Collins English Dictionary
Encyclopedia
The Collins English Dictionary is an important printed dictionary
of English
. It is published by HarperCollins
.
The first edition of the Collins English Dictionary (1979) with Patrick Hanks
as editor and Lawrence Urdang as editorial director, was a milestone in British dictionary making as it was the first to use the full power of computer databases and typesetting in the preparation of a dictionary. This meant that, for instance, subject editors could control separate definitions of the same word and the results could be blended into the result, rather than one editor being responsible for a word.
By the third edition, they increasingly used the Bank of English
established by Hanks at COBUILD
to provide typical definitions rather than examples composed by the lexicographer.
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
of English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. It is published by HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
.
The first edition of the Collins English Dictionary (1979) with Patrick Hanks
Patrick Hanks
Patrick Hanks is an English lexicographer and corpus linguist. He has edited dictionaries of general language, as well as dictionaries of personal names. After graduation from University College, Oxford, he started his lexicographic career as editor of the Hamlyn Encyclopedic World Dictionary . In...
as editor and Lawrence Urdang as editorial director, was a milestone in British dictionary making as it was the first to use the full power of computer databases and typesetting in the preparation of a dictionary. This meant that, for instance, subject editors could control separate definitions of the same word and the results could be blended into the result, rather than one editor being responsible for a word.
By the third edition, they increasingly used the Bank of English
Bank of English
The Bank of English is the name of the COBUILD corpus, a collection of English texts. These are mainly British, but American and Australian data are also included....
established by Hanks at COBUILD
COBUILD
COBUILD, an acronym for Collins Birmingham University International Language Database, is a British research facility set up at the University of Birmingham in 1980 and funded by Collins publishers.The facility was led by Professor John Sinclair...
to provide typical definitions rather than examples composed by the lexicographer.
External links
- Collinslanguage.com – Internet front-end to dictionary content.