English dictionary with definitions.

English dictionary with definitions.

[Alin Soare]

I wish to ask you what is the best choice for an English dictionary with
definitions.

Is there any intention to add a dictionary that works offline ?

For example, Webster would be nice to work in emacs.


Alin

RE: English dictionary with definitions.

[Drew Adams]

> I wish to ask you what is the best choice for an English 
> dictionary with definitions.

There probably is no "best choice".

For American English, "American Heritage Dictionary" is quite good, especially
its comparative treatment of usage for synonyms and other related words.

Re: English dictionary with definitions.

[Sean Sieger]

"Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

    > I wish to ask you what is the best choice for an English 
    > dictionary with definitions.

    There probably is no "best choice".

    For American English, "American Heritage Dictionary" is quite good, especially
    its comparative treatment of usage for synonyms and other related words.

There used to be a Random House Unabridged Dictionary CD-ROM.  I paid
twenty bucks for one 10 years ago.  Dictionary.com uses the same data.
It's really really great.

American Heritage has a pretty extensive etymology (though some would
have you believe it's carried away), but the Random House, to my way of
thinking is rivaled by none but the OED CD-ROM (which has a lousy
interface and is a big waste of money) in etymology and number of words.

Like Drew said, no best choice.  I use a combination of RHUD and OED,
both with quick selections in Emacs.

Re: English dictionary with definitions.

[Richard Stallman]

    Is there any intention to add a dictionary that works offline ?

Do you mean a digital dictionary?  In that case, it should be free.
I know of just one: Wictionary.  I have never looked at it, though.

-- 
Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation
51 Franklin St
Boston MA 02110
USA
www.fsf.org, www.gnu.org

Re: English dictionary with definitions.

[A. Soare]

>     Is there any intention to add a dictionary that works offline ?
> 
> Do you mean a digital dictionary?  In that case, it should be free.
> I know of just one: Wictionary.  I have never looked at it, though.


I do not know any, but I would like to know whether there is one/whether there is some intention to add one in emacs....




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RE: English dictionary with definitions.

[A. Soare]

> > I wish to ask you what is the best choice for an English 
> > dictionary with definitions.
> 
> There probably is no "best choice".
> 
> For American English, "American Heritage Dictionary" is quite good, especially
> its comparative treatment of usage for synonyms and other related words.
> 

Where can I find it in emacs ?


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RE: English dictionary with definitions.

[Drew Adams]

> > > I wish to ask you what is the best choice for an English 
> > > dictionary with definitions.
> > 
> > There probably is no "best choice".
> > 
> > For American English, "American Heritage Dictionary" is 
> quite good, especially
> > its comparative treatment of usage for synonyms and other 
> related words.
> > 
> 
> Where can I find it in emacs ?

Dunno; you probably cannot.  (You didn't mention anything about that.)  I
thought you were just looking for a (physical book) dictionary.

But on Emacs Wiki I believe there are several Emacs commands (libraries) that
let you get to online dictionaries.

----

If you want access to a thesaurus within Emacs, you can use synonyms.el.  I use
it with an English thesaurus, but I know that it is also used with a German
thesaurus by some.  The Emacs library is separate from the thesaurus file, which
needs to be plain text, comma-separated.

http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Synonyms
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/synonyms.el

Re: English dictionary with definitions.

[Richard Stallman]

    I do not know any, but I would like to know whether there is one/whether there is some intention to add one in emacs....

I hope there is a good free English dictionary -- if not, people
should work on improving one.  But I see no reason to include it in
Emacs.

It would be ok to include code in Emacs to access free dictionaries.
However, code to access nonfree dictionaries would give the wrong idea
of our principles.

-- 
Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation
51 Franklin St
Boston MA 02110
USA
www.fsf.org, www.gnu.org

Re: English dictionary with definitions

[MON KEY]

There is this:
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/google-define.el

And my modified version of same:
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/google-define-redux.el

But, either of these will return aggregate definitions direct to yoru
local emacs.
But, they are maybe a kind of SOS (or otherwise a giant GG advert) so it (and
those like it) should not IMO be included w/ Emacs.

