February 2010

Report from the Open Dictionary

Merriam-Webster's Open Dictionary invites language watchers to pass along new or specialized words (or old words with new meanings) that have not yet made it into a standard print or online dictionary. This month’s submissions focused on the passing of the century’s first decade, news events in China, and the chilly, chilly weather. Decide for yourself if any of these recent contributions will catch on.

Do you know a word that ought to be considered for inclusion in the dictionary? Submit your word at the Submit an Entry page.

Aughties (noun) : the years 2000 through 2009
"Here in the United States, we spent New Year's weekend bidding good riddance to the awful, awful Aughties — a miserable decade of bubbles and busts, rising health care bills and soaring deficits, domestic terror attacks and overseas quagmires." —Ross Douthat, New York Times, January 4, 2010

Great Firewall (noun) : strict controls of Internet use placed upon Chinese citizens by the government monitors
"Web users reported an outage of China's strict Internet controls, known as the Great Firewall, for several hours this morning, allowing them brief access to banned websites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter." —David Pierson, Los Angeles Times, January 5, 2010

glitten (noun) : a fingerless glove usu. with an attached flap covering for the fingers; also: a mitten that provides an independent covering for the index finger


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