I did not know until this morning that anyone with a Multnomah County Library card can access the Greatest Work of Philologic Scholarship Ever Completed*, the Oxford English Dictionary, free of charge, and right from your browser.
The online version of the dictionary provides access to continual updates as the lexicographers toil towards the Third Edition. The Third Edition isn’t expected to be completed for a Very Long Time (2018 if you believe the Oxford University Press, 2037 (!) if you believe Wikipedia). But you–YOU!–can follow along as they release updates to the online version.
If you are a card-carrying member of the library, go here. You’ll be asked to enter your ID number (it’s on your card) and your PIN (typically the last four digits of your phone number).
Enjoy!
* This, of course, is just my opinion. But don’t you agree?
p.s. This all came up because I wanted to research whether I had indeed gotten a new word into the OED. Turns out I did! See more on my blog.
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And not just the OED – there are dozens of research databases available from the library website, some with thousands of fulltext articles from magazines, newspapers, and academic periodicals that you can’t access with a google search.
the alphabetical list or
arranged by topic
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