quoting OED Online Help:

The OED Online contains the complete text of the 20-volume Second Edition, first published in 1989, together with its 3-volume Additions Series, published in 1993 (volumes 1 and 2) and 1997 (volume 3). Many of the entries in the Additions volumes consist of sections which are additions to an entry previously published in the Second Edition; such sections are appended to the end of the appropriate Second Edition entry. Complete entries published for the first time in the Additions volumes are presented as free-standing entries, along with entries from the Second Edition.

The OED is currently being revised, with the aim of producing a completely updated third edition by the year 2010. Draft material from the revision programme will also be published online, representing the latest progress towards the new edition. More revised and new entries will be added to the online Dictionary every quarter.

Results from searches of the Dictionary text are therefore presented in two sets, one consisting of Second Edition results (including results from the Additions volumes) and the other consisting of New (Third) Edition results. The first set contains a complete A to Z sequence of entries, while the second is incomplete, but growing every quarter.[E.A.]


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