In a Word

polyhistor n. a person of great and varied learning edacious adj. greedy, eager perlegate v. to read through defatigate v. to tire out, exhaust, fatigue In his Recollections of the Last Days of Shelley and Byron, Edward John Trelawny describes Shelley’s thirst for knowledge as “unquenchable”: I called on him one morning at ten, he was in his study with a German folio open, resting on the broad marble mantel-piece, over an old-fashioned fire-place, and with a dictionary in his hand. He always read standing if possible. He had promised over night to go with me, but now begged me...

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