15 December 2008
The Oxford English Dictionary just released its latest quarterly update. This quarter covers the words from ray-gun to reality TV, plus a few updated and new terms from elsewhere in the alphabet.
This is more than just a quarterly update, however; it’s another quarter milestone, too. With this update, the new edition of the OED is 25% complete. The new third edition now contains 263,917 entries with 741,153 senses, illustrated by 2,931,547 quotations.
Notable new or updated words in this update include:
ew, int., an expression of disgust
plus-one, n., a person who accompanies another to an event as that person’s nominated guest, but who has not been specifically invited
podcasting, n., use of the Internet to make available digital recordings of broadcasts
Rashomon, n., something resembling or suggestive of Kurosawa’s 1951 film of that name, esp. in being characterized by multiple conflicting or differing versions, perspectives, or interpretations
