#English wordbook full#

Following each definition are several brief illustrating quotations presented in chronological order from the earliest ascertainable use of the word in that sense to the last ascertainable use for an obsolete sense, to indicate both its life span and the time since its desuetude, or to a relatively recent use for current ones. 5 Relationship to other Oxford dictionariesĪs a historical dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary features entries in which the earliest ascertainable recorded sense of a word, whether current or obsolete, is presented first, and each additional sense is presented in historical order according to the date of its earliest ascertainable recorded use.3.4 Completion of first edition and first supplement.

The third edition of the dictionary most likely will appear only in electronic form the Chief Executive of Oxford University Press has stated that it is unlikely that it will ever be printed. The online version has been available since 2000, and by April 2014 was receiving over two million visits per month. The first electronic version of the dictionary was made available in 1988. Since 2000, compilation of a third edition of the dictionary has been underway, approximately half of which was complete by 2018. More supplements came over the years until 1989, when the second edition was published, comprising 21,728 pages in 20 volumes. In 1933, the title The Oxford English Dictionary fully replaced the former name in all occurrences in its reprinting as 12 volumes with a one-volume supplement.

#English wordbook full#

In 1895, the title The Oxford English Dictionary was first used unofficially on the covers of the series, and in 1928 the full dictionary was republished in 10 bound volumes. Work began on the dictionary in 1857, but it was only in 1884 that it began to be published in unbound fascicles as work continued on the project, under the name of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by The Philological Society. It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a comprehensive resource to scholars and academic researchers, as well as describing usage in its many variations throughout the world. The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED) is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). Seven of the twenty volumes of the printed second edition of The Oxford English Dictionary (1989)