PREFACE. 
HE plan of THE CENTURY DICTIONARY includes three things: the construction of a 
general dictionary of the English language which shall be serviceable for every literary 
and practical use; a more complete collection of the technical terms of the various 
sciences, arts, trades, and professions than has yet been attempted ; and the addition to 
the definitions proper of such related encyclopedic matter, with pictorial illustrations, 
as shall constitute a convenient book of general reference. The attempt to accomplish these ends, and 
at the same time to produce a harmonious whole, has determined both the general character of the 
work and its details. This design originated early in 1882 in a proposal to adapt The Imperial 
Dictionary to American needs, made by Mr. Roswell Smith, President of The Century Co., who has 
supported with unfailing faith and the largest liberality the plans of the editors as they have gradually 
extended far beyond the original limits. 
The vocabulary. 
Obsolete words. 
The most obvious result of this plan is a very large addition to the vocabulary of preceding 
dictionaries, about two hundred thousand words being here denned. The first duty of a comprehensive 
dictionary is collection, not selection. When a full account of the language is sought, every omis- 
sion of a genuine English form, even when practically necessary, is so far a defect ; and 
it is therefore better to err on the side of broad inclusiveness than of narrow exclusive- 
ness. This is the attitude of THE CENTURY DICTIONARY. It is designed to be a practically complete 
record of the main body of English speech, from the time of the mingling of the Old French and 
Anglo-Saxon to the present day, with such of its offshoots as possess historical, etymological, literary, 
scientific, or practical value. The execution of this design demands that more space be given to obso- 
lete words and forms than has hitherto been the rule in dictionaries. This is especially 
true of Middle English words (and particularly of the vocabulary of Chaucer), which 
represent a stage of the language that is not only of high interest in itself, but is also intimately con- 
nected, etymologically and otherwise, with living speech. Only a few of these words are contained in 
existing dictionaries. This is the case also, to a great degree, with the language of much later 
times. The literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the formative period of modern 
English, abounds in words and idioms hitherto unrecorded by lexicographers. Not to include all of these 
terms which from their etymological connections, intrinsic literary value, or availability 
for modern use. are worthy of record, is to make, not a dictionary of English, but Dialectal and pro- 
vincial words. 
merely a dictionary of modern and selected English. A similar reason has led to the 
admission of an unusually large number of dialectal and provincial words. Until about the time of 
the Reformation the language existed chiefly in the form of dialects ; and while the common literary 
tongue was establishing itself, and after it became established, its relations with dialectal and provincial 
forms were most intimate. Many " literary " words sank to the position of provincialisms, and on the 
other hand provincialisms rose to literary rank a process which has been continuous to the present 
day. Thus both historically and with regard to present usage it is impossible to draw a hard and fast 
