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- Division of Senses
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A boldface colon is used in this dictionary to introduce a definition: 1coo·per . . . noun :one that makes or repairs wood casks or tubs It is also used to separate two or more definitions of a single sense: un·cage . . . transitive verb : to release from or as if from a cage :free from restraint Boldface Arabic numerals separate the senses of a wo...
The order of senses within an entry is historical: the sense known to have been first used in English is entered first. This is not to be taken to mean, however, that each sense of a multisense word developed from the immediately preceding sense. It is altogether possible that sense 1 of a word has given rise to sense 2 and sense 2 to sense 3, but ...
Occasionally the dictionary user, having looked up an entry, may not find a particular sense that was expected or hoped for. This usually means no more than that the editors judged the sense insufficiently common or otherwise important to include in a dictionary of this scope. Such a sense will frequently be found at the appropriate entry in a dict...
Information coming between the entry word and the first definition of a multisense word applies to all senses and subsenses. Information applicable only to some senses or subsenses is given between the appropriate boldface numeral or letter and the symbolic colon. A variety of kinds of information is offered in this way: 2palm noun . . .3 [Latin pa...
Entries for abbreviations lack definitions. Instead such an entry is given an expansion, which is simply the full word or phrase from which the abbreviation was originally created. Because an expansion is not a definition, it is not introduced by a boldface colon. When more than one expansion is given for an abbreviation, the expansions are listed ...
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Webster's Dictionary is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by Noah Webster (1758–1843), an American lexicographer, as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's name in his honor.
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