If you can afford it the abridged OED is quite nice
They also make a very French/English dictionary as well.
The newest version of the latter is interesting because it explored a
novel technique for multi-lingual corpus creation w/ KWIC...

You might also have luck with one of the Emacs Wordnet interfaces,
though i find these to be overkill for routine word lookup.

--
/s_P\

Re: English dictionary with definitions.

[A. Soare]

>     I do not know any, but I would like to know whether there is one/whether there is some intention to add one in emacs....
> 
> I hope there is a good free English dictionary -- if not, people
> should work on improving one.  But I see no reason to include it in
> Emacs.
> 
> It would be ok to include code in Emacs to access free dictionaries.
> However, code to access nonfree dictionaries would give the wrong idea
> of our principles.

LOL.

I am working on a project now.

I need an offline disctionary. I write a script to download the database of the dictionary , and afterwards, for every word from the data base, I will ask the server to send me the definition of that word, and the list of synonyms.

The server that I am about to copy these days has a different data base for defitions and for words.

After I finish downloading all the dictionary, I send the scripts to emacs devel, for everybody to be able to download the dictionary . LOL.

And afterwards, using that scripts , everybody can download for himself the data base.

What I mean: the data base is not free, but it is free

- the access to data base
- the scripts to clone the database to the local computer

The benefit: if we buy a dictionary, that dictionary cannot work in emacs. This is a major disavantage.

Other one: almost sure the sellers do not offer linux support.

I do not say the name of the on line dictionary I clone this week, because I do not want to be banned.

There are about 100.000 words. I installed a delay of 5 seconds between asking 2 words.

that means 100.000 [words] * 5 seconds = 500.000 seconds.

# bc
bc 1.06.94
Copyright 1991-1994, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
For details type `warranty'. 
500000/3600
138
scale=2
500000/3600
138.88
last/24
5.78


LOL. About 6 days!!!

Pff, I hope the site will not ban my ip. LOL.

--------------------

Afterwards, I can play with the data base as I wish, I am free to play with, and have it worked in emacs.






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Re: English dictionary with definitions.

[Richard Stallman]

    And afterwards, using that scripts , everybody can download for himself the data base.

    What I mean: the data base is not free, but it is free

    - the access to data base
    - the scripts to clone the database to the local computer

If I understand correctly, that is a non-free dictionary.
Please don't submit code here to access it.


-- 
Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation
51 Franklin St
Boston MA 02110
USA
www.fsf.org, www.gnu.org

Re: English dictionary with definitions.

[Bernardo Barros]

Why not http://www.wiktionary.org/ ? You could write some kind of
"update" procedure, that downloads all new data from there. Something
like svn. Also an "upload", inviting people to contribute.

just an idea

2010/12/9 Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>:
>    And afterwards, using that scripts , everybody can download for himself the data base.
>
>    What I mean: the data base is not free, but it is free
>
>    - the access to data base
>    - the scripts to clone the database to the local computer
>
> If I understand correctly, that is a non-free dictionary.
> Please don't submit code here to access it.
>
>
> --
> Richard Stallman
> President, Free Software Foundation
> 51 Franklin St
> Boston MA 02110
> USA
> www.fsf.org, www.gnu.org
>
>

Re: English dictionary with definitions.

[A. Soare]

> Why not http://www.wiktionary.org/ ? You could write some kind of
> "update" procedure, that downloads all new data from there. Something
> like svn. Also an "upload", inviting people to contribute.
> 

Yes, but.

Why would we not make a demand to some official sites to provide a database for emacs ?

Let me finish the cloning the next week , and a few members of emacs could write a demand to some sites.

I clone an official site of France that I use all the time. If I clone it and use it, why you may be not able to use it. as time as I use it, and an Internet User use it ? After I finish cloning it, I tell you the site, when I finish. Until then, no word from me, because for me the data base that I clone is crucial.

In the 21th century the editors/providers of written dictionnaries are gaining their lives from other resources, not from selled dictionnaries.Maybe they can understand that providing their data bases is a huge grow of cultural level , and maybe they provide the data bases to emacs.



Alin




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