DICTIONARIES

Reference Books | Databases | Websites

REFERENCE BOOKS

• Abbreviations dictionary. Boca Raton, FL : CRC Press, 2001. R423 D4
• Cassell's dictionary of word and phrase origins. London: Cassell, 2002. R422.03 R44
• NTC's American idioms dictionary: the most practical reference for the everyday expressions of contemporary American English. Chicago: NTC Pub. Group, 2000. R423 S64
• The new Oxford American dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. R423 N429
• The Oxford English dictionary: being a corrected reissue with an introduction, supplement, and bibliography. 12 vol., 4 supplements (1972-1982). Oxford: Clarendon press, 1970. R423 O98
• Webster's New World dictionary of American English. New York: Webster's New World, 1988. R423 W38n

DATABASES

• OED Online (Oxford English Dictionary): This mammoth dictionary includes English language words from the earliest records of written language to the present day. Entries include over 2 million dated quotations from English language history literature and records and facts concerning word forms, changes, and etymology. Available through library subscription.
• Credo Reference: Quick-reference database with five different dictionaries, two thesauri, and a "crossword solver" feature.

WEBSITES

English Language | Foreign Language | Other Dictionaries

-- ENGLISH LANGUAGE

• Chambers Reference Online: Search Chambers 21st Century Dictionary or The Chambers Thesaurus.
• Merriam-Webster OnLine Search: Dictionary based on Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. Also includes word of the day, word games, and more.
• OneLook Dictonary: Search engine for words and phrases that links to the web-based dictionaries that define or translate a word. More than 5 million words in more than 900 online dictionaries are indexed by the OneLook® search engine.
• Roget's New Millenium Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases (2006): Find synonyms and more.

-- FOREIGN LANGUAGE

• Yahoo! Babel Fish Translation Service: Translate a block of text or an entire website in over ten different languages.
• Free Translation: Computer-generated free translations of both text and web pages.
• Internet Dictionary Project: Translates English words into either Italian, French, German, Spanish, Latin, or Portuguese; or from those languages into English.
• DictSearch: Search in 132 dictionaries on the Internet. Translate from 56 source languages into 58 target languages - almost 300 language combinations.
• Online Dictionaries and Translators: Provides links to online dictionaries or translators in languages from Ahmeric to Nepali to Zarma and every language in between.
• TravLang's Translating Dictionaries: Translations from many different languages, including English to foreign language translations as well as foreign language-to-foreign language translations.

-- OTHER DICTIONARIES

• AF: Acronym Finder: Searchable database of more than 475,000 abbreviations and acronyms about computers, technology, telecommunications, and military acronyms and abbreviations.
• American Sign Language Video Dictionary
• Basic Dictionary of ASL Terms (American Sign Language: Over 1000 basic ASL signs, as well as the alphabet and numbers.  Dictionary includes both animated and text definitions.
• The Glossarist: Comprehensive directory with over 4,500 glossaries, 679 of which have been cataloged into 130 categories. Searchable by keyword or browse for a glossary by topic (and then category).
• Banished Words: Annual ‘extreme’ List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness.
• Rhyming Dictionary: Find words that rhyme with, almost rhyme with, or sound exactly the same as a certain target word, or find words that approximate or have the same meaning as an intended concept.
• The Braille Alphabet: Visual representation of the Braille alphabet.
• Worldnet Vocabulary Helper: An English lexical database.