- Chambers dictionary of etymology current edition for free#
- Chambers dictionary of etymology current edition android#
The Pronunciation is exhibited in the simplest possible manner. It has been the aim throughout to avoid a distracting multiplicity of definitions - not to pile up unnecessary distinctions, but to emphasise only the real differences in the usage of words. But where the word still retains more or less of its original force, the Editor has endeavoured to increase the vividness of the definition by indicating the radical idea in italics. It is left to the Etymology to connect the present meaning with the root. In the Definitions the current meaning of a word is usually put first. From this class of words large additions have been made to the Vocabulary. Owing to the wide diffusion of scientific knowledge and the application of scientific discovery to the business of every-day life, many terms that were once purely technical are now entering into the current speech. It includes, however, all the obsolete words that occur in the Bible, the Apocrypia, and the Book of Common Prayer. The Vocabulary contains every English word sanctioned by good authority, with the exception of obsolete and very rare words, and terms exclusively technical. The Dictionary is intended as a guide in the study and practical use of the English Language and embraces the Meanings of Words, their Pronunciation, and Etymology. For greater convenience of reference, the arrangement of the words has been made strictly alphabetical throughout. The changes in Etymology alone are so great as almost to constitute it a new work. The definitions of scientific terms have been carefully verified and the pronunciation corrected in accordance with the best authorities. The Vocabulary has been enriched by the insertion of a multitude of additional words. It is confidently hoped that the improvements, which are the result of a careful and exhaustive revision, will greatly increase its efficiency and popularity.
Chambers dictionary of etymology current edition for free#
This dictionary can be accessed for free online. Also on sale is the smaller 21st Century Dictionary of 1664 pages, where "the focus is on the English that people use today, and definitions are given in straightforward, accessible language". That has been followed by the thirteenth edition published in 2014.
Chambers dictionary of etymology current edition android#
This edition is available for mobile use as an iPhone, iPad, or Android app. The twelfth edition of The Chambers Dictionary was published in August 2011 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd and runs to 1936 pages with 62,500 main entries. These jocular definitions were removed by the publisher in the 1970s, but many of them were reinstated in 1983 because of the affection in which they were held by readers. Examples of such definitions include those for éclair ("a cake, long in shape but short in duration") and middle-aged ("between youth and old age, variously reckoned to suit the reckoner"). It contains many more dialectal, archaic, unconventional and eccentric words than its rivals, and is noted for its occasional wryly humorous definitions.
TCD is widely used by British crossword solvers and setters, and by Scrabble players (though it is no longer the official Scrabble dictionary). A second edition came out in 1898, and was followed in 1901 by a new compact edition called Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary. It was an expanded version of Chambers's Etymological Dictionary of 1867, compiled by James Donald. The Chambers Dictionary ( TCD) was first published by William and Robert Chambers as Chambers's English Dictionary in 1872.