The Oxford English Dictionary is the internationally recognized authority on the evolution of the English language from 1150 to the present day. The Dictionary defines over 500,000 words and traces their usage through 2.5 million illustrative quotations from a wide range of literary and other sources. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, pronunciation, and history of the English language.

This new version of the Oxford English Dictionary (Second Edition) on CD-ROM offers unparalled access to the world's most important reference work for the English language. The text of this version now includes almost 2,000 words and phrases from the OED team's ongoing revision program, as well as the full text of the OED Second Edition, published in 1989, the Oxford English Dictionary Addition Series (Volumes 1-3), published in 1993 and 1997, the Bibliography to the Second Edition, and other ancillary material.