The Oxford American Dictionary of Current English PDF
Preview The Oxford American Dictionary of Current English
ofCurrent English More than 175,000 entries and definitions Over 200 illustrations; hundreds ofword histories and usage notes The Worlds Most Trusted Dictionaries Oxford, with more than IOO stafflexicographers and hundreds of readers and researchers, per- forms the most rigorous and extensive English — language research in the world far more than any other dictionary publisher. In Oxford dic- tionaries you will find the most extensively researched guidance on language; clear and pre- cise definitions for even the most complex terms; helpful usage advice; real-life examples illustrating the living language; and the history of words, from the earliest origins to the most current usage. From the unsurpassed 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary to the American English dictionaries compiled by our U.S. Dictionaries Program, you can rely on the accuracy, thoroughness, and authority ofOxford dictionaries. usa Six9S THE Oxford American Dictionary of Current English THE Oxford American Dictionary of Current English NewYork Oxford Oxford University Press 1999 Oxford University Press NewYork Oxford Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta CapeTown Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris Sao Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 1999 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., 198 Madison Avenue, NewYork, NewYork 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark ofOxford University Press. All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission ofOxford University Press. Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The OxfordAmerican dictionary ofcurrent English, p. cm. ISBN 0-19-513374-9 (he alk. paper) : — 1. English language Dictionaries. 2. English language United States Dictionaries. 3. Americanisms Dictionaries. PE1628.08617 1999 423—dc21 99-39972 CIP This book includes some words that are, or are asserted to be, proprietary names or trademarks.Their inclusion does not imply that they have acquired for legal purposes a nonproprietary or general significance, nor is any other judgment implied concern- ing their legal status. In cases where the editor has some evidence that a word is used as a proprietary name or trademark this is indicated by the designation trademark, but no judgment concerning the legal status ofsuch words is made or implied thereby. 5 7 9 8 6 Printed in the United States ofAmerica on acid-free paper Contents Preface vi How to UseThis Dictionary vii Key to Pronunciation xii The OxfordAmerican Dictionary ofCurrent English 1-950 Biographical Entries 951 Geographical Entries 967 Special Reference Appendices: 985 Presidents ofthe United States ofAmerica 986 States ofthe United States ofAmerica 987 StandardWeights and Measures with Metric Equivalents 988 Conversion from Standard to Metric Measurements 989 MetricWeights and Measures with Standard Equivalents 990 Conversion from Metric to Standard Measurements 991 Chemical Elements 992 Countries oftheWorld 993 Preface The OxfordAmerican Dictionary ofCurrent English covers an extensive range ofcontemporary American Englishvocabulary.The textwas speciallycompiledforthis editionbyOxford'sU.S. Dictionaries Program,in keepingwiththe renowned lexicographic tradition ofOxfordUniver- sity Press. Oxford's unrivaled language research, including the NorthAmerican Reading Pro- gram (NARP),constantlymonitorsgrowth and change inAmericanEnglish. Usingcomputer- izedsearch-and-analysistoolsdevelopedoriginallyforthe20-volume OxfordEnglishDictionary, ourAmerican lexicographers can quickly explore more than 45 million words ofcitation text collected byNARP, and consult many other massive English language databases.The result is a more sharply refined picture ofthe language oftoday, elucidating many complex aspects of meaning, grammar, and usage. This dictionary reflects the scholarly guidance ofOxford's academic advisors, as well as the experience ofspecialist consultants in many fields ofendeavor. And with the Internet and the WorldWideWeb,Oxfordlexicographersarenowabletostayindailycontactwithexpertsources worldwide, receiving