Author Description

An updated edition of the reference work for modern English. The text is based on the 20-volume "Oxford English Dictionary" and manages more than one third of the coverage of the OED in one tenth of the size. It contains more than half a million definitions and illustrative quotations. The new edition incorporates a complete vocabulary update with over 3500 new words and meanings, and many new illustrative quotations from modern authors. In total there are over 83,000 illustrative quotations from 7000 authors. There is extensive coverage of scientific and technical English as well as English from around the world. The dictionary is written on historical principles: entries show the historical development of words by listing meanings chronologically and giving datings for the first use of each sense.