Explanatory Notes Entries

Editorial Staff Index   Pronunciation

MAIN ENTRIES
A boldface letter or a combination of such letters set flush with the left-hand margin of each column of type is a main entry or entry word. The main entry may consist of letters set solid, of letters joined by a hyphen, or of letters separated by one or more spaces:
brass ...  n
brass-collar ...  adj
brass hat ...  n
The material in lightface type that follows each main entry on the same line and on succeeding indented lines explains and justifies its inclusion in the dictionary.

Variation in the styling of compound words in English is frequent and widespread. It is often completely acceptable to choose freely among open, hyphenated, and closed alternatives (as  headwaiter, head-waiter, or  head waiter ). However,  to show all the stylings that are found for English compounds would require space that can be better used for other information. So this dictionary limits itself to a single styling for a compound:
ten·der·foot
out-group
future shock
When a compound is widely used and one styling predominates, that styling is shown. When a compound is uncommon or when the evidence indicates that two or three stylings are approximately equal in frequency, the styling shown is based on the analogy of parallel compounds.

ORDER OF MAIN ENTRIES
The main entries follow one another in alphabetical order letter by letter without regard to intervening spaces or hyphens:  battle royal follows battlement and  earth-shattering follows  earthshaking. Those containing an Arabic numeral are alphabetized as if the numeral were spelled out:  3-D comes between  three-color and  three-decker. Those that often begin with the abbreviation  St. in common usage have the abbreviation spelled out:  Saint Anthony's fire.

Full words come before parts of words made up of the same letters. Solid compounds come first and are followed by hyphenated compounds and then open compounds. Lowercase entries come before entries that begin with a capital letter:
hy·per ...  adj
hyper-  prefix
work·up ...  n
work-up ...  n
work up ...  vt
creek ...  n
Creek ...  n

HOMOGRAPHS
When one main entry has exactly the same written form as another, the two are distinguished by superscript numerals preceding each word:

	1 fence ...  n	1 lore ...  n
	2 fence  vb	2 lore  n

Sometimes such homographs are related: the two entries  fence are derived from the same root. Sometimes there is no relationship: the two entries  lore are unrelated beyond the accident of spelling. The order of homographs is usually historical: the one first used in English is entered first. A homograph derived from an earlier homograph by functional shift, however, follows its parent immediately, with the result that occasionally one homograph appears ahead of another that is older in usage. For example, of the three entries  kennel the second (a verb) is derived from the first (a noun). Even though the unrelated third entry  kennel was used in English many years before the second, it follows the two related entries.

END-OF-LINE DIVISION
The centered dots within entry words indicate division points at which a hyphen may be put at the end of a line of print or writing. Thus the noun  re·frig·er·a·tor may be ended on one line with:
re-
refrig-
refriger-
refrigera-
and continued on the next with:
frigerator
erator
ator
tor
Centered dots are not shown after a single initial letter or before a single terminal letter because printers seldom cut off a single letter:

aplomb ...  n
hoary ...  adj
idea ...  n
Nor are they shown at second and succeeding homographs unless these differ among themselves:

	1 mas·ter ...  n	1 til·ler ...  n
	2 master  adj	2 til·ler  vi
	3 master  vt	3 till·er ...  n

There are acceptable alternative end-of-line divisions just as there are acceptable variant spellings and pronunciations. It is, for example, all but impossible to produce a convincing argument that either of the divisions  aus·ter·i·ty, au·ster·i·ty is better than the other. But space cannot be taken for entries like  aus·ter·i·ty or au·ster·i·ty, and  au·s·ter·i·ty would likely be confusing to many. No more than one division is, therefore, shown for an entry in this dictionary.

Many words have two or more common pronunciation variants, and the same end-of-line division is not always appropriate for each of them. The division  pi·an·ist, for example, best fits the variant \pe¼-'an-est\  whereas the division  pi·a·nist best fits the variant \'pe¼-e-nest\.  In instances like this, the division falling farther to the left is used, regardless of the order of the pronunciations:
pi·a·nist \ pe¼-'an-est, 'pe¼-e-nest\

VARIANTS
When a main entry is followed by the word  or and another spelling, the two spellings are equal variants. Both are standard, and either one may be used according to personal inclination:
mea·ger  or  mea·gre
If two variants joined by  or are out of alphabetical order, they remain equal variants. The one printed first is, however, slightly more common than the second:
judg·ment  or  judge·ment
When another spelling is joined to the main entry by the word  also, the spelling after  also is a secondary variant and occurs less frequently than the first:
quin·tet  also  quin·tette
Secondary variants belong to standard usage and may be used according to personal inclination. If there are two secondary variants, the second is joined to the first by  or. Once the word  also is used to signal a secondary variant, all following variants are joined by  or:
¹ Shake·spear·ean  or  Shake·spear· ian   also  Shak·sper·ean  or
Shak·sper·ian
Variants whose spelling places them alphabetically more than a column away from the main entry are entered at their own alphabetical places and usually not at the main entry:
Cha·nu·kah ...  var of HANUKKAH
rime, rimer, rimester  var of RHYME, RHYMER, RHYMESTER
Variants having a usage label appear only at their own alphabetical places:
tyre  chiefly Brit var of TIRE
agin ...  dial var of AGAINST

RUN-ON ENTRIES
A main entry may be followed by one or more derivatives or by a homograph with a different functional label. These are run-on entries. Each is introduced by a lightface dash and each has a functional label. They are not defined, however, since their meanings are readily derivable from the meaning of the root word:
¹ praise ...  vb ...  -   prais·er  n
dole·ful ...  adj ...  -   dole·ful·ly ...  adv -   dole·ful·ness  n
styp·tic ...  adj ...  -   styptic  n
A main entry may be followed by one or more phrases containing the entry word or an inflected form of it. These are also run-on entries. Each is introduced by a lightface dash but there is no functional label. They are, however, defined since their meanings are more than the sum of the meanings of their elements:
for·get ...  vb ...  -   forget oneself : ...
² take  n ...  -   on the take : ...
Defined phrases of this sort are run on at the entry constituting the first major element in the phrase. The first major element is ordinarily a verb or a noun, but when these are absent another part of speech may serve instead:
¹ be·tween ...  prep ...  -   between you and me : ...
When there are variants, however, the run-on appears at the entry constituting the first major invariable element in the phrase:
¹ clock ...  n ...  -   kill the clock  or  run out the clock : ...
¹ hand ...  n ...  -   on all hands  or  on every hand : ...
A run-on entry is an independent entry with respect to function and status. Labels at the main entry do not apply unless they are repeated.

Attention is called to the definition of  vocabulary entry in this book. The term  dictionary entry includes all vocabulary entries as well as all boldface entries in the separate sections of the back matter headed ``Abbreviations and Symbols for Chemical Elements,'' ``Foreign Words and Phrases,'' ``Biographical Names,'' ``Geographical Names,'' and ``Colleges and Universities.''