The OED “is widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world. As a historical dictionary, the OED is very different from those of current English, in which the focus is on present-day meanings. You’ll still find these in the OED, but you’ll also find the history of individual words, and of the language—traced through 3 million quotations, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to films scripts and cookery books.” For more information about this resource, visit their site.
To access this database, please visit the Databases A-Z page or visit the English Literatures LibGuide. Contact Sue Samson, firstname.lastname@example.org, with questions or for more information on how this database can help you with your research or teaching.