WEBSTERS COLLEGIATE DICTIONARIES

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WEBSTER'S COLLEGIATE DICTIONARIES. A line of best-selling desk dictionaries produced by Merriam—WEBSTER, Springfield, Massachusetts. The first Collegiate (1898) was compiled to be used by college students, taking its place in a series of abridgements intended to serve students from primary to university level. However, it was soon dubbed ‘the busy man's dictionary’, indicating its general usefulness. Subsequent editions appeared in 1910, 1916, 1931, 1936, 1946, 1963, 1973 (which sold over 11m copies) and 1983 (the 9th edition, with almost 160,000 entries based on a file of some 13m citations). The dictionaries, in addition to detailed coverage of pronunciations, spellings, word senses, and common synonyms, are known for their encyclopedic appendices, covering foreign words and phrases, biographical and geographical names, US and Canadian colleges and universities, signs and symbols, and a style manual. The 9th edition added the dates of first entry words into the language (where well substantiated) and usage notes at the ends of entries subject to controversy. The term collegiate is a proprietary registered trademark of Merriam—Webster though many similar desk dictionaries now exist. See DICTIONARY.