BAILEY

bailey, nathan or nathaniel (d. 1742), english philologist and lexicographer. he compiled a _dictionarium britannicum: a more compleat universal etymological english dictionary than any extant_, bearing the date 1730, but supposed to have been published in 1721. this was a great improvement on all previous attempts, and formed the basis of dr johnson's great work. bailey, who was a seventh-day baptist (admitted 1691), had a school at stepney, near london, and was the author of _dictionarium domesticum_ and several other educational works. he died on the 27th of june 1742.