Word of the Day: Headlong
head-long / ˈhedˌlôNG
adjective
1. done suddenly and quickly
As a boy holding to a post or pillar whirls about it with headlong speed without any fear of falling, so perform your worldly duties, fixing your hold firmly upon God, and you will be free from danger.
Ramakrishna, 1836-1886
2. done with the head leading; headfirst
There is a feeling exactly like that one has upon a switchback – of a helplessheadlong motion.
from ‘The Time Machine’ by H. G. Wells, 1866-1946
3. impetuous; rash
Love is the tyrant of the heart; it darkens
Reason, confounds discretion; deaf to Counsel
It runs a headlong course to desperate madness.
John Ford, 1586-1639
adverb
1. rashly; recklessly
He who rushes headlong into love will fare worse than if he had cast himself from a precipice.
Plautus, c. 254-184 BC
2. with the head leading; headfirst
…I leaped headlong into the Sea, and thereby have become more acquainted with the Soundings, the quicksands, and the rocks, than if I had stayed upon the green shore, and piped a silly pipe, and took tea and comfortable advice.
John Keats, 1795-1821
3. without delay; with great haste
When the whole world is running headlong towards the precipice, one who walks in the opposite direction is looked at as being crazy.
T. S. Eliot, 1888-1965
Thank you for including the Dictionary Project in the good work you do in your club. In my club, we have provided Dictionaries for third-grade students for enough years that now we are having former students help us to present dictionaries each year. They are often returning to the same classrooms that they were third-grade students. Teachers plead every year for us to NEVER quit this valuable project. They tell us that students NEED paper books to learn to read, to learn to do research and to do independent study. Please send me pictures of your presentations and tell me about your visits to the schools to give dictionaries to the students. To be included in our newsletter you can send me your stories at DG.2019@5630mail.org.
