Editing Oxford English Dictionary (section)

=== Third edition ===
Beginning with the launch of the first ''OED Online'' site in 2000, the editors of the dictionary began a major revision project to create a completely revised third edition of the dictionary (''OED3''), expected to be completed in 2037<ref name='deadline2037'>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |title=Deadline 2037: The Making of the Next Oxford English Dictionary |date=27 January 2014 |access-date=27 August 2019 |last=Rachman |first=Tom |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/deadline-2037-the-making-of-the-next-oxford-english-dictionary-1.1667328 |archive-date=18 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200318050317/https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/deadline-2037-the-making-of-the-next-oxford-english-dictionary-1.1667328 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://cogscilibrarian.blogspot.com/2007/08/from-unregistered-words-to-oed3.html |title=From Unregistered Words to OED3 |date=26 August 2007 |access-date=23 October 2007 |work=CogSci Librarian |via=BlogSpot |last=Willen Brown |first=Stephanie |archive-date=10 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010030822/http://cogscilibrarian.blogspot.com/2007/08/from-unregistered-words-to-oed3.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite podcast |title=History of the Oxford English Dictionary |date=27 May 2007 |publisher=[[Big Ideas (TV series)|Big Ideas]] |work=[[TVOntario]] |host=[[Simon Winchester|Winchester, Simon]] |url=http://www.tvo.org/podcasts/bi/audio/BISimonWinchester052707.mp3 |format=[[MP3]] |access-date=1 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216045839/http://www.tvo.org/podcasts/bi/audio/BISimonWinchester052707.mp3 |archive-date=16 February 2008 }}</ref> at a projected cost of about [[Pounds sterling|£]]34 million.<ref name="OED_History">{{Cite web |url=https://www.oed.com/information/about-the-oed/history-of-the-oed/ |url-status=live |title=History of the OED |access-date=7 March 2024 |website=Oxford English Dictionary |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140706194110/http://public.oed.com/history-of-the-oed/ |archive-date=6 July 2014}}{{void|Fabrickator|comment|link to the updated version of the OED website while leaving in the archive links to the old website in case pertinent content is omitted from the live site}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="Dickson" />

Revisions were started at the letter ''M'', with new material appearing every three months on the ''OED Online'' website. The editors chose to start the revision project from the middle of the dictionary in order that the overall quality of entries be made more even, since the later entries in the ''OED1'' generally tended to be better than the earlier ones. However, in March 2008, the editors announced that they would alternate each quarter between moving forward in the alphabet as before and updating "key English words from across the alphabet, along with the other words which make up the alphabetical cluster surrounding them".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://public.oed.com/the-oed-today/recent-updates-to-the-oed/previous-updates/march-2008-update/ |title=March 2008 Update |access-date=1 June 2014 |work=Oxford English Dictionary Online |archive-date=20 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120000310/http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50090566}}</ref> With the relaunch of the ''OED Online'' website in December 2010, alphabetical revision was abandoned altogether.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://oed.hertford.ox.ac.uk/main/content/view/429/158/index.html |title=OED Online and OED3 |date=12 February 2012 |access-date=7 June 2014 |work=Examining the OED |publisher=Hertford College, University of Oxford |last=Brewer |first=Charlotte |author-link=Charlotte Brewer |archive-date=15 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715020601/http://oed.hertford.ox.ac.uk/main/content/view/429/158/index.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

The revision is expected roughly to double the dictionary in size.<ref name="Simpson" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |url=http://public.oed.com/the-oed-today/preface-to-the-third-edition-of-the-oed/ |title=Preface to the Third Edition of the OED |date=March 2000 |access-date=1 June 2014 |work=Oxford English Dictionary Online |last=Simpson |first=John |archive-date=6 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140706205358/http://public.oed.com/the-oed-today/preface-to-the-third-edition-of-the-oed/}}</ref> Apart from general updates to include information on new words and other changes in the language, the third edition brings many other improvements, including changes in formatting and stylistic conventions for easier reading and computerized searching, more etymological information, and a general change of focus away from individual words towards more general coverage of the language as a whole.<ref name=Simpson2011 /><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Root and Branch: Revising the Etymological Component of the Oxford English Dictionary |last=Durkin |first=Philip N. R. |date=1999 |journal=Transactions of the Philological Society |doi=10.1111/1467-968X.00044 |volume=97 |issue=1 |pages=1–49 |doi-access=}}</ref> While the original text drew its quotations mainly from literary sources such as novels, plays, and poetry, with additional material from newspapers and academic journals, the new edition will reference more kinds of material that were unavailable to the editors of previous editions, such as wills, inventories, account books, diaries, journals, and letters.<ref name=":2" />

[[John Simpson (lexicographer)|John Simpson]] was the first chief editor of the ''OED3''. He retired in 2013 and was replaced by [[Michael Proffitt]], who is the eighth chief editor of the dictionary.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://public.oed.com/oed-editor-retirement-announcement/ |title=John Simpson, Chief Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, to Retire |date=23 April 2013 |access-date=7 June 2014 |work=Oxford English Dictionary Online |archive-date=13 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013210659/http://public.oed.com/oed-editor-retirement-announcement/}}</ref>

The production of the new edition exploits computer technology, particularly since the inauguration in June 2005 of the "Perfect [[all singing, all dancing (idiom)|All-Singing All-Dancing]] [[text editor|Editorial]] and [[annotation|Notation]] [[application software|Application]]", or "Pasadena". With this [[XML]]-based system, lexicographers can spend less effort on presentation issues such as the numbering of definitions. This system has also simplified the use of the quotations database, and enabled staff in New York to work directly on the dictionary in the same way as their Oxford-based counterparts.<ref>{{cite news |last=Thompson |first=Liz |title=Pasadena: A Brand New System for the ''OED'' |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/186412378/336536-Oxford-English-Dictionary-News-2005-12 |work=Oxford English Dictionary News |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=4 |date=December 2005 |access-date=6 January 2014 |archive-date=6 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106151050/http://www.scribd.com/doc/186412378/336536-Oxford-English-Dictionary-News-2005-12 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Other important computer uses include internet searches for evidence of current usage and email submissions of quotations by readers and the general public.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://public.oed.com/the-oed-today/rewriting-the-oed/collecting-the-evidence/ |title=Collecting the Evidence |access-date=8 June 2014 |work=Oxford English Dictionary Online |archive-date=21 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521234730/http://public.oed.com/the-oed-today/rewriting-the-oed/collecting-the-evidence/}}</ref>

==== New entries and words ====
''Wordhunt'' was a 2005 appeal to the general public for help in providing citations for 50 selected recent words, and produced [[antedating (lexicography)|antedatings]] for many. The results were reported in a BBC TV series, ''[[Balderdash and Piffle]]''. The ''OED''{{'}}s readers contribute quotations: the department currently receives about 200,000 a year.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://public.oed.com/history-of-the-oed/reading-programme/ |title=Reading Programme |access-date=8 June 2014 |work=Oxford English Dictionary Online |archive-date=6 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140706192833/http://public.oed.com/history-of-the-oed/reading-programme/}}</ref>

''OED'' currently contains over 500,000 entries.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://public.oed.com/about/ |access-date=9 June 2020 |work=Oxford English Dictionary Online |archive-date=21 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190821000818/https://public.oed.com/about/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The online ''OED'' is updated on a quarterly basis, with the addition of new words and senses, and the revision of existing entries.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.oed.com/information/updates/ |title=Updates |work=Oxford English Dictionary |access-date=12 August 2024}}</ref>