Merriam – Webster describe the bikini as " a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit " or " a man's brief swimsuit.

* ( c ) the method of suspended judgment, systematic doubt, or criticism that is characteristic of skeptics ( Merriam – Webster ).

), Merriam – Webster Inc., Springfield, MA.

The term " fast food " was recognized in a dictionary by Merriam – Webster in 1951.

* " Merriam Webster Online Dictionary " Definition of politician 5 June 2006

* Merriam Webster on Newbie

; Merriam Webster definitions

Merriam acquired rights from Adams, as well as signing a contract with Webster ’ s heirs for sole rights.

Upon Webster's death in 1843, the unsold books and all rights to the copyright and name " Webster " were purchased by brothers George and Charles Merriam, who then hired Webster's son-in-law Chauncey A. Goodrich, a professor at Yale College, to oversee revisions.

Among larger dictionaries during this period was ( non-Merriam ) Webster's Universal Dictionary ( also published as Webster's Twentieth Century Dictionary ) which traced its roots to Noah Webster and called itself " unabridged ", but had less than half the vocabulary and paled in scholarship against the Merriam editions.

* Merriam Webster Online

The Merriam – Webster dictionaries take this view, as does J.

In 1931, the Merriam – Webster dictionary adopted the word " Rube Goldberg " as an adjective defined as accomplishing something simple through complex means.

The G. & C. Merriam Company lost its right to exclusive use of the name " Webster " after a series of lawsuits placed it in public domain.

Its name was changed to Merriam – Webster Inc. with the publication of Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary in 1983.

On February 14, 2007 Merriam – Webster announced it was working with mobile search and information provider AskMeNow to launch a mobile dictionary and thesaurus service enabling consumers to access definitions, spelling and synonyms via text message.

The Merriam – Webster company once used a unique set of phonetic symbols in their dictionaries which permitted people from various parts of the US to learn how to pronounce new words as others who spoke with the same accent or dialect did.

To enable a variety of computer systems to access the pronunciation, the online services of Merriam – Webster specify a less-specific use of ASCII characters, which should not be confused with the former print fonts.

* Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite, includes Merriam Webster

In 2006, both the Oxford English Dictionary and the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary struck a balance between acknowledging widespread use of the verb coinage and preserving the particular search engine's association with the coinage, defining google ( all lower case, with-le ending ) as a verb meaning " use the Google search engine to obtain information on the Internet ".

According to Merriam Webster, a " smackdown " is:

The term " fast food " was recognized in a dictionary by Merriam – Webster in 1951.

According to the Merriam Webster Third New International Dictionary, the noun evolved from the Middle English verb stenten, shortened from extenten, meaning to stretch, which in turn came from Latin extentus, past participle of extendere, to stretch out.

Merriam Webster describes a housewife as a married woman who is in charge of her household.

The name " quetzal " is from Nahuatl quetzalli, " large brilliant tail feather " ( American Heritage Dictionary ) or " tail coverts of the quetzal " ( Merriam – Webster's Collegiate Dictionary ), from the Nahuatl root quetz = " stand up " used to refer to an upstanding plume of feathers.

According to Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, the term classical, from classicus, entered modern English in 1599, some 50 years after its re-introduction on the continent.

* Merriam – Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, the largest and most popular college dictionary, which is available in CD-ROM format for use on personal computers.

* Merriam Webster's 10th Collegiate Dictionary

Dord is a notable error in lexicography, an accidental creation, or ghost word, of the G. and C. Merriam Company's staff included in the second ( 1934 ) edition of its New International Dictionary, in which the term is defined as " density ".

* Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage.

" According to Merriam Webster's Geographical Dictionary, a standard reference on place names around the world, the name " Ruhr " refers to the river.

A third printing of the ADEL second edition was in 1845 by George & Charles Merriam, Springfield, Massachusetts, and this was the first " Webster's Dictionary " with a Merriam imprint.

In response to Joseph Worcester's groundbreaking dictionary of 1860, the G. & C. Merriam Company created a significantly revised edition, retaining the title American Dictionary of the English Language.

The Merriam Company issued a complete revision in 1909, Webster's New International Dictionary, edited by William Torrey Harris and F. Sturges Allen.

After about a decade of preparation, G. & C. Merriam issued the entirely new Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged ( commonly known as Webster's Third, or W3 ) in September 1961.

The rivalry was carried on by Merriam after Webster's death, in what is often referred to as the Dictionary Wars.

The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED ), which published its complete first edition in 1933, challenged Merriam in scholarship, though not in the marketplace due to its much larger size.

The Merriam-Gilbert Public Library was built in 1880 when Charles Merriam ( born in West Brookfield in 1806 ), famous for publishing the first Webster's Dictionary, provided the funding for the structure.

Merriam-Webster, which was originally the G. & C. Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, is an American company that publishes reference books, especially dictionaries that are descendants of Noah Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language ( 1828 ).

In 1864, Merriam published a greatly expanded edition, which was the first version to change Webster's text, largely overhauling his work yet retaining many of his definitions and the title An American Dictionary.

Services also include Merriam – Webster's Word of the Day and Open Dictionary, a wiki service promising subscribers the opportunity to create and submit their own new words and definitions.