Next _Anger_ rushed; his eyes, on fire, In lightnings owned his secret stings.--COLLINS.
_Freedom's_ fame finds wings on every wind.--BYRON.
_Death_, his mask melting like a nightmare dream, smiled.--HAYNE.
_Traffic_ has lain down to rest; and only _Vice_ and _Misery_, to prowl or to moan like night birds, are abroad.--CARLYLE.
[Sidenote: _A halfway class of words. Class nouns in use, abstract in meaning._]
17. Abstract nouns are made half abstract by being spoken of in the plural.
They are not then pure abstract nouns, nor are they common class nouns. For example, examine this:--
The _arts_ differ from the _sciences_ in this, that their power is founded not merely on _facts_ which can be communicated, but on _dispositions_ which require to be created.--RUSKIN.
When it is said that _art_ differs from _science_, that the power of art is founded on _fact_, that _disposition_ is the thing to be created, the words italicized are pure abstract nouns; but in case _an art_ or _a science_, or _the arts_ and _sciences_, be spoken of, the abstract idea is partly lost. The words preceded by the article _a_, or made plural, are still names of abstract ideas, not material things; but they widen the application to separate kinds of _art_ or different branches of _science_. They are neither class nouns nor pure abstract nouns: they are more properly called _half abstract_.
Let us, if we must have great _actions_, make our own so.--EMERSON.
And still, as each repeated _pleasure_ tired, Succeeding _sports_ the mirthful band inspired.--GOLDSMITH.
But ah! those _pleasures_, _loves_, and _joys_ Which I too keenly taste, The Solitary can despise.--BURNS.
All these, however, were mere _terrors_ of the night.--IRVING.
[Sidenote: _By ellipses, nouns used to modify._]
18. Nouns used as descriptive terms. Sometimes a noun is attached to another noun to add to its meaning, or describe it; for example, "a _family_ quarrel," "a _New York_ bank," "the _State Bank Tax_ bill," "a _morning_ walk."
It is evident that these approach very near to the function of adjectives. But it is better to consider them as nouns, for these reasons: they do not give up their identity as nouns; they do not express quality; they cannot be compared, as descriptive adjectives are.