dictionary

Book that contains a selection of the words of a language, with their pronunciations and meanings, usually arranged in alphabetical order. The term is also applied to any usually alphabetic work of reference containing specialized information about a particular subject, art, or science; for example, a dictionary of music. Bilingual dictionaries provide translations of one language into another.

The first dictionaries of English (glossa collectae), in the 17th century, served to explain difficult words, generally of Latin or Greek origin, in everyday English. Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language (1755) was one of the first dictionaries of standard English, and the first to give extensive coverage to phrasal verbs. Noah Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) quickly became a standard reference work throughout North America. The many-volume Oxford English Dictionary, begun in 1884 and subject to continuous revision (and now computerization), provides a detailed historical record of each word and, therefore, of the English language.