subs. (old: now American).—A human being. [Also HUMAN BOAR.] For synonyms, see COVE.
1719. D’URFEY, Wit and Mirth; or Pills to Purge Melancholy, ii., 332. ’Mongst HUMANS by Court dunning.
1783–5. COWPER, The Task, ii., line 105. And agonies of HUMAN and of brute.
1835. HALIBURTON (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xxviii. They have little hovels for their cattle … and a house for THE HUMANS as grand as Noah’s Ark.
1882. Daily Telegraph, 13 Dec., p. 2, c. 2. In the opening pages Mr. Matthew Arnold mourns in verse over the death of ‘Poor Matthias,’ who is not A HUMAN but a canary.
1888. Denver Republican. He was only a dog … but was much more useful to society than many HUMANS.
