Consulting the Dictionary
Google, in addition to its own spellchecking index, provides hooks into Dictionary.com.
Google’s own spellchecking [Hack #15] is built upon its own word and phrase database gleaned while indexing web pages. Thus it provides suggestions for lesser known proper names, phrases, common sentence constructs, etc. Google also offers a definition service powered by Dictionary.com (http://www.dictionary.com/). Definitions, while coming from a credible source and augmented by various specialty indexes, can be more limited.
Run a search. You’ll notice on the results page the
phrase “Searched the web for [query
words].” If the query words would appear in a
dictionary, they will be hyperlinked to a dictionary definition.
Identified phrases will be linked as a phrase; for example, the query
"jolly
roger" will allow you to
look up the phrase “jolly roger.”
On the other hand, the phrase "computer legal"
will allow you to look up the separate words
“computer” and
“legal.”
The definition search will sometimes fail on obscure words, very new
words, slang, and technical vocabularies (otherwise known as
specialized slang). If you search for a word’s
meaning and Google can’t help you, try enlisting the
services of a metasearch dictionary, like OneLook (http://www.onelook.com/) which indexes over 4
million words in over 700 dictionaries. If that
doesn’t work, try Google again with one of the
following tricks, queryword being the word
you want to find:
If you’re searching for ...
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