The Random House College Dictionary [antikvár]

Preface to the Revised Edition \\7hen the first edition of The Random House ' ' College Dictionary appeared seven years ago, it was immediately received with widespread approval for its complete, authoritative, and up-to-date coverage of the English language. To maintain this position of leadership, the permanent lexicographic staff of Random House has prepared this newly revised edition. While we have retained those qualities and features that have served the users well, we have now expanded and revised our coverage significantly to make the dictionary even more helpful. Many recent words have been included, as have new meanings of old words. Definitions have often been modernized or improved, frequently as a result of the good-willed suggestions and comments of We have avoided making changes simply for the sake of change Itself or as a calculated means of drawing public attention. Our guiding policy on all Random House dictionaries, from the time the program began more than a generation ago, has been to give the user the information he wants and needs as reliably, clearly, and quickly as possible. Our dictionaries have always enjoyed the warm approval and preference of discerning and demanding users. It Is, our sincere hope that this revision will continue to warrant the reputation of the RHCD as the most complete and authoritative dictionary of its kind ever published. Jess Stein Preface to the First Edition TN THE DBCADES recently past, especially since World War II, the educational standards of the world have been extended to embrace more people than ever before. Literacy has increased enormously. Coupled with the technological advances of the period, the necessity for reading and study has resulted in an unprecedented interest in words. The dictionary has traditionally been the only source of information on language for the majority of people. In it they expect to find how a word is spelled, how it may be hyphenated, how it is pronounced, what its various forms are, what its meanings are, and what its origins and history are. They also expect to find whether a word is technical or general, whether it can be used in polite company or not, and even whether someone who is called a certain word is justified in feeling offended. They want unfamiliar objects illustrated and particular places pinpointed on maps; they want biographical information, geographical, demographic, and political data, abbreviations, symbols, synonyms, antonyms, usage notes—in short, people expect to find condensed between the covers of a dictionary the knowledge of the world as reflected in their language. Above all, they demand that this knowledge be accurate and up to date. Indeed, why not? The dictionary is often the only reference book of any kind that many people ever own. That these prodigious demands are met is, of course, no accident. A dictionary is the product of specialists, linguists, and highly trained editors who are devoted to researching language and information and to interpreting it and presenting it in understandable form. The Random House College Dictionary is an abridgment of The Random House Dictionary of the English Language—The Unabridged Edition, and its style follows that of the RHD. No dictionary, no matter how extensive, could record the entire English language. It is obvious, then, that the editors of any dictionary are compelled to exercise discretion in what is to be included. The goal cannot be completeness: the goal must be judicious selectivity. There is no dearth of resources on language. In fact, the question is not Where do you begin? it is How, when, and where do you stop? The Reference Department at Random House has been actively engaged in lexicographic research for more than twenty years. In the past ten years, through the use of electronic data processing equipment, it has been possible to pursue research programs in language that far outstrip