Lehigh University Library & Technology Services


Dictionaries



Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

web accessible at:  http://dictionary.oed.com/entrance.dtl
The OED (Oxford English Dictionary) includes definitions and histories of English words, including quotations and cites to the first known occurrence.
The previous edition (in print) can be found at: L-1-REF 423 M982n

Other Online-accessible dictionaries

YourDictionary.com, formerly A Web of Online Dictionaries, http://www.yourdictionary.com/index.shtml
has a comprehensive list of over English and non-English language dictionaries on the web.

Xrefer.com has a number of dictionaries on their site (currently three: Bloomsbury Dictionary of Contemporary Slang,Penguin Rhyming Dictionary, and The Pocket Oxford Dictionary of Current English). Go to http://www.xrefer.com/ and choose dictionaries from the drop-down menu. Then type in your word and choose search.

Unabridged English Dictionaries

Unabridged Dictionaries are housed on dictionary stands in the Reading Room in Linderman and in the reference area in Fairchild-Martindale.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th edition.
Library Web Page, Britannica Online Web Site
Choose Dictionary to search the dictionary only, not the encyclopedia

Webster's third new international dictionary of the English language, unabridged .
423 W38 1981 L-1-REF and FM-1-REF

Random House dictionary of the English language.
 423 R194 1987 FM-1-R-REF and L-1-REF

Bartleby.com includes the 4th edition of the American Heritage Dictionary of The English Language at: http://www.bartleby.com/61/. You can also search usage and English language guides by setting the pull-down to All Reference and searching.


Special English Language Dictionaries

Special English dictionaries covering particular periods (for example, Middle English), regions (Dictionary of American Regional English), slang, rhymes, etc. are found in the 420 area of the Linderman Reference collection in the Reading Room. Although they are all retrievable through the catalog, browsing is recommended.

Foreign Language Dictionaries

Look in the Reference collection in either library (also Ready Reference in Linderman) for language dictionaries. Although there is a small group of languages beyond these three represented in the Fairchild-Martindale Reference collection, most language dictionaries are housed in the Linderman Reference collection.To find them, conduct a subject search on ASA employing a search stategy like this: norwegian language and dictionaries.

Technical Dictionaries

Technical dictionaries contain more sophisticated definitions of technical terms than definitions appearing in unabridge dictionaries.

The standard choice is:
McGraw-Hill dictionary of scientific and technical terms.
LOCATION: 503 M147 FM-1-R-REF

Although technical dictionaries exist for many fields, they are most often needed for chemical terms:
Hawley's condensed chemical dictionary.
LOCATION: 540.3 C74 FM-1-REF 


Technical Dictionaries -- Foreign Language

Search ASA by subject for dictionaries on a specific discipline (example: chemistry and french and dictionaries).
For quick retrieval, browse the shelves in the Fairchild-Martindale Reference collection:

Law Dictionaries

Black's law dictionary : definitions of the terms and phrases of American and English jurisprudence, ancient and modern.
LOCATION: 340.03 B627b FM-1-REF 

Medical Dictionaries

American heritage Stedman's medical dictionary.
LOCATION: 610.3 A5121 FM-1-REF


Computing Dictionaries

Dictionary of Computing.
ON ORDER 

Subject Dictionaries

Search ASA by subject.
Sample searches:
   sociology and dictionaries
   economics and dictionaries