OED: Oxford English Dictionary Online on the Library website

OED|Oxford English Dictionary

600,000 words … 3 million quotations … over 1000 years of English

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world.


As a historical dictionary, the OED is very different from those of current English, in which the focus is on present-day meanings. You'll still find these in the OED, but you'll also find the history of individual words, and of the language—traced through 3 million quotations, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to films scripts and cookery books.


The OED started life more than 150 years ago. Today, the dictionary is in the process of its first major revision. Updates revise and extend the OED at regular intervals, each time subtly adjusting our image of the English language.

Take a look around...

Whats' new every three months updates revise existing entries and add new words.

OED resources for students and teachers

Find out more about the word google, where it orignated and when it was first used, take a look in the OED

google, v.1
Google, v.2

Discover which words entered the English language between 2000 - 2012

Access the OED via the Library website, Databases page