The Oxford Dictionary of Current English

1993·246.91 MB·English

by  Della Thompson

THE
OXFORD
DICTIONARY OF
CURRENT
ENGLISH
10.000 new entries
75,000 definitions

THE OXFORD DICTIONARY
OF CURRENT ENGLISH
—
—
The
Oxford
Dictionary
of Current English
SECOND EDITION
Editedby
DELLA THOMPSON
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1993
Oxford University Press, WaltonStreet, Oxford0x26dp
Oxford New York Toronto
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©OxfordUniversityPress1992
Firstpublished1992aseightheditiono/ThePocketOxfordDictionary
FirstissuedasanOxfordUniversityPresspaperback1993
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—
TheOxforddictionaryofcurrentEnglish/editedbyDelia Thompson. 2nded.
— p. cm.—
1. Englis—hlanguage 20thcentury Dictionaries.2.English
language Newwords—Dictionaries. I. Thompson,DeliaF.
PE1628.0867 1993
423'.l-dc20
92-27280
CIP
ISBN0-19-283127-5
3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4
PrintedinDenmark
byNorhavenRotation
Contents
Guide totheUseoftheDictionary vii
Abbreviations usedintheDictionary xii
Pronunciation Symbols usedintheDictionary xiv
DICTIONARY
1
Appendix: PunctuationMarks 1072
Editorial Staff
ManagingEditor DrDeliaThompson
GeneralEditors MrAndrewHodgson
MrChrisStewart
ScienceEditor DrAlexandraClayton
FreelanceEditors MrsBarbaraBurge
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CriticalReaders DrI. Grafe
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KeyboardingManager MrsAnneWhear
KeyboardingAssistants MrsPamMarjara
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Proofreadersand MrsDeirdreArnold
GeneralContributors MrKeithHarrison
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MsJoannaThompson
MrF. RolandWhear
Thiseditionowesmuchinitscontentandstyletotheeightheditionof
the Concise Oxford Dictionary edited by Dr Robert Allen, who also
revisedtheetymologiesforthisdictionary.
Guide to the Use of the Dictionary
Headword
1.
1.1 Theheadwordisprintedinboldtype, orinbolditalictypeif
the word is not naturalized in English and is usually found in
italics inprinted matter.
1.2 Variantspellingsaregivenbeforethedefinition(e.g.cabbyn.
(alsocabbie));inallsuchcasestheformgivenastheheadwordis
the preferred form. When the variant form is alphabetically
remote from the main form it is given at its proper place in the
dictionary(e.g. caimanvar. ofcayman).
1.3 Wordsthataredifferentbutspeltthesameway(homographs)
are distinguishedbysuperiorfigures (e.g. bat1 andbat2).
1.4 Wordsthatarenormallyspeltwithacapitalinitialaregiven
inthisformastheheadword; whentheyareinsome sensesspelt
with a small initial and in others with a capital initial this is
indicated by repetition ofthe full word in the appropriate form
withintheentry(asatcarboniferous).
1.5 VariantAmericanspellingsareindicatedbythedesignation
US(e.g. favour. . . USfavor).
2. Pronunciation
GuidanceonpronunciationfollowsthesystemoftheInternational
Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Only the pronunciation standard in
southernEnglandisgiven. Akeytothesymbolsusedappearson
pagexiv.
3. Part-of-speechlabel
3.1 Thisisgivenforallmainentries andderivatives.
3.2 Differentpartsofspeechofasinglewordarelistedseparately.
3.3 Verbs,whethertransitive,intransitive,orboth,aregiventhe
simpledesignationv.Thedesignationabsol.(absolute)denotesuse
withanimpliedobject(asatabdicate).
4. Inflexion
4.1 PluralsofNouns:
Nouns that form their plural regularly by adding -s (or -es when
viii GUIDE TO THE USE OF THE DICTIONARY
they end in -s, -x, -z, -sh, or soft -ch), receive no comment. Plural
forms of those ending in -o (preceded by any letter other than
anothero)arealwaysgiven.Otherirregularformsarealsogiven,
except when the word is a compound ofobvious formation (e.g.
footman, schoolchild).
4.2 FormsofVerbs:
4.2.1 Thefollowingregularformsreceivenocomment:
(i) third person singularpresentforms adding-stothe stem (or
-estostemsendingin-s, -x, -z, -sh, orsoft-ch).
(ii) pasttensesandpastparticiplesadding-edtothestem.
4.2.2 A doubled consonant in verbal inflexions (e.g. rubbed,
rubbing, sinned, sinning) is shown in the form (-bb-, -nn-, etc.).
WherepracticediffersinAmericanusagethisisnoted(asatcavil).
4.3 Comparative and Superlative of Adjectives and Adverbs:
Thefollowingregularformsreceivenocomment:
4.3.1 Words of one syllable adding -er and -est (e.g. greater,
greatest).
4.3.2 Words ofone syllable ending in silent e, which drop the e
andadd-erand-est(e.g. braver, bravest).
5. Definition
5.1 Definitionsarelistedinorderofcomparativefamiliarityand
importance, withthemostcurrentandimportantsensesfirst.
5.2 Theyareseparatedbyanumber,orbyaletterwhenthetwo
sensesaremorecloselyrelated.
5.3 Roundbracketsencloselettersorwordsthatareoptional(as
at crash v. where '(cause to) make a loud smashing noise' can
meaneither'makealoudsmashingnoise'or'causetomakealoud
smashing noise'), and indicate typical objects oftransitive verbs
(suchas 'milk' and 'theskin' intwosensesofcream v.).
6. SubjectandUsagelabels
6.1 These are used to clarify the particular context in which a
wordorphraseisnormallyused.
6.2 WordsandphrasesmorecommonininformalspokenEnglish
than informalwrittenEnglishare labelledcolloq. (colloquial) or
slangasappropriate.
GUIDE TO THE USE OF THE DICTIONARY
ix
6.3 Some subject labels are used to indicate the particular
relevanceofatermorsubjectwithwhichitisassociated(e.g.Mus.,
Law, Physics). They are not used when this is sufficiently clear
fromthedefinitionitself.
6.4 Two categories ofdeprecated usage are indicated by special
markings: coarse slang indicates a word that, although widely
found, is still unacceptable to many people; offens. (offensive)
indicates a use that is regarded as offensive by members of a
particularethnic, religious, orothergroup.
6.5 Usagenotesfoundattheendofentries give guidanceonthe
current norms ofstandard English. Some ofthe rules givenmay
legitimately be broken in less formal English, and especially in
conversation.
7. Phrases
Phrasesarelistedinalphabeticalorderafterthetreatmentofthe
main word. The words a, the, one, and person do not count for
purposesofalphabeticalorder.
Compounds
8.
8.1 Compound terms forming one word (e.g. bathroom,
jellyfish) are listed as main entries, as are those consisting of
two or more words (e.g. chain reaction) orjoined by a hyphen
(e.g. chain-gang).
8.2 Whenahyphenedcompoundinboldtypeisdividedattheend
ofalinethehyphenisrepeatedatthebeginningofthenextlineto
showthatitisapermanentfeatureofthespellingandnotjustan
end-of-linehyphen.
9. Derivatives
9.1 Wordsformedbyaddingasuffixtoanotherwordareinmany
cases listed at the end of the entry for the main word (e.g.
chalkiness and chalky at chalk). In this position they are not
defined since they canbe understoodfrom the senseofthe main
word and that given at the suffix concerned; when further
definition is called for they are given main entries in their own
right(e.g. changeable).
9.2 Forreasonsofspacewordsformedbycertainsuffixesarenot
always included except when some special feature ofspelling or