answers to their queries almost instantly. The text is accompanied by hundreds ofexamples, illustrations, usage notes, and word his- tories that clarify definitions and provide guidance on the subtleties ofappropriate usage. Bio- graphical and geographical sections in the back ofthe book offer essential information on the key people and places ofthe world. Finally, special reference appendices provide quick-refer- ence information for a variety ofsubjects that are offrequent interest. The OxfordAmerican Dictionary ofCurrentEnglish is an excellent choice forbusiness people, students, and all those who wish to use English with clarity and style.With its attention to ac- curacy,—currency, and thoroughness, this new American dictionary builds on the tradition of Oxford the world's most trusted name in dictionaries. Frank R.Abate EditorinChief,U.S.Dictionaries Oxford University Press, Inc. Project Staff Editorin Chief: Frank R.Abate ManagingEditor: Elizabeth Jewell J. Associate Editors: ChristineA. Lindberg Laurie H. Ongley Pronunciation Editor: Rima McKinzey ArtEditor: DeborahArgosy Illustrator: Mike Malkovas Proofreaders: Linda Ciacchi Linda Costa Archie Hobson Mark LaFlaur Katherinc C. Sietscma Sue EllenThompson DawnThornton EditorialAssistants: Karen Fisher Alexandra Abate Data Entry: Kimberly Roberts . How to Use This Dictionary MAIN ENTRIES 1 Eachmainentryisprinted inboldromantype: ad*um*brate/adumbrayt/v.tr. 1 indicatefaintly.2rep- resentinoutline. 3foreshadow;typify.4overshadow. ddad«um«bra»tion/-brayshsn/n. Mainentriesarearrangedinletter-by-letteralphabeticalorder.Differentwordsthatarespelledthesameway (homographs) aredistinguishedbyraisednumerals: font1 /font/n. 1 areceptacle in achurchforbaptismal water.2the reservoirforoil in alamp. font2/font/n. Printingasetoftypeofonefaceorsize. 2 PRONUNCIATION Guidance onthepronunciation ofa main entrywillbe found in mostcases immediately afterthemain entry, enclosedinobliquestrokes/ /.Insomecases,morethanonepronunciationisgiven:thatgivenfirstisthemore frequentorpreferredpronunciation. Guidanceonthepronunciationofderivativesofthemainentryislimited to casesinwhich the main entrypronunciation would be ofno help in establishingthe correctpronunciation ofthederivative.Thedictionaryusesasimplerespellingsystemtorepresentpronunciation.Thisismeanttobe self-explanatoryandeasilyreadablebythelaypersonwithoutconstantrecoursetoatableofspecialcharacters. Fordetails onthepronunciationsymbols,see the"Keyto Pronunciation"below. 3 PARTOFSPEECH Thegrammatical identityofwordsasnoun,verb,adjective,andsoon,isgivenforallmain entries and deriva- tives,and forcompounds and phraseswhen necessaryto aid clarity.The same part-of-speech labelingis used forgroupsofmorethan onewordwhen the grouphasthe function ofaparticularpartofspeech,e.g.,adhoc; vacuumcleaner.Whenamainentryhasmore than onepartofspeech,a listisgivenatthebeginningoftheen- try,andthetreatmentofthe successiveparts ofspeech is introducedbyabulletineachcase: & ac*ci*den*tal /aksident'l/ adj. n. •adj. 1 happening by chance or unexpectedly. 2not essential to a con- ception.•«. 1 Mus.asignindicatingamomentaryde- parturefromthekeysignature.2somethingnotessen- tialto aconception, ddac»ci»den»tal«lyadv. Thestandardpart-of-speechnamesare used,and thefollowingadditional explanations shouldbenoted: • Nounsused attributivelyare designated attrib. when theirfunction does not include predicative use (e.g., modelinamodelstudent;butthestudentisverymodelisnotacceptableusage;seealsoat"Adjectives",next). • Adjectives are labeled attrib. (= attributive) when they are normally placed before the word they modify (e.g.,actinginactingmanager),andpredic. (= predicative) whentheynormallyoccur (usuallyafteraverb) inthepredicateofasentence (e.g.,afraidinhewasafraid).Whenanadjectivecanoccureitherattributive- lyorpredicatively,the simpledesignationadj. isused. • The designation absol. (= absolute) refers to uses oftransitiveverbs with an object impliedbut not stated (asinsmokingkillsandletmeexplain) • The designation "in comb." (= in combination), or"also in comb." refers to uses ofwords (especially ad- jectivesandnouns) asanelementjoinedbyahyphentoanotherword,aswithcrested(whichoftenappears informssuchas red-crested,large-crested) orfooter(as insix-footer). 