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  • Custom is not an essential condition of wordship. Howells, in one of his letters, (Book I., Letter 12) says of an Italian town: "There are few places this side the Alps better built and so well streeted as this." Streeted was probably never used before, and has probably never been used since Howells used it two hundred and forty years ago. But it expressed his thought perfectly then to all English speaking people, and does so now, and is a participial adjective correctly formed. It is unknown to custom, but it has all the conditions of wordship, and is a much better English word than very many in " Webster's Dictionary.

    --Richard Grant White, 1868, "Words and their uses", The Galaxy 6(5): 691

    October 18, 2008