SG Heritage Dictionary

Index [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. plural indexes, sometimes indices. [Latin connected with idico, to show; in and dico.]

2. That which points out; that which shows or manifests.

3. Tastes are the indexes of the different qualities of plants.

4. The hand that points to any thing, as the hour of the day, the road to a place.

5. A table of the contents of a book.

6. A table of references in an alphabetical order.

7. In anatomy, the fore finger, or pointing finger.

8. In arithmetic and algebra, that which shows to what power any quantity is involved; the exponent.

9. The index of a globe, or the gnomon, is a little style fitted on the north pole, which by turning with the globe, serves to point to certain divisions of the hour circle.

10. In music, a direct, which see.

11. Index expurgatory, in catholic countries, a catalogue of prohibited books.

Index [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. That which points out; that which shows, indicates, manifests, or discloses.

2. That which guides, points out, informs, or directs; a pointer or a hand that directs to anything, as the hand of a watch, a movable finger on a gauge, scale, or other graduated instrument. In printing, a sign used to direct particular attention to a note or paragraph; -- called also fist.

3. A table for facilitating reference to topics, names, and the like, in a book; -- usually alphabetical in arrangement, and printed at the end of the volume.

4. A prologue indicating what follows.

5. The second digit, that next pollex, in the manus, or hand; the forefinger; index finger.

6. The figure or letter which shows the power or root of a quantity; the exponent.

Index [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

To provide with an index or table of references; to put into an index; as, to index a book, or its contents.

Index Encyclopedia Britannica

INDEX is a word that may be understood either specially as a table of references to a book or, more generally, as an indicator of the position of required information on any given subject. According to classical usage, the Latin word index denoted a discoverer, discloser, or informer; a catalogue or list; an inscription; the title of a book; and the fore or index-finger. Cicero also used the word to express the table of contents to a book, and explained his meaning by the Greek form syllabus. Shakespeare uses the word with the general meaning of a table of contents or preface—thus Nestor says {Troilus and Cressida, i. 3)—

“And in such indexes, although small pricks To their subsequent volumes, there is seen The baby figure of the giant mass.”...

Table was the usual English word, and index was not thoroughly naturalized until the beginning of the 17th century, and even then it was usual to explain it as “index or table.” By the present English usage, according to which the word table is reserved for the summary of the contents as they occur in a book, and the word index for the arranged analysis of the contents, we obtain an advantage not enjoyed in other languages , for the French table is used for both kinds, as is indice in Italian and Spanish. There is a group of words each of which has its distinct meaning but finds its respective place under the general heading of index work; these are calendar,catalogue, digest, inventory, register, summary, syllabus, and table. The value of indexes was recognized in the earliest times, and many old books have full and admirably constructed ones. A good index has sometimes kept a dull book alive by reason of the r ^alue or amusing character of its contents. Mr Carlyle refers to Prynne’s Histrio- Mastix as “a book still extant, but never more to be read by mortal;” but the index must have given amusement to many from the curious character of its entries, and Attorney· General Noy particularly alluded to it in his speech at Prynne’s trial. Indexes have sometimes been used as vehicles of satire, and the witty Dr William King was the first to use them as a weapon of attack. His earliest essay in this field was the index added to the second edition of the Hon. Charles Boyle’s attack upon Bentley’s Dissertation on the Epistles of Phalaris. 1698.

To serve its purpose well, an index must be compiled with care, the references being placed under the heading that the reader is most likely to seek. An index should be one and indivisible, and not broken up into several alphabets; thus every work, whether in one or more volumes, ought to have its complete index. This important rule has been often neglected in English books, and is almost universally rejected in foreign ones, to the great inconvenience of readers. The mode of arrangement calls for special attention; this may be either chronological, alphabetical, or according to classes, but great confusion will be caused by uniting the three systems. The alphabetical arrangement is so simple, convenient, and easily understood that it has naturally superseded the other forms, save in some exceptional cases. Much of the value of an index depends upon the mode in which it is printed, and every endeavour should be made to set it out with clearness. In old indexes the indexed word was not brought to the front, but was left in its place in the sentence, so that the alphabetical order was not made perceptible to the eye. There are few points in which the printer is more likely to go wrong than in the use of marks of repetition, and many otherwise good indexes are full of the most perplexing cases of misapplication in this respect. The oft-quoted instance— Mill on Liberty on the Floss actually occurred in a catalogue. There appears now to be a revived interest in indexes, and as books daily increase the need of some satisfactory digest of information becomes more keenly felt. In 1877 the Index Society was formed with the object of making and printing indexes of books unprovided with them, of compiling and printing indexes of particular subjects, and of gradually preparing a universal index for reference. In order to obtain uniformity in the compilation of indexes a series of rules for indexing have been drawn up by the society. Several publications have already been issued to the subscribers.

