The Oxford English Dictionary
(OED) has announced that it has unveiled an online version at http://www.oed.com.
On view—in a format developed for easy accessibility—will be the full text
of the 20 volume OED with 60 million words describing nearly 750,000 terms
accompanied by more than 2.4 million quotations.
New improvements to the Oxford English Dictionary include the
following:
The first 1,000-word section (“M” to “MAH”) has been completely revised
and updated. New words include “ma and pa store,” “mad-cow disease,” “magnet
school,” “magnum force,” “made man” (mafia member), and many more.
More than 9,000 words are now fully integrated into the dictionary for
the first time. New words from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s include thong,
supermodel, trophy wives, shopaholic, body-piercing, cyberspace, attitude,
and ecotage.
New quotes have been added, including ones from Prince, Quentin Tarantino,
The X-Files, P. J. O’Rourke, Camille Paglia, 2-Live Crew, and rapper Ice
Cube.
John Simpson, chief editor of the OED, said, “Delivering the Oxford
English Dictionary online will represent the achievement of a major
goal, but this is only part of the story.” More than 300 staff members
and advisers are completely revising the dictionary—the first revision
since it was originally completed in 1928. The work is being funded by
the Oxford University Press, and is scheduled for completion in 2010. Although
still in its early stages, Simpson believes that the revision could double
the length of the dictionary, increasing the number of words and phrases
to more than 1.3 million.
Table
of Contents