Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition.
Search the OED
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Search Types Currently Supported
It is possible to retrieve either entire dictionary entries (including
quotations) or to search within and retrieve quotations.
Retrieving entries
- A Lookup is a traditional dictionary lookup and matches your word exactly (omit all diacritics).
- The selection, Browse entries, creates a browseable index of headwords which can be used to select individual entries. This matches all forms beginning with the word or stem you type. For example, a
Browse of "slum" would retriev
e "slumber" and "slump" as well.
- A search of the Entire entry will retrieve all entries containing the word or phrase you specify. Like
Browse it creates an index from which you can choose entries.
- A search of the Etymology will retrieve words with the etymology information you supply. For example, an Etymology search of "mex" will retrieve words said to be from "Mexico" or of "Mexican" origin.
- In the printed OED, the Label is the italicized designation,
usually abbreviated, which informs Dictionary readers of the boundaries
within which a word or sense is, or was, used. In current OED
terminology, there are five categories of labels: status (obsolete,
rare, colloquial, etc.); regional (indicating a geographical area
of usage, such as the U.S.); grammatical (describing the syntactical
role of the word or sense, such as plural or collective); semantic
(indicating the interpretation given to a word or sense in a
particular context, such as figurative, transferred, specific, etc.);
and subject (specifying the discipline, profession, trade, etc. in
in which a word or sense is used). Labels such as "Legal," "Engineering," "Obs" (obsolete), and even "rugby football" can be found.
Searching and retrieving quotations
When searching the quotations, it is possible to limit by century. Use the menu option for Restrict quotation searches to:.
- Entire Quote: searches through quotation text and citation.
- Quoted Author: searches quoted authors. Caution: many author names are abbreviated (e.g., shaks)
- Quoted Work: searches titles of quoted works, also frequently abbreviated.
- Quoted Date: searches quotation dates.
- Quoted Text: search text of quotation itself.
About the electronic OED
Pat/OED-to-html interface written by John Price-Wilkin (Michigan).
Installed 12/94. Comments and problems to Willard McCarty, Centre for Computing in
the Humanities, mccarty@epas.