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September 2009Report from the Open DictionaryThe Open Dictionary didn't go on vacation this summer, and many contributions were added for words that are too new or too specialized to be entered in our print dictionaries. In some ways the Open Dictionary represents a kind of future dictionary of real words that are spotted and reported by the public. Interested in adding a new word or new sense of an existing word to the Dictionary? We're always interested in the words that you hear and see that haven't yet been defined. Click for guidelines and join the amateur lexicographers! crowdsourcing (noun) : contributions from many people usu. for opinions, suggestions, or testimony that is presented online "Crowdsourcing traffic gives us a way to harness bits of location data from our users and give it back to them in a form they can use to make decisions that affect their free time, their pocketbooks and the environment," he said. —AFP, "Google Maps tracking traffic flow", 8/26/2009 icemeister (noun) : a person who designs and constructs structures and surfaces made of ice for competitive sports "Toss in the usual broadcast demands accompanying the Olympics — extra banks of hot lights and inflexible event schedules among them — and the so-called icemeisters may want to make some extra cubes for a stiff drink." —John Branch, New York Times, 8/16/2009 nanny state (noun) : government regulation or subsidizing of an individual citizen's activities "And in an era of smoking bans and restaurants forced to post the calorie content of their meals, consumers could use a little less nanny state and a little more freedom." —Michael Smerconish, The Philadelphia Daily News, 7/9/2009 |