2 To accompany the GNU version of the set of files (cide.*) containing
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3 the electronic version of the
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4 Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
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6 These files contain Version 0.46 (January 2002)
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7 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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9 The dictionary was derived from the
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10 Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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11 Version published 1913
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12 by the C. & G. Merriam Co.
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14 Under the direction of
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15 Noah Porter, D.D., LL.D.
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17 and has been supplemented with some of the definitions from
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18 WordNet, a semantic network created by
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19 the Cognitive Science Department
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20 of Princeton University
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21 under the direction of
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24 and is being proof-read and supplemented by volunteers from
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25 around the world. This is an unfunded project, and future
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26 enhancement of this dictionary will depend on the efforts of
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27 volunteers willing to help build this free resource into a
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28 comprehensive body of general information. New definitions
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29 for missing words or words senses and longer explanatory notes,
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30 as well as images to accompany the articles are needed. More
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31 modern illustrative quotations giving recent examples of
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32 usage of the words in their various senses will be very
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33 helpful, since most quotations in the original 1913 dictionary
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34 are now well over 100 years old.
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36 This electronic version is being maintained by World Soul,
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37 a non-profit organization in Plainfield, NJ. For additional
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38 information or if you are willing to assist construction of this
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39 data source, contact:
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41 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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42 Patrick J. Cassidy | TEL: (908) 561-3416
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43 World Soul | if no answer, (908) 668-5252
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44 735 Belvidere Ave. | FAX: (908) 668-5904
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45 Plainfield, NJ 07062-2054
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46 pc@worldsoul.org or cassidy@micra.com
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47 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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49 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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51 GCIDE is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
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52 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
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53 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
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56 GCIDE is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
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57 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
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58 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
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59 GNU General Public License for more details.
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61 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
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62 along with this copy of GCIDE; see the file COPYING. If not, write
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63 to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,
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64 Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
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65 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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67 STRUCTURE OF THE DICTIONARY
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68 ---------------------------
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69 When the archives are unpacked, the main dictionary text of
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70 the GCIDE will be found in 26 files named "cide.*", where the
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71 asterisk indicates which letter of the alphabet begins the
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72 words in each file. For example, file "cide.b" contains words
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73 beginning with the letter "B". Additional information about the
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74 tagging conventions and special character symbols are contained in
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75 ancillary files in this directory more information below). The main
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76 body of the 1913 dictionary was essentially identical to the edition
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77 published in 1890, and was republished in 1913 with an appendix
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78 containing "New Words". The new words of that appendix have been
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79 integrated into the main file in this version. However, it is important
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80 to keep in mind that the definitions in this dictionary are in most
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81 cases over 100 years old. Use them with caution!
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82 At the bottom of each paragraph in this dictionary, there is a
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83 bracketed and tagged "source" indicated. This tells from where the
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84 definition or other text in that paragraph came, as follows:
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86 [<source>1913 Webster</source>]
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87 = From the original 1890 dictionary.
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88 [<source>Webster 1913 Suppl.</source>]
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89 = From the 1913 "New Words" supplement to the Webster.
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90 [<source>WordNet 1.5</source>]
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91 = From the WordNet on-line semantic network.
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92 [<source>Century Dict. 1906.</source>]
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93 = From the Century Dictionary published in 1906, especially from
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94 the "proper Names" supplement (volume IX).
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96 [<source>XXX</source>]
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97 = Added by one of the volunteers.
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99 The original definitions have been tagged and in some cases
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100 reformatted or slightly rearranged. If substantive information
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101 is added from a second source, usually the additional source is
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103 [<source>Webster 1913 Suppl.</source> + <source>WordNet 1.5</source>]
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105 A list of the ancillary files related to the GCIDE is appended at
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106 the bottom of this "readme.dic" file.
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107 This version is tagged with SGML-like tags of the form <pos>...</pos>
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108 so that the original typography (italics, bold, block quotes) can be
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109 reproduced. A list of the most important tags for fields in the
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110 dictionary is given below. The tags also serve the more important
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111 function of allowing the information content to be conveniently imported
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112 into computer programs or databases. The set of tags used is described
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113 in the accompanying file "tagset.web". ***NOTE*** the paragraph tags
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114 <p>...</p> do *not* always nest properly with certain other tags, such
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115 as <note> and <cs> ("collocation section"), which in some cases span
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116 multiple paragraphs. If you are using a tag parser which detects
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117 improper nesting, you should first either delete the paragraph
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118 tags or convert them to non-tag symbols, or, if possible, set the
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119 parser to ignore the <p>...</p> tags.
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120 The unusual characters (such as Greek or the European accented
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121 characters, as well as special characters used in the pronunciations)
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122 are described in the accompanying file "webfont.asc". Some information
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123 on the pronunciation system used may be found by viewing the files
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124 "wxxvii.jpg" and "pronunc.jpg" with a GIF viewer (or any web browser),
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125 and additional explanations of pronunciation are in the file
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127 Each paragraph of the original text is enclosed within tags of
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128 the form <p> . . . </p>. Within these paragraphs are no line
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129 breaks, and some of the paragraphs are over 12,000 characters long.
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130 These lines are too long to be handled by the vi editor, and probably
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131 by some other text editors. At some points, embedded line breaks within
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132 a "paragraph" are marked by a <br/ "entity". The file can therefore
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133 be converted, if necessary, to a form with shorter lines, and subsequently
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134 reconverted back to the form having one line per paragraph.
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136 If additional line breaks are added, then in order remove the
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137 line breaks and reconstruct the original paragraphs, so that the
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138 page width can be adjusted, perform the following manipulations:
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139 (1) convert each line break (cr-lf combination) to a space.
