else is; it is also used in figurative and spiritual
senses. _Internal_ is entirely within. "The ____ organs of the human
body." "The ____ layer of the rind." "The injury was ____."
"The ____ nature of man." "The ____ meaning of the occurrence."
. "He was five feet, eleven inches in height."
Can you substitute _altitude_? Is _altitude_ used of persons?
"At an altitude of eleven feet from the ground." Would _height_ be
more natural? Does _altitude_ betoken great height? If so, does
Hamlet speak jestingly when he greets the player, "Your ladyship is nearer
heaven than when I saw you last, by the altitude of a chopine?" What of
the sentence: "The altitude of Galveston was not sufficient to protect it
from the tidal wave"? Does the magnitude or importance of the object
(Galveston) compensate for its lack of elevation and thus justify
_altitude_? Could _height_ be substituted? If so, would the
words _above sea-level_ have to follow it? Does this fact give you a
further clue as to the distinction between the two words? You are
comparing the elevation of two peaks, both plainly visible; you measure
them merely by your eye. Do you say "This exceeds the other in height" or
"This exceeds the other in altitude"? Suppose the peaks are so distant
from each other that the two are not visible simultaneously, and suppose
you are speaking from a knowledge of the scientific measurements. Do you
say "This exceeds the other in height" or "This exceeds the other in
altitude"?
. _Talk_ may be one-sided and empty.
_Conversation_ requires that at least two shall participate, and it
is not spoken of as empty, though it may be trivial. "Our ____ was
somewhat desultory." "Thought is less general than ____."
"His ____ was so lively that I had no chance to interrupt"
"That is meaningless ____."
. All of us have heard physicians call
commonplace ailments by extraordinary names. When homesickness reaches the
stage where a physician is or might be called in, it becomes nostalgia.
The latter term suggests morbid or chronic suffering. A healthy boy
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