4 VARIANTS Variantspellings are given before the definition;in all such cases the form given as the main entry is the pre- ferredform.Variantformsarealsogivenattheirownplacesinthedictionarywhenthesearethreeormoreen- triesawayfromthemainform. Variantspellings givenatthebeginningofanentrynormallyapplytothewhole entry,includinganyphras- es andundefined derivatives.Whenvariants applyonlyto certainfunctions orsenses ofaword,these are giv- eninparenthesesattherelevantpointintheentry. VariantBritish spellings are indicatedbythe designationBrit.Thesevariants are often found in British use inadditiontoorinsteadofthemainformsgiven. Pronunciationofvariantsisgivenwhenitdifferssignificantlyfromthepronunciationofthemainentry. . How to Use This Dictionary viii 5 INFLECTED FORMS Inflectedformsofwords (i.e.,plural,pasttenses,etc.) aregiven afterthepartofspeechconcerned: & broadcast /brawdkast/ v., n., adj., adv. mv. (past broadcast or broadcasted;pastpart, broadcast) 1 tr. atransmit by radio or television, bdisseminate (information) widely.2intr. undertakeortakepartin a radio or television transmission. 3tr. scatter (seed, etc.) over a large area. •n. a radio or television pro- gramortransmission,•adj. 1 transmittedbyradio or television. 2widely disseminated. *adv. over a large area, ddbroad*cast*ern. broad*cast*ing n. The forms given are normally those in use inAmerican English. Pronunciation ofinflected forms is given whenitdifferssignificantlyfromthepronunciationofthemainentry.Thedesignation"pronunc. same"denotes that the pronunciation, despite a change ofform, is the same as that ofthe main entry. In general,the inflec- tionofnouns,verbs,adjectives,andadverbsisgivenwhenitis irregular (asdescribedfurtherbelow) orwhen, thoughregular,itcauses difficulty (aswithforms suchas budgeted,coos,andtaxis) Pluralsofnouns Nounsthatformtheirpluralregularlybyadding-s(or-eswhentheyendin-5,-x,-z,-sh,orsoft-ch) receiveno comment. Otherpluralformsaregiven,notablyin caseswherethesingularis anounthat: • endsin-ior-o. • endsin-y. • isaLatinateformendingin-aor-urn,etc. • hasmorethanonepluralform,e.g.,fish andaquarium. • has apluralinvolvinga changeinthestem,e.g.,foot,feet. • has apluralformidenticaltothe singularform,e.g.,sheep. • endsin-ful,e.g.,handful. Formsofverbs Thefollowingverbformsareregarded asregular: • third person singularpresent tense forms adding-5to the stem,or-esto stems endingin -s, -x, -z, -sh,or soft-ch (e.g.,bite/bites;pass/passes) • pasttenses andpastparticiples adding-edtothestem,droppingafinalsilent-e (e.g.,changed;danced). • presentparticiples adding-ingtothestem,droppingafinalsilent-e (e.g.,changing;dancing). Otherforms aregiven,notablythosethatinvolve: • doublingofafinalconsonant,e.g.,bat,batted,batting. • strongandirregularforms involvinga changeinthe stem,e.g.,come,came,come,andgo,went,gone. • irregularinflections ofborrowedwords,e.g.,polka'd. Comparativeand superlativeofadjectivesand adverbs Wordsofonesyllableadding-eror-estandthoseendinginsilent-edroppingthe -e(e.g.,braver,bravest) are regarded asregular. Mostone-syllablewords have these forms,butparticipial adjectives (e.g.,pleased) donot. Thosethatdoubleafinalconsonant (e.g.,hot,hotter,hottest) aregiven,asaretwo-syllablewordsthathavecom- parativeandsuperlativeformsin-erand-est(ofwhichverymanyareformsendingin-y,e.g.,lucky,luckier,luck- iest),andtheirnegativeforms (e.g.,unluckier,unluckiest).Itshouldbenotedthatspecificationoftheseformsin- dicates onlythat they are available; it is usually also possible to form comparatives with moreand superlatives with most (asin morelucky,mostunlucky),whichisthestandardwayofproceedingwith adjectives and adverbs thatarenotregularlyinflected. Adjectives in -ableformedfromtransitiveverbs Thesearegivenasderivativeswhenthereissufficientevidenceoftheircurrency;ingeneral theyareformed as follows: • verbs drop silentfinal -eexcept aftercandg(e.g.,movablebutchangeable). • verbs ofmore than one syllable ending in -y (preceded by a consonant orqu) change v to / (e.g., tltviabki undeniable). • a final consonantisoftendoubled as in normal inflection (e.g.,conferrablc, regrettable). 