Changes

The policy of the ''OED'' is to attempt recording a word's most known uses and variants in ''all'' varieties of English, worldwide, past, and present; per the 1933 Preface:

The policy of the ''OED'' is to attempt recording a word's most known uses and variants in ''all'' varieties of English, worldwide, past, and present; per the 1933 Preface:

<center>"The aim of this Dictionary is to present in alphabetical series the words that have formed the English vocabulary from the time of the earliest records [ca. 740 AD] down to the present day, with all the relevant facts concerning their form, sense-history, pronunciation, and etymology. It embraces not only the standard language of literature and conversation, whether current at the moment, or obsolete, or archaic, but also the main technical vocabulary, and a large measure of dialectal usage and slang."</center>

*"The aim of this Dictionary is to present in alphabetical series the words that have formed the English vocabulary from the time of the earliest records [ca. 740 AD] down to the present day, with all the relevant facts concerning their form, sense-history, pronunciation, and etymology. It embraces not only the standard language of literature and conversation, whether current at the moment, or obsolete, or archaic, but also the main technical vocabulary, and a large measure of dialectal usage and slang."

It clarified:

It clarified:

<center>"Hence we exclude all words that had become obsolete by 1150 [the end of the [[Old English]] era]&nbsp;... Dialectal words and forms which occur since 1500 are not admitted, except when they continue the history of the word or sense once in general use, illustrate the history of a word, or have themselves a certain literary currency."</center>

*"Hence we exclude all words that had become obsolete by 1150 [the end of the [[Old English]] era]&nbsp;... Dialectal words and forms which occur since 1500 are not admitted, except when they continue the history of the word or sense once in general use, illustrate the history of a word, or have themselves a certain literary currency."</center>

The ''OED'' is the focus of much scholarly work about English words. Its choice of order in listing [[#Spelling|variant spellings]] of headwords influences the written English of many countries.

The ''OED'' is the focus of much scholarly work about English words. Its choice of order in listing [[#Spelling|variant spellings]] of headwords influences the written English of many countries.