The following is a list of some of the most important indexes, both of words and of subjects. The chief indexes of words are dictionaries, but these are a special class by themselves. Next come concordances: the first one to the Bible was compiled by Hugo of St Cher in 1247, the first English concordance to the New Testament was published in 1536, and to the whole Bible in 1550, compiled by John Marbeck. Other Biblical concordances are those of R. F. Hervey, 1579; C. Cotton, 1622 (frequently reprinted); J. Downame, 1632; R. Wickens, 1655; S. Newman, 1650, 3d ed. 1682; A. Cruden, 1737 (this superseded all works of the same character); and R. Young, 1880. The following concordances may also be mentioned: —to the Psalter, 1834; to the Prayer Book, 1851; to the Iliad, by G. L. Prendergast, 1875 , to Shakespeare, by S. Ayscough (1790), by F. Twiss (1805), by Mrs Cowden Clarke (1845), by J. O. Halliwell {Handbook Index, 1866), and by A. Schmidt (1874) l and to Shakespeare’s Poems, by Mrs H. H. Furness, 1874; to Milton’s Paradise Lost (1741), and to his Poetical Works, by H. J. Todd (1809), byG. L. Prendergast (1857), and byC. D. Cleveland (1867); to Pope’s Works, by E. Abbott, 1875; to Tennyson’s Works, by D. B. Brightwell, 1869, and another published by Strahan, 1870; to In Memoriam (1862); to Keble’s Christian Year, 1871; and to Watts’s Psalms, by D. Guy, 1774. A large number of historical works have been supplied with indexes in separate volumes. Among the more important indexes of prose writers are those of the works of Samuel Richardson (1755), Joanna Southcott(n. d., and 1815), John Strype (1828), and T. Carlyle (1874); The Wellington Despatches (1839); Wesley’s Journals (1872). A large number of series of publications oι societies and of periodicals have been supplied with general indexes.

The Indexes to the Statutes and to the Journals of the Houses of Parliament are perhaps the most elaborate works of the kind ever published. In 1778 a sum of £12,900 was voted for indexes to the Journals of the House of Commons. Few parliamentary papers are issued without a satisfactory index being added. Most of the indexes mentioned above refer to particular books, but in 1848 Mr W. F. Poole published in New York an index to subjects treated in reviews and other periodicals; a second edition was published in 1853 as An Index to Periodical Literature. A greatly enlarged edition is now in preparation with the co-operation of English and American librarians. A larger work of a similar character for scientific literature, but arranged under authors’ names instead of subjects has been compiled by the Royal Society and is entitled Catalogue of Scientific Papers (1800-73), 8 vols. 4to, 1867- 1879. (H. B. W.*)

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 12, p. 729
[1,229 words — estimated reading time: 8 minutes]

Index librorum prohibitorum Encyclopedia Britannica

INDEX LIBRORUM PROHIBITORUM is the title borne by the official list of those books which on doctrinal or moral grounds the Roman Catholic Church, under penalty of ecclesiastical censures, authoritatively forbids the members of her communion to possess or to read. Most Governments, whether civil or ecclesiastical, have at all times in one way or another acted on the general principle that some control may and ought to be exercised over the literature circulated among those under their jurisdiction; for various examples, both in ancient and in modern times, reference may be made to the article Bibliography (vol. iii. p. 658). The earliest known instance of a list of proscribed books being issued with the authority of a bishop of Rome is sometimes assigned to the pontificate of Gelasius (494) and sometimes to that of Hormisdas (514), but most probably ought not to be dated earlier than the 8th century. The document is for the most part, as its name implies, a Notitia Librorum Apocryphorum qτιi non recipiuntur, and chiefly consists of an enumeration of such apocryphal works as by their titles might be apt to mislead the unwary into attaching an undue weight to their teaching (the “Acts” of Philip, Thomas, Peter, Philip, and the Gospels of Thaddaeus, Matthias, Peter, James the Less, and others). Its concluding paragraph, however, sweepingly declares all the writings of Simon Magus and of many other heretics who are mentioned by name, as also of many more whose names have been completely forgotten (minime retinentur), to be repudiated, eliminated entirely from the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church, and eternally condemned. Subsequent pontiffs continued to exhort the episcopate and the whole body of the faithful to be on their guard against heretical writings, whether ...

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 12, p. 730
[1,207 words — estimated reading time: 7 minutes]

Indexed [Imperfect tense and past participle] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Index

Indexer [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

One who makes an index.

Indexes [Plural] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Index

Indexical [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Having the form of an index; pertaining to an index.

Indexical [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Of, pertaining to, or like, an index; having the form of an index.

Indexically [Adverb] Webster's Dictionary 1828

In the manner of an index.

Indexically [Adverb] Webster's Dictionary 1913

In the manner of an index.

Indexing [Present participle and verbal noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Index

Indexterity [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. Want of dexterity or readiness in the use of the hands; clumsiness; awkwardness.

2. Want of skill or readiness in any art or occupation.

Indexterity [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Want of dexterity or readiness, especially in the use of the hands; clumsiness; awkwardness.