Webster's Dictionary

Webster's Dictionary is a common title given to English language dictionaries in the United States, deriving its name from American lexicographer Noah Webster. In America, the phrase Webster's has become a genericized trademark for dictionaries. Although Merriam-Webster dictionaries are descended from those of the original purchasers of Noah Webster's work, many other dictionaries bear his name, such as those by the publishers Random House and John Wiley & Sons.

19th- and early 20th-century editions

Noah Webster, the author of extremely popular readers and spelling books for schools, published his first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, in 1806. In it, he introduced features that would be a hallmark of future editions such as American spellings (center rather than centre, honor rather than honour, program rather than programme, etc.) and including technical terms from the arts and sciences rather than confining his dictionary to literary words. He spent the next two decades working to expand his dictionary.

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In 1828, at the age of 70, Webster published his American Dictionary of the English Language in two quarto volumes containing 70,000 entries. Webster's assistant, and later chief competitor, Joseph Emerson Worcester, published an abridgment in 1829. Webster edited a Revised Edition, with the help of his son, William G. Webster, published 1840–1841, the primary change being the addition of several thousand new words.

Related Topics:
1828 - Joseph Emerson Worcester - 1829 - 1840 - 1841

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Upon Webster's death in 1843, the unsold books and all rights to the copyright and name "Webster" were purchased by brothers George and Charles Merriam, who then hired Webster's son-in-law Chauncey A. Goodrich, a professor at Yale College, to oversee revisions. Goodrich's New and Revised Edition appeared on September 24, 1847, and a Revised and Extended Edition in 1859, which added a section of illustrations indexed to the text. His revisions remained close to Webster's work, although removing what later editors referred to as his "excresenceces."

Related Topics:
1843 - Chauncey A. Goodrich - Yale College - September 24 - 1847 - 1859

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In response to Joseph Worcester's groundbreaking dictionary of 1860, the G. & C. Merriam Company created a significantly revised edition, retaining the title American Dictionary of the English Language. It was edited by Yale editor Noah Porter and published in 1864 and contained 114,000 entries. It was sometimes referred to as the Webster-Mahn edition, because it featured revisions by Dr. C. A. F. Mahn, who replaced unsupportable etymologies which had been based on Webster's attempt to conform to Biblical interpretations of the history of language. It was the first edition to largely overhaul Noah Webster's work, and the first to be known as the Unabridged. Later printings added appendices, a Pronouncing Biographical Dictionary in 1879 and a Pronouncing Gazeteer in 1884.

Related Topics:
Joseph Worcester - 1860 - Yale - Noah Porter - 1864 - C. A. F. Mahn - 1879 - 1884

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Porter also edited the next edition, Webster's International Dictionary, an expansion of the American, published in 1890 and containing 175,000 entries. The name was changed because the publisher wished to reflect the wide authority the work had throughout the English-speaking world and that it was no longer solely an "American" dictionary. The dictionary was published with a Supplement in 1900, which added 25,000 entries.

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1890 - 1900

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The Merriam Company issued a complete revision in 1909, Webster's New International Dictionary, edited by William Torey Harris and F. Sturges Allen. Vastly expanded, it covered over 400,000 entries, and double the number of illustrations. A new format feature, the divided page, was designed to save space by including a section of words below the line at the bottom of each page, six columns of very fine print, devoted to such items as rarely used, obsolete, and foreign words, abbreviations, and variant spellings. Notable improvement was made in the treatment and number of discriminated synonyms, comparisons of subtle shades of meaning. Also added twenty-page chart comparing their pronunciations with those offered by six other major dictionaries.

Related Topics:
1909 - William Torey Harris - F. Sturges Allen - Discriminated synonyms

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In 1934, the work was revised and expanded for its Second Edition, popularly known as Webster's Second, edited by William Allen Neilson and Thamas A. Knott. Early printings contain the famous lexicographic error dord. The book was five-inches (130 mm) thick and contained nearly 3,400 pages, including introductory sections. Some versions added another 400 page supplement called A Reference History of the World, dated chronologies "from earliest times to the present." The editors claim over 600,000 entries, the largest in any dictionary to date; however, this includes multitudes of proper names and newly added lists of undefined combination words. For its style and word coverage, it is still popular with many people.

Related Topics:
1934 - William Allen Neilson - Thamas A. Knott - Dord - Combination words

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