>Are all of those books just a dictionary?

right; and those 20 volumes can be had on 1 CD-ROM, which is what maverick was promoting. you can even browse, after a fashion, in that you have two windows: one with the particular word you're viewing and the other with an entry list containing words immediately surrounding that headword.

a worthy option, at about one fourth the cost, is Merriam-Wesbster's 3rd New International (W3) on CD-ROM. It has an equal number of entries (for what that's worth), but less documentation* in back of them.

it should also be noted that both of these excellent resources are available online via subscription. W3 is available for an almost reasonable annual rate of $30. while the OED2 subscription is still exorbitant, it can often be accessed via proxy through your local library.

*etymology, citations, etc.

edit: A cross-reference is a link from one dictionary entry to another for purposes of comparison or explanation. With the CD or online versions, these are hot links.

Last edited by tsuwm; 02/10/2006 10:29 PM.