The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, often abbreviated to SOED, is a scaled-down version of the Oxford English Dictionary. It comprises two volumes rather than the twenty needed for the second edition of the OED. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP). ...

An abridgement of the complete work was contemplated from 1879, when the Oxford University Press took over from the Philological Society on what was then known as A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles. However, no action was taken until 1902, when the work was begun by William Little, a fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He labored until his demise in 1922, at which point he had completed "A" through "T" and "V". The remaining letters were completed by H.W. Fowler ("U", "X", "Y", and "Z") and Mrs. E.A. Coulson ("W") under the direction of Charles Talbut Onions, who succeeded Little as editor. 1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Oxford University Press (OUP) is a highly-respected publishing house and a department of the University of Oxford in England. ... A society in Great Britain dedicated to the study of language. ... 1902 (MCMII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... William Little was an English surgeon who, in the 1860s, identified Cerebral palsy in children. ... College name Corpus Christi College Named after Corpus Christi, Body of Christ Established 1517 Sister College Corpus Christi College President Sir Tim Lankester JCR President Binyamin Even Undergraduates 239 Graduates 126 Homepage Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Henry Watson Fowler (10 March 1858 - 26 December 1933) was an English schoolmaster, lexicographer and commentator on usage, notable for both Fowlers Modern English Usage (first published 1926) and his work on the Concise Oxford Dictionary. ... Charles Talbut Onions (C.T. Onions) (1873-1965) was an English grammarian and lexicographer. ...

Onions wrote the SOED was "to present in miniature all the features of the principal work" and to be "a quintessence of those vast materials" in the complete OED.

The first edition was published in February 1933. It was reprinted in March and April of that year and again in 1934. A second edition appeared in 1936, which was reprinted in 1939. A third edition was published in 1944, reprinted in 1947, 1950, 1952, and, with an addendum of new entries, in 1955. The third edition was published in America under the name The Oxford Universal Dictionary. A reset version of the third edition, with new addenda and with the etymologies revised by G. W. S. Friedrichsen, was published in 1973. 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1950 (MCML in Roman) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1955 (MCMLV in Roman) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The whole text was completely revised for the fourth edition, which was published in 1993 as the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary under the editorship of Lesley Brown. This formed the basis for the fifth edition which appeared in 2002. 1993 (MCMXCIII in Roman) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... 2002 (MMII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The latest (fifth) edition contains more than half a million definitions, with 83,500 illustrative quotations from 7,000 authors. The book aims to include all English words which had substantial currency after 1700, plus the vocabulary of Shakespeare, Milton, Spenser, and the King James Bible. As a historical dictionary, it includes obsolete words if they are used by major authors and earlier meanings where they explain the development of a word. Headwords are traced back to their earliest usage. Events January 1 - Russia accepts Julian calendar. ... William Shakespeare—born April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; died April 23, 1616 (O.S.), May 3, 1616 (N.S.)—has a reputation as the greatest of all writers in English. ... See John Milton (disambiguation) for other uses John Milton, English poet John Milton (December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674) was an English poet, best-known for his epic poem Paradise Lost. ... Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (c. ... This page is about the version of the Bible; for the Harvey Danger album, see King James Version (album). ...

External links

• Description of SOED features
• Sample page from the dictionary