Meaning & use
OED
An abbreviation for the Oxford English Dictionary, a comprehensive historical dictionary that traces the meaning and usage of English words over time.
See it in a sentence
She looked up the word's earliest recorded use in the OED.
According to the OED, the term first appeared in print in the early seventeenth century.
A note on using this word
The OED is distinguished from standard learner's dictionaries by its historical approach, tracing how each word's meaning has changed over centuries.
Words with a similar meaning
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