The Oxford English Dictionary (OED)?has become the most venerated and most authoritative English language reference ever compiled. As a historical dictionary, the OED is very different from dictionaries of current English, in which the focus is on present-day meanings. You’ll still find present-day meanings in the OED, but you’ll also find the history of individual words, and of the language, traced through 3.5 million quotations, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts and cookbooks.

The?OED?today:

• What’s new: every three months updates revise existing entries and add new words.
• The OED today: discover the 21st century OED and find out more about the revision program, how to read an entry, and how to use the online OED.
• Aspects of English: informative and entertaining commentaries on the English language, written by dictionary editors and specialist authors.
• Historical Thesaurus of the OED: now fully incorporated into OED Online, the Historical Thesaurus of the OED arranges the dictionary by meaning. Trace the changing language of the material world, the mind, and society, from the Anglo-Saxon period to the modern day. It is the first historical thesaurus ever produced for any language.
• Video shorts: a series of videos now live examines how the OED is produced behind the scenes.

Contact services@mcls.org or 517-939-1382 for a quote or more information.