Visual Description: The guy who dropped the unnecessary U!
VINGE = GIVEN, CHOTN = NOTCH, MONIRF = INFORM, GGLGEA = GAGGLE — Giving us: INOTNMAGE
Clue/Question: Noah Webster hadn’t started work on his dictionary yet, but he was – – –
Answer: MEANING TO
(And, we’re all glad that he finally got around to it! Where would we be if we couldn’t look up words in the dictionary? I know I’d be lost. George and Charles Merriam bought the rights to his dictionary from Noah’s estate, soon after his death, and they were smart enough to incorporate his name when they began publishing the ever popular Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
All of today’s clue words are already current residents of the ralis95 clue word database. And yet, all of today’s jumbles appear to be new. I was in the zone this AM, so none of them gave me any trouble. The answer letter layout was a fine nine letter jumble. The final answer did not jump out at me, as yesterday’s did. I figured the first word had to end with ING, and the rest just fell into place.
I’m always a fan of Jeff’s period piece cartoons. Until I read the clue/question I was thinking Alexander Hamilton, but he died a couple of years before Noah published his first dictionary. But, as you can see from the portrait drawing that I found, Jeff did a fine job of capturing Noah’s likeness. An all-around great Jumble! Be well and do good, friends.) — YUR
Images courtesy of Google
Unclerave's Wordy Weblog 
UR, I think the drawing you found might have been Jeff’s model for the cartoon. Yes, Old Noah dropped the “U” from honor and neighbor, and helped us realize (not realise) American spelling. And, today’s Jumble was not too TUF (to use the spelling from Webster’s first edition).
Attaboy, roy! Don’t forget color! I always wondered what the Brits had against the letter Z too? — YUR
Yes indeed, Noah Webster placed S vs. Z in the center (not centre) of the debate!
After all the wars with France you’d think they’d want to distance themselves from the French influence. — YUR
Slow and steady won the day for me. Given was my tough word; had to look at it multiple times before I got it. The answer didn’t pop out right away; it was a process of elimination starting with ‘TO’. Then I knew the first word ended in ING. And then a quick resort of the remaining letters and done!
😀