Research Resources:
Subject Research Guides:
Literatures in English:
Dictionaries
Use to find definitions, current and historical, English and foreign, as well as etymologies,
pronunciation, etc.
For those working on colonial and post colonial literatures, there are also dictionaries
of Indian English, Jamaican English, Australian English, etc.
Oxford English Dictionary.
Based on the second edition of the printed work and its three volume Additions series, and also
incorporating draft material and revisions for the third edition (projected to be completed in 2010).
Allows searching of the entire text of the dictionary--that is, one can search not merely for "head
words" (the words being defined), but also for words used in definitions, etymologies, and
illustrative quotations. One can also search by the author of quotations (more than 29,000 Shakespeare
quotations!), and search for full phrases. See also the print 2nd edition at ALEXANDER REF PE1625.O87
1989. (Also Dana, Douglass, Kilmer, & Robeson).
Middle English Compendium.
This invaluable resource for medievalists includes four parts: the Middle
English Dictionary; a HyperBibliography of Middle English which includes all the works which are cited
in the Middle English Dictionary--probably the most comprehensive single list of ME materials at
present available in electronic form; A Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse, a collection of
about 146 texts; Related Resources, containing links to "digitized manuscripts containing Middle
English" and online catalogs of manuscripts.
Online Etymology Dictionary.
Compiled from an extensive list of identified sources, the dictionary can
be searched or browsed alphabetically. A list of the abbreviations used in the dictionary is included
on the main page, and a search engine for the site is provided.
Chaucer Glossary.
ALEXANDER REF PR 1941.C5.
(Also Dana).
Dictionary of American Regional English.
Four volumes so far of a major set exploring local variations in American English. Essential for Americanists.
ALEXANDER REF PE 2843.D52 1985.
(Also Dana & Robeson).
Dictionary of the English Language.
Samuel Johnson's magnificent dictionary is still an important and delightful source. Note that the Bloustein Dictionary Collection (housed in Special Collections) includes a first edition and several other early editions of Johnson--plus numerous other early dictionaries, including Noah Webster's.
ALEXANDER REF PE 1620.J6.
(Also Dana & Robeson).
Gutter Life and Language in the Early "Street" Literature of England.
Focuses on the 16th and 17th centuries. A fascinating exploration of sexual and
scatological abuse in the language of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
ALEXANDER REF PE 3724.O3H44.
Harper Dictionary of Foreign Terms.
ALEXANDER REF PE 1670.M3 1990.
Juba to Jive.
A glossary of African-American English.
ALEXANDER REF PE 3727.N4M34 1994b.
(Also Dana, Jazz, & Kilmer).
Middle English Dictionary.
A one-volume concise dictionary.
ALEXANDER REF PE 679.S7 1891A.
(Also Dana).
New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. Two volumes.
By Eric Partridge, one of the great lexicographers.
ALEXANDER REF PE3721.P3 2006.
Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology.
One of several good etymological dictionaries.
ALEXANDER REF PE 1580.O53. [1966]
(Also Dana, Douglass, Kilmer, & Robeson).
Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang.
Two volumes (so far) of another massive set.
ALEXANDER REF PE2846.H57 1994.
Shakespeare's Language: A Glossary of Unfamiliar Words in His Plays and Poems.
ALEXANDER REF PR 2892.S447 1996.
(Also Robeson).
