Glossary

a.Abbreviation of adjective, used as a part of speech label in OED1 and its Supplements.adj.Abbreviation of adjective, used as a part of speech label in OED2 and OED3.articleThe OED editors’ usual term for a dictionary entry.ASAnglo-Saxon, i.e. Old English.Clarendon PressOxford University Press, so named after the Clarendon Building on Broad Street, Oxford, in which the Press was housed until it moved to its present headquarters on Walton Street in 1830.Delegates (of the Press)The executive officers of Oxford University Press.editorOne of the chief compilers of the OED. The editors of the first edition were James A. H. Murray (1879–1915), Henry Bradley (1889–1923), William A. Craigie (1901–1928), and C. T. Onions (1914–1928). The dictionary had two other editors before Oxford University Press was contracted to publish it, Herbert Coleridge (1859–1861) and Frederick J. Furnivall (1861–1879), but they had no formal hand in the content of the published dictionary.fascicleOne of the serial instalments in which OED1 was published from 1884 to 1928, formally referred to as (shorter) sections and (longer) parts. These were subsequently bound into volumes as the dictionary progressed.hapax legomenonA word that is only known to have occurred once in a body of literature or in the work of a particular author (see further Examining the OED).inst.Abbreviation of instant; in correspondence, indicates a date in the current month (relative to the time of writing).IPAInternational Phonetic Alphabet, a notation system for transcribing speech sounds.Lat.Latin.MEMiddle English.n.Abbreviation of noun, used as a part of speech label in OED2 and OED3.NEDNew English Dictionary.New English DictionaryOED1, whose official title was A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles; Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society (see further Examining the OED).nonce-wordThe label used in the OED for a word apparently coined ‘for the nonce’; cf. hapax legomenon.Obs.Abbreviation of obsolete, used in the OED to mark words or meanings that have fallen out of use.ODNBOxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004–).OEDOxford English Dictionary.OED OnlineThe web-based version of the Oxford English Dictionary, comprising as-yet unrevised entries from OED2 and new and updated entries from OED3.OED1The first edition of the OED, published serially from 1884 to 1928 in fascicles which were then grouped into ten volumes. A corrected reissue of the first edition was published in 1933 in twelve volumes, including a Supplement.OED2The second edition of the OED, published in 1989 in 20 volumes. This edition amalgamated the first edition and its second Supplement, to which it added 5,000 new entries.OEDThe third edition of the OED, intended to be a complete revision of the dictionary. Work on this edition is ongoing, and tranches of new and updated entries have been periodically released online since 2000.OEOld English.OFOld French.OHGOld High German.Old AshmoleanThe building on Broad Street, Oxford, in which Henry Bradley, W. A. Craigie, C. T. Onions, and their assistants worked on the OED (now the History of Science Museum).OUPOxford University Press.Oxford University PressThe publishing house of the University of Oxford, responsible for funding the production of the OED since 1879.Phil. Soc.Philological Society.Philological SocietyA London-based scholarly organization founded in 1842 and dedicated to the study of language. In the 1850s, it proposed the publication of a new English dictionary and began gathering material for what would eventually become known as the OED, following the engagement of Oxford University Press to publish the work in 1879.PressOxford University Press.prox.Abbreviation of proximo (Latin ‘at the next’); in correspondence, indicates a date next month (relative to the time of writing).readerA volunteer who extracted quotations from books and other texts, wrote them down on slips, and sent them to the compilers of what would become the OED in order to provide historical evidence of particular words in use. See slip.sb.Abbreviation of (noun) substantive, used as a part of speech label for nouns in OED1 and its Supplements.Sc.Scots.ScriptoriumThe name of two corrugated iron sheds in which James A. H. Murray and his assistants worked on the OED. The first shed was erected in Mill Hill in 1879, the second in Oxford after Murray and his family moved there in 1885.Secretary to the Delegates (of the Press)The chief executive officer of Oxford University Press. During the publication of OED1, this post was held by Bartholomew Price (1868–1884), Philip Lyttelton Gell (1884–1898), Charles Cannan (1898–1919), and Robert Chapman (1919–1942).ShakspereThe spelling of (William) Shakespeare preferred by James A. H. Murray and certain other members of the Philological Society, including Frederick J. Furnivall, who founded the New Shakspere Society in 1873.slipA piece of paper, typically six by four inches, onto which information about a word was written by a contributor to the work that would become the OED. Volunteer readers used slips to record quotations showing words in use, along with bibliographical references to the quotations’ sources. The slips were initially sorted into alphabetic, chronological, and semantic sequence by sub-editors. Later, the editors and their assistants would use the slips as evidence in determining the meaning of a word, which was then written on a ‘top-slip’ along with an etymology, pronunciation, and so on. From there, top-slips and selected quotation slips were sent to the printers for use in typesetting the dictionary’s pages.Society for Pure EnglishA scholarly organization founded in 1913 to promote the public cultivation of certain principles of literary style, pronunciation, and word formation in English (as elaborated in its preliminary announcement). Its original committee included Henry Bradley and Robert Seymour Bridges, James A. H. Murray and W. A. Craigie were among its members, and C. T. Onions wrote a number of tracts for it.Society’s DictionaryOED1, whose official title was A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles; Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society.sub-editorOne of a group of volunteers who collected quotation slips submitted by readers and arranged them into alphabetical, chronological, and semantic sequence, often writing preliminary definitions of the words illustrated on the slips, for use in the work that would become the OED. See reader.substantiveShortened from noun substantive, another name for a noun.SunnysideThe name given by the Murray family to three of their consecutive homes: first in Mill Hill, Middlesex (from 1870), then at 78 Banbury Road, Oxford (from 1885), then in Kingsley Green, Sussex, where Ada Murray went to live with her daughter Rosfrith in 1929; they were joined by Hilda Murray in 1936.SupplementOne of two works that augmented the first edition of the OED. The first Supplement was published in 1933 as a single volume edited by William A. Craigie and C. T. Onions. The second Supplement, which incorporated the content of the first alongside new material, was published from 1972 to 1986 in four volumes edited by R. W. Burchfield.s.v.Abbreviation of sub voce (Latin ‘under the word’), used to cite a word entry in a dictionary.ult.Abbreviation of ultimo (Latin ‘at the last’); in correspondence, indicates a date in the previous month (relative to the time of writing).