Oxford Dictionary of English

book tells the story of two men, Dr. James Murray and Dr. William C. Minor. These men were very similar in nature, but led very different lives due to circumstances of environment and mental health. Dr. Murray was a lifelong academic, always pursuing education. Dr. Minor was a surgeon for the Union Army in the United States Civil War, who grew increasingly madder until he murdered a man in the streets of London, which caused him to be confined in an asylum for almost the rest of his life. Although Dr. Murray and Dr. Minor’s lives and circumstances were quite different, they had one tie which brought them together and cultivated a chance friendship: The Oxford English Dictionary. Their story is an extremely important one, especially when it comes to history,…

Using words to express our wants, needs, and feelings gives people the chance to make language bias or inherently racist. Ossie Davis argues the same point in “The English Language is my Enemy” that language is a necessary function that can be used to marginalize groups and carry negative connotations. Race-identifying terms like negro, colored, black, and nigger all have a large impact on self-identity for African Americans today. For the example, the racial slur “nigger” is one of the most…

word Trend? Do they think back to the time YOLO was a prevailing phrase? What about when bell bottom jeans were the hottest thing to wear, where as now high waisted jeans are the hottest thing. Those are examples of things that we equate to the modern definition of the word trend. Trend in of itself is a word that throughout history has shaped and currently plays a big role in shaping the current landscape of language. The word Trend has a history that dates all the way back to the 1000’s and…

Unstained by the cruelties of reality, Adam and Eve had a wonderful life. They had animals, gardens, each other, Alpacas, a tent, the sun and moon, the Oxford English Dictionary, and a newfound attachment to the word incandescent. Reading from the Oxford English Dictionary, they learned the Latin origin of their new favorite word, which was derived from incandēscĕre, which means to inflame, warm, and glow, and Candēscĕre, which means to become white. After learning the different uses of the…

Throughout history many people are surprised at how some things that may have been thought to be stereotypically boring actually have a very interesting back story. The story of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary is a very interesting and peculiar story. The Oxford English Dictionary is the reference point for the entire English language so its impact on society is overwhelming. The impact of this dictionary can not be measured in any way as it is that important to the English…

“Belief” is the trust that believers place in God. It is the idea of putting faith on the existence of God. According, to the Oxford English Dictionary this definition derived from the Christian virtue of faith. To be more accurate this is definition is more commonly used in the 21st century. Another prominent definition for belief is, the mental action, condition, or habit of trusting in a person or thing. Overall, belief has a total of 8 definitions, which will be a pain to list all the…

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a favela as a settlement of jerry-built shacks on the outskirts of a Brazilian city. Oxford Dictionary refers to a favela as a Brazilian shack or shantytown; a slum. There are many problems with these definitions of a favela. Most of the problems with these definitions is that they have not evolved with favelas and give a negative connotation to word favela. The definition of a favela may have been appropriate for the favelas of Rio in 1960, but modern day…

characters she wrote about. I also used it because in all my research that was the word that people used to describe her as well as the characters she wrote. In my research. I also found out that Mildred was the one that gave Nancy Drew her personality that she has in the books. I knew I wanted to use the word spunky in my poem. When looking in the Oxford English Dictionary I learned that around the time of 1805-1875 spunky meant mean, irritable, and irascible. This is not what I want readers to…

of existence. Some words evolve or develop different meanings over time in order to adapt to society’s needs. The word “depressed” is an example of one of those words as its most common definition might not be the original or intended definition. A survey about the definition and associations of the word “depressed” was filled out by twenty individuals. These results were analyzed and compared to dictionary definitions. The objective of this was to analyze the way a word is understood by…

surprising definition of balloon is fool. In Irish English, balloon is “a boast idiot.” Without doubt, language is ambiguous. Balloon is an object that produces happiness and which you can play with; even though, in Ireland, it is an insult. Words have power, their history shows the great changes that a word can have over time. One of the richest words that I found is flow, which later became flower. Flowers are important components in all events; I have used and received flowers innumerable…