Abstract

Three of the longest entries in the Oxford English Dictionary—those for the verbs make, put, and run—have now been revised, in the course of the current revision programme. Because the three entries were originally edited for the first edition of the Dictionary by three different editors (respectively Henry Bradley, James Murray, and William Craigie), they provide the basis for a comparative study of the lexicographical approach and methods adopted by these three men, and by those other individuals who collaborated with them on these exceptionally large and challenging entries. Comparison of the original entries with the revised versions now published in OED Online also sheds light on the lexicography practised by the current generation of OED lexicographers.

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