An actual headword count is not given, though the publisher's Web site puts the number at 97,600. Although the preface does not cite the number of new entries, publicity from Oxford states that 3,500 new words have been added to this edition. The dust jacket from the work claims it has "more than one third of the coverage of the OED" and more than half a million definitions, with 83,500 illustrative quotations from 7,000 authors. Words obsolete by 1700 are still included, however, if used by authors such as Shakespeare or other "influential literary sources." Headwords are traced back to their earliest usage. Like the previous edition, this work "sets out the main meanings and semantic developments of words current at any time between 1700 and the present day." Words such as achtande, knottle, or pompal (all present in OED Online) that are obsolete, obsolete variations, or rare are therefore not included. Still, some welcome changes have been made. The general coverage of the volumes remains largely unchanged from the fourth edition, however, even retaining the previous edition's preface and adding a briefer preface for the current edition. Given some of the advance publicity and advertisements, Oxford is clearly aware that to win in the dictionary wars (at least in the eyes of the general public), it is necessary to emphasize newer words added to the dictionary. Considering it was 20 years between the third and fourth editions of this work, this "abridgement" of Oxford's flagship OED after fewer than 10 years is most welcome.
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