Is Your Dictionary on the Shelf or Online?

We recently received a new dictionary as a gift. Our old edition is the 1980 Oxford American Dictionary, so it's nice to have an updated volume with words like "google" and "blog." To be honest, though, when we want to find the meaning of a new word, we usually just google it anyway.

When you need a dictionary, do you go to your bookshelf or your computer?

While we're working, we use Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, but when we're reading at home we reach for our hard copy. It's nice to have both - one for instant access and another for those times when we want to keep reading without getting sucked into the black hole of the computer. (We have a hard time looking just one thing up online.)

Comments (24)

both, i have an encyclopedic webster's from '91 (college gift), another that my company published plus thesaurus - all hardback.

and i'll go to m-w.com at the drop of a hat if it suits me.

I have a paperback dictionary and thesaurus for the kids to use for homework, so they, too, do not get sucked into the black hole of the computer. Usually I use the computer, though.

I rely on Apple's built in dictionary. While in graduate school, I'd often log into the online version of the OED.

But there's something beautiful about a physical dictionary. I've a copy of the compact OED and sometimes pore through it (with a magnifier) just for fun. Unfortunately, the convenience of digital dictionaries has turned it into a novelty.

Almost all online, but when I'm reading in the bedroom sometimes I'll just go to the old two-volume dictionary I got as a present when I was 15 and look something up, for old time's sake. I always find a lot of interesting other stuff while I'm flipping through.

online, unless I'm reading a book in bed, then I get my paper dictionary

Both. If writing, I'll go to freedictionary.com ( nice in that it has audio pronunciations). But if reading hard copy, generally my OED. Whichever is closest, really.

When I am working, a regular dictionary isn't enough. I'm a reporter and have to use my Canadian Press Stylebook.

When just surfing the net, I go to dictionary.com.

I use both. My office's "official" dictionary is Merriam-Webster's Collegiate, and at home, I have an older American Heritage Encyclopedic that I bought for myself in college. On both my work and personal computer, though, I have MW, American Heritage, freedictionary, and dictionary.com bookmarked. They all tell me different things about words. I guess we copy editors can never have enough dictionaries.

I use m-w.com when I'm online. But if I'm at home (without a computer), I'll use the old hardback that I inherited from my mother's college days.

I have dozens of dictionaries---starting with my beloved Webster's Third New International (which I bought on lay-a-way in 1982 for about $80). But I have "One Look" on my computer tool bar, and use it constantly. It immediately cross-references dozens of dictionaries. And my eyes are going ... I can't read that tiny print anymore unless I use a magnifying glass. www.onelook.com

I have an OED I got from a woman cleaning out a house that college kids had lived in. I helped her with some boxes when I noticed her struggling and she invited me in to take anything I wanted. An unexpected gift. I also have my grandfather's thesaurus. Not to mention an enormous French-English dictionary, about three Spanish dictionaries and probably a mini-Merriam Webster or two floating around.

I have loved the website http://www.yourdictionary.com for quite a while. It is great for those who work with people from lots of different countries as it lists online dictionaries for multiple and obscure languages as well as some great technical dictionaries.

What can I say, I'm a wordgeek as well as a sciencegeek.

I'm strictly an online dictionary user, but I love looking through the massive unabridged versions I find in libraries.

That said, I have two copies of the 'New World' Spanish-English dictionary I picked up in High School (ISBN 9780451188748) - one in my travel bag, and one at my office. It seldom fails to come in handy.

I'm like Fontessa. Dozens.
I collect dictionaries. Not as actively lately... What with the whole purging Outbox going. But, I still kept my best and favorites. And will always buy an old cheap obscure Dictionary when I find one is a used bookstore.
Websters sucks.
OED rules.

Yay - Chambers! I used to proofread that baby! (Until Vivendi went bust and it got sold and my job disappeared on the same day my dearly beloved decided he'd fallen in love with his flatmate...). But yeah, anyway, Chambers. I have particularly fond memories of the letter P. :)

www.onelook.com has it all.

I do medical transcription so I have a lot of word books but mostly use online sources.

old school book - i have never used an online dictionary

I use m-w.com most of the time, as I usually have to access at work. But like many others, I still have a love affair with the first dictionary I received.

Mine was an American Heritage dictionary - a present from my parents the Christmas before I graduated from high school. In many ways, though not really cool at the time - 1971, I realized it was the first "you are an adult now and you'll need one of these to start your independent life" presents. The flowers I stuck in the book are long wilted and gone all these years later, but I still think fondly of MY dictionary after all these years.

In the spirit of things, I usually give a dual paperback version of a dictionary and thesaurus for graduation gifts for colleague's children, particularly if I don't know if this is a typical gift anymore.

And, funny, my most dog-earred reference??? My thesaurus and my Bartlet's quotations book!!

OED Online, All The Time.

But then again, I'm an English Professor.

For quick look-ups I'll use an online dictionary, but if it is something important or I am writing, then I'll use a physical dictionary, or both, as I find online dictionaries to be rather insufficient. For thesauruses I almost exclusively use my oxford thesaurus; I find the online ones to be pretty lame and the one built into word is a joke.

I used my Oxford Concise English Dictionary, which I loved enough to haul back with me from England. There's something about the OED that inspires lust in people who love words. It goes beyond pure utilitarianism.

If I am reading something online and I want to look up a word quickly I click on my Oxford dictionary that came with my Mac. Other then that, my boyfriend and I are big dictionary/reference book nerds and we have a reference library in our apartment, so we use that a lot. Personally, I love Oxford, but he likes Merriam-Webster.

I generally look online, and have for years, but a good friend tried to remedy this problem about two years ago. She owns many dictionaries and decided to give me one as a gift because seeing my home without out really upset her. She has since moved far away and I'm not sure that I've ever used the one she gave me, but it still brings a smile to my face when I see it on the bookshelf. Maybe I'll look something up tonight.

Just today, I wanted to know the definition of eurythmy. It was not in our dictionary, so I googled. There is was!

I have a nice MW collegiate boxed set (dictionary & thesaurus) that I keep on my shelf and use when I'm not online. It's great for homework and games such as scrabble (also good for writing cards and letters - I too will get sucked in if I go online).

I use dictionary.com if I am already online and want to look something up (usually because someone else asks me how to spell something and it's quicker than them having to look it up themselves).