Oxford University Press 2006

Unrivalled breadth and

depth

• The biggest dictionary of any language in the world in print, on CD-Rom and online!

• Over 600,000 definitions• Over 2.5 million quotation examples to show

words in context• Explores the evolution of English over the last

1500 years• Covers words and phrases from across the

English-speaking world

Oxford University Press 2006

An enormous project

• The updating of the OED is the world’s largest humanities research project

– Editorial work alone costs OUP £3 million per year!– 80 in-house lexicographers, researchers and systems

engineers working on the project– 200 specialist advisers– Numerous external contributors

• At least 6000 new and revised definitions published online each year

Welcome to the Oxford English Dictionary homepage!

Did you know that you can load the “Search OED” icon to your toolbar?

Then you can highlight a word on any web site and OED will open up at the definition!

Click on Customer Service tab to find out how

Simply click here

Right-click on this link and

follow the instructions below

Highlight a word on any website…

…and click on the link!

Here’s your definition!

Oxford University Press 2006

Any problems?

• Make sure that your toolbar is unlocked – hold mouse over toolbar and right-click, then untick the ‘Lock toolbars’ option

• Add the website to your trusted sites: select Tools, Internet Options, Security. Then click on ‘Sites’ and add http://www.oed.com. You may also need to untick the ‘require https in this zone’ box. Click OK twice to finalize.

Now try again!

Oxford University Press 2006

Now let’s start exploring the dictionary!

Type here to do a Quick Search for a wordand press return or click on

nice

Click on a result to go to the definition – the abbreviationsreferring to different part of speech

help you to select the most relevant entry

This is your entry for nice.

Take a look at adjacent entries in the dictionary.

By selecting the List by Date tab you can viewentries for other words appearing in English

at the same time as nice.

You can also choose to view a map guiding you through the different senses of nice.

Click on a link on the left to view a later definition.

Within the entry for each word, the definitions are listed in chronological order with the oldest appearing first.

Scroll through the entry to see how the meaning of nice has changed over time.

You can customize your view of the dictionary by selecting the relevant tabs at the top.

Each different meaning is also illustrated by useful quotations…

…as well as a date chart, showing you when each meaning of nice was in use.

Scroll down to view the current meaning of nice.

This gives the version and publication date of the entry.If you’re interested in the development of the OED itself,

take a look at the entry for nice in an earlier edition.

Oxford University Press 2006

Quick Search

You can also use wildcards in Quick Search:

* represents any number of missing words (or none)

? represents one missing letter

A search for *phobia brings up 115 words ending with phobia

You can change the number of results displayed per page.

Unsure about spelling? A search for r*yt*m will find the correct one!

Select Simple Search or Advanced Search from the tab at the bottom

Oxford University Press 2006

Simple Search

• Simple Search allows you to select the area of your search term from a variety of options:

– Full text, definitions, etymologies, language names

– Quotations, Quotation date / author / work

– First cited date / author / work

• It also allows you to do Proximity Searches

Type in a search term, select an area from the drop-down list and click on

Read though all 279 English words that owe a debt to Urdu!

Or view all 3,706 quotations from Shakespeare used to illustrate meanings!

Click in More options to search for one word or

phrase in association with another

Proximity searching

Know the meaning but not the word? This type of search helps you findthe definition of the fear of spiders.

Oxford University Press 2006

Advanced Search

• Use Boolean operators such as AND, OR, NEAR• Combine a search on three words, and specify

the order in which they appear• Filter for specific parts of speech• Restrict your search to the results of previous

searches• Search a specific edition of the OED • Search pronunciations and quotations

Let’s search for any words related to fashion, originating from French, that entered English after 1750.

First, you need to look up the phonetic symbolfor the rhyme you need. Go to HELP for this.

Let’s try a search for PRONUNCIATION, which will allow you to search for rhymes!

Select Advanced Searching

Go to Searching pronunciations

Click on this link

Select the edition of your choice

Here you find a list of the phonetic symbols for all the sounds used in English, with the corresponding keyboard equivalent.

Let’s search for words rhyming with/eIt/, like fate, or great.

Scroll down to find the symbolat the bottom of the list.

Now type the equivalent keyboard sign into the search box and select pronunciation.

This search will find any words ending with this sound.

There are 2,289 results!

This search will only find monosyllabic nounsrhyming with fate.

65 results!

View the result by entry name, entry date or quotation date.

This link always takes you back to the homepage

Through the OED Help, you can alsofind a list of all the language names!

Select Key to symbols and other conventions

Scroll down to the bottom of the page

Select Collation of language names

Choose any letter to viewlanguage names starting

with this letter

The OED help has a lotmore information on searching!

Now you’re nearly fluent in Nahuatl !

Don’t forget to take a look at the Learning Resources, which contain quizzes and exercises for schools!

Oxford University Press 2006

Seeing something different on your

screen?

Please note that if you try the searches

shown

here for yourself, you might find different

results due to the constant updating of the

OED.

Oxford University Press 2006

Widely acclaimed

• “The ultimate authority on the English language as well as a history of English speech and thought from its infancy to the present day” The Times

• “The greatest continuing work of scholarship that this century has produced” Newsweek

• “An essential acquisition for all libraries” Library Journal

Oxford University Press 2006

Further information

• Full details about the OED and OED Online are available at www.oed.com

• A detailed tour is available at www.oed.com/public/tour

• If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us at onlineproducts@oup.com