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140 (2) convert the string "</p> " (</p> followed by two spaces)
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141 to </p> followed by two line breaks (cr-lf combinations)
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142 (3) convert the string "<br/ " (<br/ followed by one space)
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143 to <br/ followed by one line break (cr-lf).
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144 There will be some "lines" (paragraphs) with over 12,000 characters,
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145 which may give trouble to some simple text editors.
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146 A more sophisticated formatting of spaces within paragraphs may
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147 require the use of the fully-tagged master files. If you have
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148 a need for these files, contact Patrick Cassidy: cassidy@micra.com.
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149 The approximate beginning of each page is marked by an SGML
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150 comment of the form <-- p. 345 -->. (The exact beginning was in some
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151 cases in the middle of a paragraph, which we decided was not a
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152 good location for these page-number comments, so the page number
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153 was usually moved to the next paragraph break). Pages which have
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154 been proofread by volunteers (e.g., with initials VOL) will have a
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155 note within that page comment: <-- p. 345 pr=VOL -->. Pages which have
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156 not been proofread yet (most of them) will have varying numbers of
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157 typographical errors in them. We still (January 2002) need
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158 proofreaders to get the errors out of these dictionary files.
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160 ***********************************************************************
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162 ***********************************************************************
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164 This version is only a first typing, and has numerous typographic
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165 errors, including errors in the field-marks. In addition, the user must
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166 keep in mind that this text is very old and will contain numerous
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167 obsolete, inaccurate, and perhaps offensive statements, which are
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168 included solely because this work is intended to reproduce accurately
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169 this historically interesting classic reference work. This text should
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170 not be relied upon as an accurate source of information, as in many
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171 cases it represents the state of knowledge around 1890. The text is
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172 provided "as is", and the user must accept responsibility for all
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173 consequences of its use. Please refer to the header of each file and
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174 the GNU public license. If these conditions of use are unacceptable,
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175 please do not use these texts.
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176 ************************************************************************
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177 ************************************************************************
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178 This electronic dictionary is also made available as a potential
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179 starting point for development of a modern comprehensive encyclopedic
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180 dictionary, to be accessible freely on the internet, and developed by the
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181 efforts of all individuals willing to help build a large and freely
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182 available knowledge base. A large number of collaborators are needed to
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183 bring this dictionary to a more accurate, more modern, and more useful
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184 state. Anyone willing to assist in any way in constructing such a
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185 knowledge base should contact Patrick Cassidy (see above). All reports
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186 of errors will be gratefully received, and should also be transmitted to
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187 PC at: pc@worldsoul.org.
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189 In addition to the main text of the dictionary, additional
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190 explanatory material about this version of the dictionary is available
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191 in the ancillary files:
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193 =====================================================================
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194 COPYING 18,321 11-03-99 1:13a COPYING
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195 README DIC 13,775 01-17-02 11:48p readme.dic
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196 WEBFONT ASC 35,234 12-12-01 3:27p WEBFONT.ASC
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197 TAGSET WEB 55,843 08-16-01 1:16p TAGSET.WEB
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198 PRONUNC WEB 14,312 06-18-00 3:02p PRONUNC.WEB
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199 PRONUNC JPG 2,569,796 06-18-00 3:11p PRONUNC.JPG
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200 SYMBOLS JPG 144,716 06-18-00 3:13p SYMBOLS.JPG
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201 WXXVII JPG 1,188,380 06-18-00 3:19p WXXVII.JPG
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202 ==================================================================
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205 Most important tags used in the GCIDE:
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206 <hw> tags the headword
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208 <pos> part of speech
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210 <ets> "source" word within an <ety> field, usually foreign words
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211 <fld> field of knowledge (e.g. Med. = medicine)
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213 <cs> collocation section (containing word combinations)
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214 <col> collocation entry (word combination)
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215 <cd> collocation definition
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216 <as> illustrations of usage (within a <def>. . . </def> field)
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217 <au> authority for a definition, or author of a quotation
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218 <q> illustrative quotation -- in block quote format
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219 <au> author of an illustrative <q> quotation
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220 <altname> alternative name for the headword -- essentially a synonym
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221 <asp> alternative spelling of the headword
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222 <syn> list of synonyms for the headword
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227 For other tags, see the file "tagset.web"
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230 ============================================================
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231 OTHER VERSIONS OF THE DICTIONARY
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232 =============================================================
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234 There are several other derivative versions of this dictionary
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235 on the internet, in some cases reformatted or provided with an
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236 interface. Those that I am aware of are:
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238 (1) Project Gutenberg
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239 ---------------------
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240 In the extext96 directory of Project Gutenberg (www.prairienet.org)
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241 there is a version of the original 1913 dictionary, which is in
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242 the **public domain**. The main files are in the directory etext96,
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243 and sre labeled pgw050**.***. The tags for that version are a subset
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244 of those used in this GNU version.
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246 (2) The DICT development group
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247 ------------------------------
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248 This group has created a program to index and search this dictionary.
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249 The program can be downloaded and used locally, but at present
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250 is available only in a Unix-compatible executable version.
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251 See their web site at http://www.dict.org.
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253 (3) The University of Chicago ARTFL project
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254 ---------------------------------------------
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255 Mark Olsen and Gavin LaRowe at the University of Chicago have
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256 converted the original 1913 dictionary to HTML and have provided an
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257 interface allowing search of the headwords. When the supplemented
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258 version has developed sufficiently to warrant the effort, a
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259 similar searchable version may be posted there as well. The
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261 http://humanities.uchicago.edu/forms_unrest/webster.form.html
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263 That page will provide links to other ARTFL projects and contact
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264 information for the ARTFL group, who alone can provide information
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265 about the HTML version or interface.
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