The Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition
Clarendon Press
1989
ISBN: 9780198611868
Call #: 423 O9823 1989

These days, we have a wide variety of English and other language dictionaries available for checkout, not just in-library use. One famous dictionary that isn’t available for checkout, even if you could find a way to carry it home, is the 20-volume, 21,730-page Oxford English Dictionary. Aside from its massive size, what makes the 1989 second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary — likely the last edition of the OED that will ever be in print — so special?

While other English dictionaries may focus on how language is currently being used (Merriam-Webster's) or on prescriptive notions about usage (American Heritage), the OED’s real mission is to document the history of the English language. In the OED, you can find the first recorded usages of words in English, and trace evolutions in spelling and meaning through the centuries. For instance, the first record of the word library, or in this case lybrarye, was by Chaucer around 1374, but librarian didn’t appear until 1670. We also used to be called “library keepers” and there was even a special word for a female librarian or “librarianess.” While we recommend against calling your modern-day librarian that, we do wholeheartedly recommend you take a peek at the OED and our wealth of other dictionaries on the 2nd floor.