6 DEFINITION Definitions are listed in a numbered sequence in orderofrelative familiarity and importance,with the most current and important senses given first.They are subdivided into lettered senses (a, b, etc.) when thetC lit closelyrelated orcall forcollective treatment. ix How to Use This Dictionary GRAMMAR NOTES 7 Definitions are often accompanied byexplanations inparentheses ofhow theword orphrase in question is usedincontext. Often,thecommentreferstowordsthatusuallyfollow ("foil,by") orprecede ("prec.by") the wordbeingexplained: aocrecHt /akredit/ v.tr. (accredited, accrediting) 1 (foil, by to) attribute (a saying, etc.) to (a person). 2 (foil,bywith) credit(aperson) with (asaying,etc.).3 (usu.foil,bytoorat) send (anambassador,etc.) with credentials, ddac*cred»hta»tion/-tayshsn/n. Theformula"foil,byto+ infin."meansthatthewordisfollowedbyanormalinfinitivewithto,asafterwant inwantedtoleaveand afterreadyin readytoburst.Theformula"foil,bythat+ clause"indicatestheroutinead- dition ofa clause with that, as after say in said that it was late or after warn in warnedhim that he was late too often.The formulas "pres.part." and "verbalnoun" denote verbal forms in -ingthat function as adjectives and nounsrespectively,asinsethimlaughingand tiredofasking. 8 ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES Examplesofwordsinusearegiventosupportorclarifythedefinitions.These appearinitalicsfollowingthe definition, enclosed in parentheses. They are meant to amplify meaning and (especially when following a grammaticalpoint) illustratehowtheword is used incontext. 9 USAGE AND LABELS Iftheuseofaword is restrictedinanyway,this is indicated byone ofseveral labels printedinitalics,as ex- plained inthefollowing. Geographical labels USindicates that the use is found chiefly inAmerican English (often including Canada),but not in British EnglishexceptasaconsciousAmericanism. Brit, indicatesthatthe useisfoundchieflyin British English (andoftenalsoinAustralian andNewZealand English,andinotherparts ofthe British Commonwealth),butnottypicallyinAmericanEnglish. Othergeographicallabels (e.g.,Austral.,NZ,S.Afr.) indicatethatusage is largelyrestrictedtothe areasdes- ignated. Theseusagelabelsshouldbedistinguishedfromcommentsofthetype"(intheUK)"precedingdefinitions, whichdenotethatthe thingdefined isassociatedwiththecountrynamed. Forexample,Parliamentisa British institution,butthe term isnotrestricted to British English. Register labels Levelsofusage,orregisters,are indicated asfollows: • formalindicatesuses thatarenormallyrestricted toformal (esp. written) English,e.g.,commence. • colloq. (= colloquial) indicates a use that isnormallyrestricted to informal (esp. spoken) English. • si. (=slang) indicatesaninformaluse(typicallyawordthatisequivalentinmeaningtoa"standard"word), unsuitedtowrittenEnglishandoftenrestrictedtoaparticularsocialgroup,whilecoarsesi. isusedtoshow thatan expression is regarded asvulgarorunacceptable even in spoken use in mostsocial contexts. • archaicindicates awordthatis obsolete ingeneral useand is restricted tospecial contexts suchas legalor religioususe,orisusedforspecial effect. • literaryindicates awordorusethatisfound chieflyin literature. • poet. (= poetic) indicates usesconfinedtopoetryorothersimilarcontexts. • joe. (= jocular) indicates usesthatare intended tobehumorous orplayful. • derog. (= derogatory) denotes uses thatare intentionallydisparaging. • offens. (= offensive) denotesuses thatcause offense,whetherintentionallyornot. • disp. (=disputed) indicatesausethatisdisputedorcontroversial.Whenfurtherexplanationisneededaus- agenote (seebelow) isgivenaswellorinstead. • hist. (=historical) denotesawordorusethatisconfinedtohistoricalreference,normallybecausethething referredtono longerexists. • propr. (= proprietary) denotes a term that is asserted to have the status ofa trademark (see the Note on ProprietaryStatus,below). Subjectlabels Subjectlabels,e.g.,Law,Math.,Nam.,showthatawordorsenseisusedinaparticularfieldofactivity,and isnotinwidespreadgeneraluse. Usagenotes Thesegiveextrainformationnotcentraltothedefinition,andtoexplainpointsofgrammarand style.They areintroducedbythesymbol .Thepurpose ofthesenotesisnottoprescribe usagebuttoalertthe usertoa difficultyorcontroversyattachedtoparticularuses.
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