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Key to symbols and other conventions
Before a word or sense
 |
= obsolete |
 |
= not naturalized, alien (not used in New Edition entries) |
| ¶ |
= catachrestic and erroneous uses (not used in New Edition
entries) |
After a label ‘Obs.’ or
‘rare’
 0 |
indicates a word or sense for which no contextual examples from
printed sources were available to the editors |
| 1 |
indicates a word or sense for which only one contextual example
from a printed source was available to the editors |
In a listing of variant spellings
Second Edition entries:
| 1 |
= before 1100 |
| 2 |
= 12th century (1100-1200) |
| 3 |
= 13th century (1200-1300), etc. |
| 5-7 |
= 15th to 17th century, etc. |
| 9- |
= 19th century to present, etc. |
| 20 |
= 20th century |
New Edition entries:
| eOE |
= early Old English |
| OE |
= Old English |
| lOE |
= late Old English |
| eME |
= early Middle English |
| ME |
= Middle English |
| lME |
= late Middle English |
| 14 |
= 1400-99 |
| 15 |
= 1500-99, etc. |
| 16-18 |
= 1600-1899, etc. |
| 18- |
= 1800-present, etc. |
| -17 |
= before 1700 (labelling Older Scottish forms) |
In an etymology
| * |
indicates a word or form not actually found, but of which the
existence is inferred |
| : |
= normal development of (not used in New Edition entries) |
| < |
= from (in New Edition entries) |
| > |
= developed into or borrowed as (in New Edition entries) |
Before a date
| a |
= ante |
| c |
= circa |
| ? |
indicates an uncertain date |
In a quotation
| .. |
(within cited text) indicates an omitted part of a
quotation |
| [ ] |
surrounds an editorial insertion |
| ~ |
indicates a hyphen introduced in the printing of the First
Edition of the OED, which may not have been present in the
cited text |
Around an entire quotation
| [ ] |
indicates a quotation is relevant to the development of a sense but not directly illustrative of it |
Around an entire entry
More on conventions used in the OED
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