; non-naturalized or partially naturalized words by 
.Every main word is treated, once for all, under its modern current or most usual spelling; or, if obsolete, under the most typical of its latest spellings; the form or spelling thus chosen being considered the main form of the word.
Occasionally a form or spelling of an obsolete word has been assumed, which is not actually found in the quotations adduced, but is in accordance with the usual analogies of the language, as seen in kindred words. Thus annoyously is given as the main form, on the analogy of annoy, annoyous, although only anoyously has actually been found.
Other important forms of each word, current or obsolete, are entered in their alphabetical order, as subordinate words, and are there concisely referred to the main form under which they are treated.
When a word which is historically one has different grammatical relations, it is treated as one word only, and the different relations are indicated by the division of the article into sections (marked A, B, C). This refers especially to substantives used also attributively (or adjectivally), as in ‘an ounce of gold, a gold watch, gold-coloured scales’; to adjectives used substantively or pronominally, as in ‘the catholic church, a good catholic; that book, that is mine, the words that he spoke’; to adjectives used adverbially, as in ‘the according voice of national wisdom’, he acted according to orders’; to adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions, originally the same word, as ABOUT, AFTER, SINCE, AS; and of course a fortiori to verbs used transitively and intransitively, as ‘to abide battle, to abide at home’, which, in some dictionaries, are reckoned as two distinct words.
In this Dictionary, transitive and intransitive seldom appear even as leading divisions of a verb, but, in accordance with the actual history of the word, in most cases only as varying and often temporary constructions, subordinate to the different senses, and liable to pass one into the other in the development of the language. Thus a verb at one time intransitive finally takes a simple object, through the phonetic decay of a dative or genitive ending, or the elision of a preposition, and is accounted transitive, without any change either in form or meaning (e.g. ANSWER); and a verb used transitively, likewise without change of meaning and form, at length becomes intransitive, through the regular modern English suppression of the reflexive pronoun (e.g. Ezek. 20:22 I withdrew mine hand; Mark 3:7 Jesus withdrew himself to the sea; Revised Version, Jesus withdrew to the sea). The history of ANSWER or WITHDRAW would be misrepresented by splitting them each into two words, or even by classifying their senses in a manner which would conceal these historical relations.
But verbs uniform their stems with substantives or adjectives, as LAND, to LAND, DRY, to DRY, ABSTRACT, to ABSTRACT, are, of course, distinct words; as are adjectives and adverbs which, through ‘levelling’ of terminations, have become identical in form, though originally distinct, as ALIKE a., ALIKE adv.; and substantives and adjectives which have always been identical in form, but were of separate introduction into the language, and have separate histories, as ANIMAL sb., ANIMAL a. Where a word originally one has been, in the course of its history, split into two, whether with distinction of sense, as ALSO, AS, or merely as synonyms, as ANT, EMMET; APPRENTICE, PRENTICE, both modern forms are treated as separate words, and there is a reference from one article to the other. Where two original words of identical or similar form have coalesced into one, the modern word is treated as one or two, according to practical utility. When they are treated as two words, these come, of course, immediately together: see ALLAY, ALLOW, AMICE.
The treatment of a Main Word comprises:
I. The identification, II. The etymology, III. The signification, IV. The illustrative quotations.
I. The identification includes:
1. The main form, i.e. the usual or typical spelling, as already described. (In certain cases where two spellings are in current use, both are given in the main form, as ANALYSE -YZE, COLOUR COLOR, INFLECTION INFLEXION.) Words believed to be obsolete are distinguished by prefixing ; non-naturalized or partially naturalized words by .
In the case of rare words, especially those adopted or formed from Latin equivalents, it is often difficult to say whether they are or are not obsolete. They are permanent possibilities, rarely needed, but capable of being used whenever they are needed, rather than actually discarded terms. To these and other words, of which the obsoleteness is doubtful, the is not prefixed.
As to their citizenship in the language, words may be classed as naturals, denizens, aliens, and casuals. NATURALS include all native words like father, and all fully naturalized words like street, rose, knapsack, gas, parasol. DENIZENS are words fully naturalized as to use, but not as to form, inflexion, or pronunciation, as aide-de-camp, locus, carte-de-visite, table d'hôte. ALIENS are names of foreign objects, titles, etc., which we require often to use, and for which we have no native equivalents, as shah, geyser, cicerone, targum, backsheesh, sepoy. CASUALS are foreign words of the same class, not in habitual use, which for special and temporary purposes occur in books of foreign travel, letters of foreign correspondents, and the like. There are no fixed limits between these classes, and the constant tendency is for words to pass upwards from the last to the first. But, while casuals and aliens from unfamiliar languages are readily and quickly naturalized, words from French and the learned languages, especially Latin, which are assumed to be known to all the polite, are often kept in the position of denizens for centuries: we still treat phenomenon as Greek, genus as Latin, aide-de-camp as French. The words marked with in the Dictionary comprise denizens and aliens, and such casuals as approach, or formerly approached, the position of these. Opinions will differ as to the claims of some that are included and some that are excluded, and also as to the line dividing denizens from naturals, and the position assigned to some words on either side of it. If we are to distinguish these classes at all, a line must be drawn somewhere.
2. (Within parentheses) the pronunciation or symbolization of the actual existing form of the word, as explained below. A recognized difference of pronunciation is also shown, with occasional notes on the diversity. Of obsolete words usually no pronunciation is given, but the place of the stress or accent, when ascertained, is indicated by a stress mark (") before the stressed syllable, as al"feres, "anredly. In partially naturalized words two pronunciations are often given, viz. the native (or what passes for the native), and one conformed more or less to English analogies; in actual use many intermediate varieties may be heard, cf. rendezvous, envelope, environs, prestige, chignon, recitative, Koran, caviare, and the like.
Being the delimiters both of phonetic notation and of notes about usage and variation, the parentheses are not strictly equivalent to the pairs of oblique strokes conventionally used in technical works to mark off phonetic transcriptions.
3. The grammatical designation, i.e. the part of speech, or subdivision of the same, as pers. pron., vbl. sb. See the list of abbreviations. Words having no grammatical designation are normally substantives: the letters sb. are employed only where required to avoid ambiguity.
4. (a) In words of more or less specific use, the specification or subject label, as Mus. (in Music), Bot. (in Botany), etc.
(b) The variety of English, when the word is not current in the standard English of Great Britain, as U.S., N. Amer., Austral., etc.
(c) The status, where there is any peculiarity, as Obs. (obsolete), arch. (archaic or obsolescent), colloq. (colloquial) dial. Here also is added, when applicable, the epithet rare, with -1, or -0, indicating that only one, or no actual instance of the use of the word in context is known to us. Words apparently employed only for the nonce, are, when inserted in the Dictionary, marked nonce-wd.
5. (a) The principal earlier forms or spellings, with their chronological range indicated by the unit figure of the century, thus 3-6 = 13th to 16th cent.; 1 standing for all centuries down to 1100.
These figures also correspond broadly to distinct periods of the language; viz. 1 Old English or ‘Anglo-Saxon’; 2 (12th c.) Old English Transition (‘semi-Saxon’); 3 (13th c.) Early Middle English; 4 (14th c.) Late Middle English; 5 (15th c.) Middle English Transition; 6 (16th c.) Early Modern or Tudor English; 7 (17th c.) Middle Modern English; 8, 9, 20 (18th, 19th, and 20th c.) Recent English.
(b) The inflexions, i.e. plural of substantives, and principal parts of verbs, when other than the ordinary -s, -ed.
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