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dictionary
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Nathan Bailey's definition of “oats” Samuel Johnson's definition of “Oats” parade float to promote Webster's International Dictionary entry for the word harlequin from the ninth edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
Learn about the history of the dictionary, from Dr. Samuel Johnson's dictionary of the English language to the Oxford English Dictionary
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dictionary
dictionary summary
Quizzes
Guinea pig in purple glasses resting on an open book.
Challenging Words You Should Know Vocabulary Quiz Vol. 2
White rubber duck among yellow ducks stands out from the crowd. Diversity, individuality, difference, minority or independence in business. SEE CONTENT NOTES!
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Quiz
A gold foil number 12 balloon is held high in the air by male hands; photo taken outdoors on a bright sunny day, the sky is blue with some clouds. A vintage style effects has been added to the image.
12-Letter Words Quiz
A roulette wheel showing the number 13. 13 letter word quiz.
13-Letter Word Quiz
Pages of a dictionary from England (English dictionary, British dictionary, United Kingdom, words, opened book.
Ultimate Vocabulary Test: Part One
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Engraving of Solomon Northup, c. 1853. (Twelve Years a Slave, 12 Years a Slave, slavery, African-American, Black History)
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World Poetry Day
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Fish. Lionfish. Lion-fish. Turkey fish. Fire-fish. Red lionfish. Pterois volitans. Venomous fin spines. Coral reefs. Underwater. Ocean. Red lionfish swims by seaweed.
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6 of the World's Most Dangerous Birds
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King Cobra snake in Malaysia. (reptile)
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Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician and autodidact.
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Hemp (Cannabis sativa).
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Nathan Bailey's definition of “oats”
Nathan Bailey's definition of “oats” A detail of Nathan Bailey's definition of the word oats (1736).

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Also known as: lexicon
Written by
Allen Walker Read
Emeritus Professor of English, Columbia University. Author of "Approaches to Lexicography and Semantics" in Current Trends in Linguistics.
Allen Walker Read
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
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dictionary, reference book that lists words in order—usually, for Western languages, alphabetical—and gives their meanings. In addition to its basic function of defining words, a dictionary may provide information about their pronunciation, grammatical forms and functions, etymologies, syntactic peculiarities, variant spellings, and antonyms. A dictionary may also provide quotations illustrating a word’s use, and these may be dated to show the earliest known uses of the word in specified senses. The word dictionary comes from the Latin dictio, “the act of speaking,” and dictionarius, “a collection of words.” Although encyclopaedias are a different type of reference work, some use the ...(100 of 11101 words)

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