Author Description

This upgraded version of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) Second Edition on CD-ROM, the internationally recognized authority on the English language, offers outstanding accessibility to one of the most important reference sources in the world today. This upgraded OED CD-ROM has been designed to run on the latest operating systems and offers newly designed, powerful, yet easy to use software which enables the user to exploit the encyclopedic potential of the OED to the full. Whether you want to browse through the dictionary, focus on a particular category of text (e.g. derivations, definitions, or quotations), or follow up a narrowly defined area of interest (e.g. search for rabbit before fur within 25 words in definition text), this software will help you find what you need in seconds. Tailor-made entries: Entry display is very clearly designed - users can opt to display the supporting quotations for definitions, or to hide them. Similarly, the user can choose to show or hide the pronunciation, spellings, and derivations text. The search functionality is easy to use, yet powerful enough for the user to construct complex searches: Users can do simple searches for headwords (plus nested compounds that have their own definition and supporting quotations) at the touch of a button. Wildcards can be used widen the scope of a headword search (e.g. angle* finds angle n1 (and its compounds: angle-head, angle-taster, angle-worm) and angle n2 (and its subsidiary words)). The complex search allows users to: Search the full text of the OED Restrict their search to: definition text, derivations, or quotation text, as well as specifically to quotations, authors, works, and dates of supporting quotations. Thus a user can search for supporting quotations dated 1300-1350, for example. Search for words which are near, before, or after one another. Wildcards can be used in the complex search to extend the scope of a search. Users can print an entry and copy it to their word processor. You can also look up a word in the OED CD-ROM by dragging a word from your word processor document and dropping it into the search input box in the OED CD-ROM. System requirements: IBM compatible PC with minimum 32Mb RAM (64Mb RAM recommended); minimum 200 MHz Pentium class processor; 16 speed CD-ROM drive (32-speed recommended); Windows 95, 98, or Windows NT 4.0; 750 Mb of hard disk space (required for indexes).