Dictionaries inside computers

[chrispenycate]

In my brand new laptop there is a pleasing British English dictionary/thesaurus application. Highlighting a word in a text brings up a description, etymology, pronunciation, synonyms and antonyms with a minimum of expended effort.

Not that I don't still have my battered Chambers twentieth century beneath my mouse pad, raising the rodent to a convenient height while remaining always to hand, but just think of all the time I have passed leafing through the alphabet while ideas grow stale, chittering for attention and transcription during that brief period the metaphorical iron glows and my brain is not yet on strike.

And then I thought:- "Wouldn't it be nice if this could be integrated with the spell checker?" Editable, of course, so when my heroine's name is red squiggled and filed into my personal dictionary, she gets a short biography of her births, marriages and death, the sort of details you might want to grab at a moment's notice (though not synonyms). Created words, too, including details of where they were first used as "Pantigraph – Device for collecting trolley bus current from overhead wires in Italian town, where said cables are used for drying laundry, Poem, "Torrid Torrino" 1992. The suggestions list of what you probably meant to say when you typed in "Pancreative" (capable of inventing anything) should inform you of the meaning of "pancreatic", so you know what you're going to be confused with.

And, while we're combining functions, why not include my worn, by now almost entirely loose-leaf rhyming dictionary? Selectable, of course; you wouldn't want it permanently connected. A list of true rhymes, and a secondary list of assonances close enough for rock and roll. These are things computers are good at, and as my memory degenerates still further into senility, I need all the help electronics can offer. It's unfortunate that the 'tip of my tongue' generator, for words you are certain exist, and you know, but can't dredge to the surface, is beyond today's technology.

Does anyone know if these aps exist? Not as an on-line function, but living in the computer (not that I was over convinced by the on-line ones; not one of them I tried offered the pair 'geniculate - gesticulate', which would seem fairly obvious, even if writing the verse round them might not be). Surely I can't be the only one to have this need, or at least to recognise it?

 

[Kylara]

ah good one for tip of the tongue words is the reverse dictionary on onelook.com (reverse dict link here:http://onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml and onelook homepage here: http://onelook.com/ )

 

[Ursa major]

Created words, too, including details of where they were first used as "Pantigraph – Device for collecting trolley bus current from overhead wires in Italian town, where said cables are used for drying laundry, Poem, "Torrid Torrino" 1992.

Only drying the laundry? What about the ioning...?

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[Abernovo]

The closest I've come to what you're hoping for is the OED, Thesaurus and Dictionary of Quotations on CD. I loaded it onto my laptop and, with highlighting or double click, can look up pretty much any word. It doesn't link in with spellchecker, though.

Perhaps a quick note to Oxford University Press, Pears Cyclopaedia and the makers of Libre Office/Word etc. to work together an produce the ultimate interactive writing assistant? So long as it doesn't come with an annoying little figure asking: 'Do you mean...?'

 

[chrispenycate]

Only drying the laundry? What about the ioning...?

Do Italian ladies ion their lingerie? Only in the O-zone.

The closest I've come to what you're hoping for is the OED, Thesaurus and Dictionary of Quotations on CD. I loaded it onto my laptop and, with highlighting or double click, can look up pretty much any word. It doesn't link in with spellchecker, though.

Perhaps a quick note to Oxford University Press, Pears Cyclopaedia and the makers of Libre Office/Word etc. to work together an produce the ultimate interactive writing assistant? So long as it doesn't come with an annoying little figure asking: 'Do you mean...?'

The dictionary/thesaurus (admittedly not quotations) that came bundled in the new Mac is actually rather splendid, and I suppose I only need to click on the red squiggle to choose a word (or go into "spelling" and click the alternatives); I'm already beginning to wonder how I survived without it (after the first flush of passion, of course, the frustrations will start to grow).

And I can't even find a good on line rhyming dictionary, let alone a downloadable one; and that must be something people other than me need. See, give him an inch, he not only expects the mile to be thrown in, but complains it's not metric.

 

[Mouse]

I use Word Hippo a hell of a lot. Sadly, it's online and not inside my laptop but it'll do! It has rhyming words and alternative words and what have you.