Skip Navigation

Scout Archives

Home Projects Publications Archives About Sign Up or Log In

Oxford English Dictionary Online

On Tuesday, the Oxford University Press placed the world's most famous dictionary, the OED, on the Web. Individual and institutional subscribers will now have online access to what is indisputably the most authoritative and historical dictionary of the English language. In addition, the editors have announced plans to use the online version for the first comprehensive revision of the twenty-volume work (in regular-size print, plus three supplemental volumes) since the completion of the first edition's publication in 1928. Quarterly updates of the dictionary will involve adding new words and updating all 250,000 of the entries in the current version. The online edition allows users to conduct word or phrase searches, including proximity searches, of the full text or selected portions, such as etymologies, quotations, definitions, etc. -- searches that are functionally difficult or impossible in the print edition. The Web version will also have such additional features as links to scholarship about the dictionary, a "Word of the Day," opportunities for readers to provide lexicographical input to the ongoing revision, and more. But this marvel doesn't come cheap. Individual subscriptions are $550 per year; institutions will be charged $795 per annum. A free tour of the dictionary is available for prospective buyers who wish to kick the tires. We suspect this will be a must-have for academic institutions and larger public libraries, but individuals without a large cache of discretionary funds will just have to keep squinting at that little print.
Archived Scout Publication URL
Scout Publication
Language
Date of Scout Publication
March 17th, 2000
Date Of Record Creation
April 7th, 2003 at 1:38pm
Date Of Record Release
April 7th, 2003 at 1:38pm
Resource URL Clicks
13

Internal

Cumulative Rating
0
Add Comment

Comments

(no comments available yet)