Database Guide - Oxford English Dictionary

Although just Googling the meaning of a word might seem simpler than looking it up in the Oxford English Dictionary, using an authoritative source has its advantages. If you have to cite the derivation of a word or describe its change of meaning over time, the OED is a much more credible source to use in your bibliography or footnote than one found in an online chat forum. That said, there are many freely available online dictionaries worth looking at such as Cambridge, Merriam-Webster and Collins if you just want a quick look-up.

Checking against more than source is also advisable. Is a kiwi a fruit, a flightless bird, a New Zealander, a soldier, a sportsman, a brand of boot polish or all of them? And which language does it derive from? The OED can answer this as well as give you examples of usage over time and in context.

The OED is also a live record of emerging language. OED’s editors consider thousands of word suggestions every year, reviewing each and every one. Words that have not yet accumulated enough evidence for permanent record in the OED remain on the watch list for continued monitoring, while suggestions for words with sufficiently sustained and widespread use are assigned to an editor. 

• Go to LibrarySearch 
  
  
• Log in using your CCCU username and password. If you are away from campus, or connecting with your own device over Wi-Fi, you will need to include @canterbury.ac.uk after your CCCU username.
  
  
• Select Find Databases A-Z, then click on O, finally click on the link to Oxford English Dictionary to open it in a new tab.

For a basic look up its fairly easy to use, so sometimes some of the cooler features can get overlooked. The words of the day are particularly fun, particularly to use in classes. You can read them at the bottom of the search page. You can also see recently added and updated words, so you can keep abreast of language as it becomes accepted in the English language.

You can use the drop down menu next to the search box to search either the dictionary or the historical thesaurus or you can choose the Advanced Search option.

Advanced Search

You can use the Quotation Author limiter to see which authors have influenced our language. Canterbury author, Aphra Behn is cited in 490 entries of which 47 words have now fallen into disuse, for example, babelard (chatterer), balatron (buffoon) and betawder (to dress in tawdry finery).

You can find out the Language of Origin of words, or whether they are associated with a particular region of the UK. Ravel, for example, is a Kentish word for a middling sort of bread, neither white nor brown, but mixt.

You can listen to audio clips to find out how words are pronounced. 

1. Augustine House Library has an archive of material belonging to the Victorian sensational novelist, Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Use the Sources feature to find out how many times the OED has cited her works in the dictionary.
   
   
2. Look up the word Brexit. When is the first recorded usage in OED? Undertake your own search in Lexis Library Newspapers UK What do you discover?
   
   
3. Find out what garbologist means.

An accessibility statement is available from Oxford University Press.

Your Learning and Research Librarian will be able to help you make the best use of online resources. For detailed guidance, book a tutorial via the Learning Skills Hub.