Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Dictionaries   | Encyclopedias

 

Dictionaries

Subscription Sources

Merriam-Webster Dictionary Available through our subscription to the online version of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Includes more than 73,000 entries.

The Oxford English Dictionary Online You will enter into the Second Edition of the OED. It "traces the evolution of the English language through 2.5 million quotations from a wide range of international English language sources."

Dictionary of Literary Biography Obtain biographies of authors, bibliographies of all they have written, critical essays and contextual information. Search by the author's name, the title of the work, or even by the title of the periodical or journal that is part of the database.

Internet Sites

The Free Dictionary from Farlex, Inc. Listen to pronunciation of words along with learning definitions and etymology.

Information Technology Dictionary at Whatis.com

iLoveLanguages Page lists and categorizes Internet resources related to language learning, education, and use. "The more than 2,000 links at iLoveLanguages have been hand-reviewed to bring you the best language links the Web has to offer." Formerly known as the Human-Languages Page, it is maintained by Tyler Chambers.

Hypertext Webster Gateway This hypertext Webster interface provides a point-and-click client interface (for non-linemode browsers) for accessing various dictionary services on the Internet.

LOGOS Multilingual Dictionary (LOGOS Group) currently has over 7,000,000 entries (total for all languages).

YourDictionary.com Search for words in the dictionary or the thesaurus. Provides links to various foreign language dictionaries and specialty dictionaries (law, medicine, computing, etc.) and features a Word of the Day.

Wordsmyth: The Educational Dictionary-Thesaurus.

The WorldWideWeb Acronym and Abbreviation Server is a list of (mostly) acronyms (abbreviations constructed from the first letters [or first few letters] of the words of a phrase), not a dictionary or encyclopædia.

Yahoo - Dictionaries Yahoo is a directory service.

Encyclopedias

Subscription Sources

Britannica Online The online version of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, is now available to Austin College students, faculty, and staff. This site provides more than 72,000 articles, more than 12,000 photos, drawings, maps, and flags, more than 23,000 biographies, more than 15,000 geographical articles, more than 17,000 related Internet links AND the Merriam-Webster Dictionary with more than 73,000 entries.

Health and Wellness Resource Center from Gale Access to carefully compiled and trusted medical reference resources such as Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, Gale Encyclopedia of Childhood and Adolescence, and PDR Family Guide to Health and Nutrition.

The Oxford Companion to World Exploration This landmark scholarly work offers comprehensive, reliable, and accessible information about the fastest growing minority population in the United States. With an unprecedented scope and cutting-edge scholarship, the Encyclopedia draws together the diverse historical and contemporary experiences in the United States of Latinos and Latinas from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Over 900 A-to-Z articles written by academics, scholars, writers, artists, and journalists, address such broad topics as identity, art, politics, religion, education, health, and history. The Encyclopedia fills a void in the historical scholarship of an underserved population.

The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance This dictionary provides rich detail on all aspects of the Renaissance in 14th to 17th century Europe. It includes comprehensive coverage of the art, literature, science, culture, philosophy, religion, economics, history, and conflict of the period. The text explores the influence that this intense intellectual and cultural revival continues to have on modern thought and society. Nearly half the entries are biographical, covering artists, thinkers, statesman, and reformers. A table of European ruling houses and a table showing the dates when cities and countries changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar are also included. Over 4,000 entries.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History International in scope and spanning all time periods of human history, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History includes 900 original articles by noted scholars from more than thirty-five countries. Articles range from 500-word entries on inventors, theoreticians, and industry leaders to overarching, 8,000-word essays on markets, industries, and labor. With coverage ranging from accounting and advertising to zoning and zoos, this landmark works stands at the busy intersection of history and the social sciences.

The general conceptual categories of the work are: Geography (entries on cities, countries, and regions); Agriculture; Production Systems, Business History, and Technology; Demography; Institutions, Governments, and Markets; Macroeconomic History and International Economics; Money, Banking and Finance; Labor; Natural Resources and the Environment; and Biographies.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance This encyclopedia provides authoritative and up-to-date information about theatre and performance from ancient Greek theatre to the latest developments in London, Paris, New York, and around the globe. In addition to performances in playhouses, it covers dance, opera, radio, film, television, and popular performance, including carnivals, circus, and public executions. Entries range from short definitions of terms to lengthy considerations of genres and movements, such as feminism and psychoanalytic criticism. Entries on cities and regions place performance in its local social and political context. Written in accessible language, this encyclopedia brings together an international cast of over 300 specialist contributors.

Encyclopedia of Global Change Encompassing tsunamis, elephant conservation, ocean pollution, mining regulation, and permafrost melt, the 300 authoritative articles in this unique and wide-ranging encyclopedia investigate all types of phenomena that change life on Earth. The entries cover a range of general research categories: altered ecosystems, climate change, food and water supply, population, politics and global change, institutions and policies, biographies, and case studies.

The Encyclopedia of Enlightenment Covering the “long” Enlightenment, from the rise of Descartes' disciples in 1670 to the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1815, these 700 articles by leading scholars range from discussions of mercantilism and democracy to the battlefield to the dissemination of ideas in salons and coffeehouses. Breaking conventional geographical boundaries, coverage includes not only Western Europe but also North America, Brazil, and Iberian, Russian, Jewish, and Eastern European cultures.

Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages A collaborative work of over 600 scholars from more than forty countries, the Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages provides 3,000 concise and detailed articles on all aspects of the period from the fifth to the fifteenth century. It explores art, architecture, religion, law, science, language, philosophy, and theology, as well as cultural, religious, intellectual, social and political history. With a focus on focus on Europe and Christendom, the Encyclopedia also covers the rise of Islam and people of other cultures with whom Europeans came into contact.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Meso American Culture The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures is the first comprehensive reference source to chronicle Pre-Hispanic, colonial, and modern Mesoamerica, defined as the lands stretching from Mexico to the southern tip of Central America. With more than 600 articles, it is invaluable for those interested in the rich heritage of this land. Encompassing the great civilizations of the pre-Columbian era (including the Olmec, Aztec, and Maya peoples) up through the colonial and postcolonial periods, the Encyclopedia covers art, archaeology, religious studies, anthropology, history, and historiography of the region in fully cross-referenced, signed articles by the leading scholars in the discipline.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World Through its fluent global coverage, The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World provides information about major world developments from 1750 to the present, with close attention to social, economic, cultural, and political topics.

The Encyclopedia contains articles on world events; countries; organizations; regions; ethnic groups; and themes such as social history, demography, family life, politics, economics, religion, thought, education, science and technology, and culture. It offers coverage of standard geographic and ethnic units—such as Scandinavia, Korea, or the Gypsies—in the modern period. Significant institutions such as the International Red Cross and the League of Nations are treated at length. Comprehensive coverage enables readers to broaden their research outside a particular time or region and to explore topics within the context of modern world history.

With eight volumes containing over 2,000 A-Z entries, the Encyclopedia benefits from the vast outpouring of work on world history in the modern period and on related area-studies. Informative articles by an array of leading scholars offer an unprecedented breadth of information relating to the modern world. Each article includes an up-to-date bibliography to help interested readers take their research further. In addition, the text is complemented by 700 images and 50 maps, making the Encyclopedia a powerful resource for scholars and students alike.

International Encyclopedia of Linguistics The Encyclopedia encompasses the full range of topics in linguistics, including such areas as historical, comparative, formal, mathematical, functional, philosophical, and sociolinguistics. Special attention is given to interrelations within these branches of the field and to relations of linguistics with other disciplines. This interdisciplinary focus makes the encyclopedia an invaluable resource not only for linguistics but also for scholars working in the fields of computer science, mathematics, philosophy, the social and behavioral sciences, and literary studies.

Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature The Encyclopedia provides comprehensive coverage of literature from the Abbey Theatre to Israel Zangwill, covering the entire history of literature in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland in the major literary languages (Anglo-Saxon, English, Welsh, Scots, Irish, and Latin). It includes substantial accounts of individual authors (e.g., Spenser, Pope, Austen) and detailed histories of particular themes, movements, genres, and institutions, whose impact upon the writing or the reading of literature was significant (e.g., The Stationers' Company, the sonnet, the ‘School of Night, ’ or the Sublime).

The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature This award-winning Encyclopedia surveys the vibrant terrain of American literature in 350 essays from leading scholars, encompassing the range and depth of American literary history from the 1600s to the present day. The Encyclopedia includes essays on poets, playwrights, essayists, and novelists, as well as major works and essays on literary movements, periods, and themes. No mere catalog of dates, events, and synopses, the Encyclopedia's articles offer historical perspective and social context along with a range of possibilities with regard to critical approach.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States This landmark scholarly work offers comprehensive, reliable, and accessible information about the fastest growing minority population in the United States. With an unprecedented scope and cutting-edge scholarship, the Encyclopedia draws together the diverse historical and contemporary experiences in the United States of Latinos and Latinas from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Over 900 A-to-Z articles written by academics, scholars, writers, artists, and journalists, address such broad topics as identity, art, politics, religion, education, health, and history. The Encyclopedia fills a void in the historical scholarship of an underserved population.

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Rhetoric The Encyclopedia of Rhetoric is a comprehensive survey of one of the Western world's oldest disciplines. Its 150 entries, written by leading scholars, bring together expertise in classical studies, philosophy, literature, literary theory, cultural studies, speech, and communications in a comprehensive treatment of the art of persuasion. The Encyclopedia is the most wide-ranging reference work of its kind, combining theory, history, and practice, with a special emphasis on public speaking, performance, and communication.

Encyclopedia of Evolution A comprehensive guide to the essentials of evolutionary biology, these entries by leading experts survey essential concepts and theories, present methods, models and findings, and discuss both the history of the field and current controversies. Readers will find brief treatments on discrete concepts and individuals to illuminating lengthy essays by towering figures in the field. Topics include: Darwin, natural selection, human origins, behavioral ecology, diversity, mathematical models, and cell and developmental biology. Special essays include Stephen Jay Gould's “Macroevolution” and Jane Goodall and Elizabeth Vinson-Lonsdorf on “Culture in Chimpanzees.”

The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformationis the definitive source for information about the entire range of religious and social changes that altered the face of Europe in the sixteenth century, encompassing not only issues of church polity and theology but also developments in politics, economics, demographics, art and literature. This broadly cast, interdisciplinary definition allows for a comprehensive social and intellectual history of early modern Europe.

Encyclopedia of Social Work This new edition of the Encyclopedia of Social Work covers pivotal areas of research such as demographic changes from immigration, technology, the implications of managed care, faith-based assistance, evidence-based practice, gerontology, and trauma and disaster. The Encyclopedia contains four hundred subject entries and two hundred brief biographies of key figures in the history of social work arranged in A-Z format. Each article is cross-referenced and includes a select bibliography to guide readers to primary sources and the most important scholarly works on a given subject. A comprehensive index and topical outline is included. Comprehensive in coverage and international in scope, the Encyclopedia is a valuable resource to social work practitioners, scholars, and students alike.

Internet Sites

Handbook of Texas Online A multidisciplinary encyclopedia of Texas history, geography, and culture. It comprises more than 23,000 articles on people, places, events, historical themes, institutions, and a host of other topic categories. Provided by the Texas State Historical Association in collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin.

Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition contains nearly 51,000 entries on a vast range of topics, with more than 80,000 hypertext cross-references.