5. A computer-implemented method of accessing definition candidates, comprising: accessing a data source comprising a collection of documents; identifying terms in the data source having associated definition candidates; for a term identified in the data source, collecting text strings of the associated definition candidates for the term from the data source; identifying features in the collected text strings of the associated definition candidates for the term; ranking the associated definition candidates for the term based on the text strings, wherein ranking comprises utilizing a ranking model to generate a definition tuple for each of the associated definition candidates for the term, the definition tuple for each of the associated definition candidates comprising: the term, the associated definition candidate, and a score assigned to the associated definition candidate by the ranking model, wherein the score is calculated based on the identified features for the associated definition candidate independent of the term, and wherein the score is indicative of a measure of a degree to which the associated definition candidate conveys a meaning of the term; and storing the definition tuple for each of the definition candidates for the term in a database; receiving an input query having the term; and accessing the definition tuples for the term to present a ranked list of definition candidates for the term using a processor of the computer, wherein the ranked list includes the associated definition candidates obtained from the definition tuples and is ranked in an order based on the scores obtained from the definition tuples, wherein the definition candidates in the ranked list are ranked based on the scores associated with each definition tuple and are ranked independent of the term and the input query.
10. The method of claim 5 , and further comprising: removing similar definition candidates for the term from the database, based on the scores assigned to the similar definition candidates in the definition tuples, if the similar definition candidates are substantially duplicates by comparing a first definition candidate for the term and a second definition candidate for the term and removing one of the first and second definition candidates from the database having a lower assigned score.