[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-48559-en":3,"doc-seo-48559-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":11,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},48559,2336464648746,"Skyler","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c",2,"Literature","Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries","Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries explores how humans define meaning through language, starting from early childhood word-to-world connections and continuing as people refine usage over time. Through word-by-word chapters, the book examines grammar, pronunciation, etymology, “bad words,” small words, authority, dates, and correspondence, showing how lexicographers craft definitions under the irregular logic of English. The narrative frames dictionary-making as careful, labor-intensive documentation of shifting, lived language.","Contents  \nCover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Preface  \nHRAFNKELL: On Falling in Love  \nBUT: On Grammar  \nIT’S: On “Grammar”  \nIRREGARDLESS: On Wrong Words  \nCORPUS: On Collecting the Bones  \nSURFBOARD: On Defining  \nPRAGMATIC: On Examples  \nTAKE: On Small Words  \nBITCH: On Bad Words  \nPOSH: On Etymology and Linguistic Originalism  \nAMERICAN DREAM: On Dates  \nNUCLEAR: On Pronunciation  \nNUDE: On Correspondence  \nMARRIAGE: On Authority and the Dictionary  \nEPILOGUE: The Damnedest Thing Acknowledgments (in alphabetical order)  \nNotes  \nBibliography  \nPermissions Acknowledgments A Note About the Author  \nFOR MY PARENTS, ALLEN AND DIANE, WHO BOUGHT ME BOOKS AND LOVED ME  \nWELL.  \nIt may be observed that the English language is not a system of logic, that its vocabulary has not developed in correlation with generations of straight thinkers, that we cannot impose upon it something preconceived as an ideal of scientific method and expect to come out with anything more systematic and more clarifying than what we start with: what we start with is an inchoate heterogeneous conglomerate that retains the indestructible bones of innumerable tries at orderly communication, and our definitions as a body are bound to reflect this situation.  \n—PHILIP BABCOCK GOVE, Merriam-Webster in-house “Defining Techniques”memo, May 22, 1958  \nPreface  \nL  \nanguage is one of the few common experiences humanity has. Not all of us can walk; not all of us can sing; not all of us like pickles. But  \nwe all have an inborn desire to communicate why we can’t walk or sing or stomach pickles. To do that, we use our language, a vast index of words and their meanings we’ve acquired, like linguistic hoarders, throughout our lives. We eventually come to a place where we can look another person in the eye and say, or write, or sign,“I don’t do pickles.”  \nThe problem comes when the other person responds,“What do you mean by ‘do,’ exactly?”  \nWhat do you mean? It’s probable that humanity has been defining in oneway or another since we first showed up on the scene. We see it in children today as they acquire their native language: it begins with someone’s explaining the universe around them to a rubbery blob of drooling baby, then progresses to that blob understanding the connection between the sound coming out of Mama’s or Papa’s mouth—“cup”—and the thing Mama or Papa is pointing to. Watching the connection happen is like watching nuclear fission in miniature: there is a flash behind the eyes, a bunch of synapses all firing at once, and then a lot of frantic pointing and data collection. The baby points; an obliging adult responds with the word that represents that object. And so we begin to define.  \nAs we grow, we grind words into finer grist. We learn to pair the word“cat” with “meow”; we learn that lions and leopards are also called “cats,”though they have as much in common with your long-haired Persian house cat as a teddy bear has with a grizzly bear. We set up a little mental index card that lists all the things that come to mind when someone says the word“cat,” and then when we learn that in parts of Ireland bad weather is called“cat,” our eyes widen and we start stapling little slips of addenda to that card.  \nAt heart, we are always looking for that one statement that captures theineffable, universal catness represented by the word “cat,” the thing that encompasses the lion “cat” and the domestic-lazybones “cat” and the bad  \nweather in Ireland, too. And so we turn to the one place where that statement is most likely to be found: the dictionary.  \nWe read the definitions given there with little thought about how they actually make it onto the page. Yet every part of a dictionary definition is crafted by a person sitting in an office, their*1 eyes squeezed shut as they consider how best to describe, concisely and accurately, that weather meaning of the word “cat.” These people expend enormous amounts of mental energy, day in and day out, to find just the right words t","cbCaifodL1Ec1plb","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifodL1Ec1plb","pdf",4874610,1,255,"English","en",105,"# Preface\n## Language as shared human experience\n## How definitions get made\n## Dictionary-making word by word\n# On Falling in Love\n# On Grammar\n# On “Grammar”\n# On Wrong Words\n# On Collecting the Bones\n# On Defining\n# On Examples\n# On Small Words\n# On Bad Words\n# On Etymology and Linguistic Originalism\n# On Dates\n# On Pronunciation\n# On Correspondence\n# On Authority and the Dictionary\n# Epilogue","[{\"question\":\"How does the book explain the origin of word definitions in everyday life?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that people define by mapping words to objects and ideas, beginning in childhood when sounds and pointing gradually connect to meaning. As language grows, these associations become broader and more complex.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does lexicography require special effort, according to the text?\",\"answer\":\"Dictionary definitions are crafted by people who must describe meaning concisely and accurately despite English’s irregular logic. The work involves constant mental effort to capture shifting usage and “just the right words.”\"},{\"question\":\"What approach does the book use to explore language and dictionaries?\",\"answer\":\"It approaches language through individual words and themed chapters, treating the dictionary as the place where defining statements are most likely to be found. The overall method is “word by word,” linking definitions to grammar, history, and usage.\"}]",1783569759,393,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"word-by-word-the-secret-life-of-dictionaries","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,52,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,46,49],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":47,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/word-by-word-the-secret-life-of-dictionaries/48559/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":40,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-12","2026-07-09",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":11},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"How does the book explain the origin of word definitions in everyday life?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"It argues that people define by mapping words to objects and ideas, beginning in childhood when sounds and pointing gradually connect to meaning. As language grows, these associations become broader and more complex.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"Why does lexicography require special effort, according to the text?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"Dictionary definitions are crafted by people who must describe meaning concisely and accurately despite English’s irregular logic. The work involves constant mental effort to capture shifting usage and “just the right words.”",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"What approach does the book use to explore language and dictionaries?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"It approaches language through individual words and themed chapters, treating the dictionary as the place where defining statements are most likely to be found. 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