To what extent can year dates be found in Webster\u27s Third?  Year dates are scattered throughout Webster\u27s Third, in definitions and in etymologies, ranging from many thousands of years BC to the very recent.  Here\u27s a slimmed-down version of the entry for BULL MOOSE

Francis, Darryl

English

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97 WEBSTER'S THIRD AND THE 20TH CENTURY DARRYL FRANCIS Sutton, Surrey, England darrylfrancis@yahoo.co.uk To what extent can year dates be found in Webster' s Third? Year dates are scattered throughout Webster's Third, in definitions and in etymologies, ranging from many thousands of years BC to the very recent. Here' s a slimmed-down version of the entry for BULL MOOSE: Main entry: bull moose Etymology: bull moose, the emblem of the Progressive party formed in 1912 by Theodore Roosevelt died 1919 American president : a follower of Theodore Roosevelt in the United States presidential campaign of 1912 The definition refers to 1912, while the etymology refers to both 1912 and 1919. We wondered whether it would be possible to compile a list of words and terms relating to each year of the 20th century. In the lists here, we show the word (or term) earliest alphabetically in the dictionary that includes a given year date in its definition, and also the word earliest alphabetically in the dictionary that includes a given year date in its etymology. Not surprisingly, most words come from thc earlier parts of the dictionary. Although Webster' s Third was first published in 1961, there were regular addenda sections from 1966 onwards. Supplemental publications such as 6000 Words and 12000 Words appeared from 1976 on. All this supplementary material has been brought together in the CD-ROM version of the dictionary (Version 2.5, 2000). It is this CD-ROM version that has been used in compiling the following lists. This should explain why there are many dates post-1961 appearing in the definitions and etymologies. Earliest entry in W3 with Year this year in definition 1900 Boxer 1901 acceleration of gravity 1902 Aglipayan 1903 dollar 1904 Kinkaider 1905 Arisaka 1906 att 1907 American Baptist 1908 boy scout 1909 besa 1910 boy scout 1911 Double Ten 1912 Bull Moose 1913 carat 1914 argentino Earliest entry in W3 with this year in etymology Bertrand curve Aida trumpet abelite baud Bayer process Abbe condenser Boltzmann's constant Bezold-Brucke phenomenon Ayrton shunt Argyll-Robertson pupil Abegg's rule Binet-Simon test brushite Aschersonia Bertillon system • 98 1915 Anzac Day Alzheimer's disease 1916 Dada Ammon's law 1 1917 Bolshevik Baeyer strain theory 1 1918 ArmIstice Day Ayerza's disease 1 • 1 1919 amant amant 1920 Black and Tan Abney level 1 1921 abbasl Allen's hummingbird 1 1922 chervonets Babbitt 1 1923 abbasi andorite 1 1924 caliph Albada finder 1 1925 anthroposophy Alexandra palm 1 1926 Austrian school Annie Oakley 1 1927 Independent Baptist Bechterew's nucleus 1 1928 angolar artinite 1 1929 catty bazzite 1 1930 Hitlensm demanian system 1 1931 Bourbon Babcock test 1 1932 cardInal bIshop Babinski reflex 1 1933 double eagle Abt system 1 1934 duck stamp bundle of His 1 1935 dollar Dreyfusard 1 1936 Loyalist bandar-Iog 1 1937 Anglic Adlerian 1 1938 FD&C color Eckert projection • I 1939 Intemational pitch aquacade 1940 kroon Aglipayan T 1941 - Bergsonian 1942 milrels Aschoff body 1943 Norroy King of Arms bayleyite 1944 Wasp Bedaux system 1945 Ansaka Arthus phenomenon 1946 air mile bikini 1947 Benelux Blackman reaction 1948 condor Brillouin zone 0 1949 - Bergius process 1950 American Baptist Abderhalden reaction 1951 Conservative Baptist Babbitt 1952 kyat Carrel-Dakin treatment 1953 hwan Curtis stage 0 1954 air mile Chastek paralysis 1955 at Arneth index 1956 piaster Barkhausen effect 1957 • austinite naya paIsa 1958 Empire Day aldrin 1959 air mile Klieg light 1960 new franc • amant 1961 rand Binet-Simon test 1962 hwan Bohr atom 1963 - Dick test 1964 - Franck-Condon principle 1965 - Churchillian Q 1966 - Raney nickel <II 1967 - Diok test 1968 - Barthian 99 1969 --- Tobacco Road 1970 Goldbergian 1971 -- Bragg angle 1972 - billi-bi 1973 --- krausite 1974 --- Peron ism 1975 Bourbon Coolidge tube 1976 --- Legionnaires' disease 1977 Nabokovian 1978 -- Eames chair 1979 Bourbon Parsonian 1980 Anno Lucis Hitchcockian 1981 Krebs cycle 1982 -- syli 1983 - --1984 Orwellian Big Brother 1985 austral angry young man 1986 -- Brigadoon 1987 --- ---1988 --- Brigadoon 1989 - Beckettian 1990 - Skinnerian 1991 austral There are no dates after 1991. Some of the definitions are remarkably precise. Consider this definition for KINKAIDER: : a settler on free land in Nebraska under terms of the Kinkaid act in 1904 which allowed each bona fide settler 640 acres upon payment of a filing fee of 14 dollars Or this definition for BLACK AND TAN: : a recruit enlisted in England in 1920-21 for service in the Royal Irish Constabulary against the armed movement for Irish independence Or this for DUCK STAMP: : the federal migratory-bird hunting stamp [LTst issued in 1934 that is required on the hunting licenses of wild-fowl hunters over 16 years of age and that is sold to raise funds for the protection of migratory birds (as by the purchase of sanctuary areas) Similarly with etymologies. Here are three extensive ones: starting with BANDAR-LOG: Etymology: Hindi badar monkey + log people; from the portrayal of the monkey race as chatterers and poseurs in the jungle stories of Rudyard Kipling died 1936 English writer- more at LOG Or try this etymology for ANNlE OAKLEY, which contains three times as many words as the definition: 100 Etymolog): after Anme Oakley died 1926 American markswoman; from the resemb lance of a punched pass to a playing card with bullet holes through the spots: a free ticket as to a theater) The third. for TOBACCO ROAD. is al 0 longer than the definition: Etymology' from Tobacco Road. novel (1932) by Erskine aldwell bl903 American writer, and play (1933) adapted by Jack Kirkland died 1969 American playwright, about poor whites in a depressed rural area of GeoTgla traversed by a run-down thoroughfare ("tobacco road") made in earlier days b) rolling hogsheads of tobacco to market nly two years before Webster's ThIrd' original publication date of 1961 arc unreprescnted in th definitions. 1941 and 1948 But there are many gaps in the years after 196 I occurring in definitions. Ihe earliest date unrepre ented in the etymologie i 1983 . c o Ie • II h 1\ I( • II n Notice ho~ some words (or terms) occur more than once. For example, the dcfinition of ABBASI d i the earliest in the dietionarv for 1921 and a for 1923. The definition of BOURBON is the II • earl ie t for three different years, 193 I, 1975 and 1979. As for etymologies, AM AN I is the earliest h for both 1919 and 1960. d The most recent years represented are 1991 for the definition of AUSTRAL, and 1990 for the etymology of KINNERIA . omparing the words on a year-by-year basi , we see that definition words appear earlier in the dictionary than etymology words for 18 dates, that etymology words occur before definition ~ords for 70 date , and that there arc two dates where the definition and etymology words are the arne. 1983 is the only date before 1992 for which neither definition nor etymology words exist. It I interestmg al 0 to note the disu ibution of initial lettcrs of thc words. Thcre arc 24 definitions and 30 etymolOgies for words beginning with A, 35 definitions and 64 etymologies for words beginnmg with A or B, and 60 definitions and 82 etymologies for words beginn ing with the letters A through M. (However, there are only 7 words and 7 etymologies for words beginning with the letters through Z.) This tells us that we're far more likely to find a given year earlier in the alphabet by searching the dictionary's etymologies rather than the definitions. Where to next? Rather than wait another hundred ycars to repeat the exercise for the 2 1 st century, u mg an appropnate future edition of Webster's, we could tackle it for the ) 9th century using Webster's Third. or the ) 8th century, or even earlier ones. Watch this space! • 11 • It o u • II I l I ~ • t I 

Webster\u27s Third and the 20th Century

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Webster\u27s Third and the 20th Century

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