.TH OED 7
.SH NAME
oed \- Oxford English Dictionary
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B oed
[
.I options
]
[
.BR - [ iI ]
.I index
]
.I word...
.br
.B oed
.BI -b addr
[
.I options...
]
[
.I sections...
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
Given one or more
.I word
arguments,
.B oed
prints the matching main entry or entries from the first edition of the OED
with Supplements.  Flag options for this
case are:
.TF -I\ \fIindex\fP
.TP
.B -p
Match all entries having
.I word
as a prefix.
.TP
.BI -I index
Print sections of the dictionary in which, according to the
.IR index ,
the
.I word
appears.
.TP
.BI -i index
Like
.BR -I ,
but only head words are printed, along with a command that will
print the rest.
.PD
.PP
Available indexes are:
.PD
.TP
.B le
.I Word
is a lexical entry (the default).
.TP
.B et
.I Word
appears in an etymology article.
.TP
.B se
Sense:
.I word
is used in a definition.
.TP
.B la
.I Word
is used as a label.
.TP
.B qd
.I Word
appears in the date of a quoted work.
.TP
.B qa
.I Word
is the author of a quoted work.
.TP
.B qw
.I Word
is the title of a quoted work.
.TP
.B qt
.I Word
appears in the text of a quoted work.
.PD
.PP
Except in the case of
.LR le ,
the program prints only the sections of an entry relevant to the
.IR word ,
e.g., indexing through
.L qt
produces the head word, a sense article, and the quotation.
.PP
The second form of
.L oed
uses file block addressing, primarily for the use of
.LR "oed -i..." .
Options are:
.TF -I\ \fIindex\fP
.TP
.B -a
Print starting addresses and tags for each section.
.TP
.BI -b addr
Print the dictionary starting with block
.IR addr .
.TP
.BI -b a . d
Print the dictionary starting with the
.IR d "'th"
definition (counting from zero) in block
.IR a .
Printing stops at the end of this definition, or when the block specified
with
.L -e
is reached.
.TP
.BI -e addr
Stop printing when block
.I addr
is reached.
.PD
.PP
Specific
.I sections
or parts thereof may be selected within a definition, as follows:
.TF \fIn\fP.\fIttt\fP.\fImmm\fP
.TP
.I n
Section number
.I n
(decimal).
.TP
.IR n . ttt
Parts of section
.I n
(decimal) having tag
.I ttt
(hex).
.TP
.IR n . ttt . mmm
Parts of section
.I n
(decimal) having tag
.I ttt
(hex), but only tag bits
.I mmm
(hex) are significant in the comparison.
.PD
.PP
Options applicable to both forms are:
.TF -I\ \fIindex\fP
.TP
.B -k
Print the pronunciation key and exit.
.TP
.B -r
Print the raw text from the dictionary, instead of a more readable form.
.SH EXAMPLES
.TP
.L
oed poot
Look up the word
.LR poot .
.L
.TP
oed -i qt poot
Show words used with
.LR poot
in quoted text.
.TP
.L
oed -i la spiritualism
Show words cited as terms of art in spiritualism.
.SH FILES
.TF /lib/oed/rcd0
.TP
.B /lib/oed/rcd0
.SM CDROM
image.
.SH BUGS
.PP
The
.L qa
and
.L qw
indexes make heavy use of unpredictable abbreviations.
Entries for dates in the
.L qd
index include references that are
.IR ante ,
.IR post ,
and
.IR circa ;
the program does not distinguish these.
.PP
Tabular and other typographically complicated material is
missing from the database, and flagged by
.LR "{...}" .
.PP
A cross-reference that is not a main entry may be missing from the
.L le
index
(e.g., 
.I kinesthesia
refers to
.IR kinæsthesia ,
but the definition is found under
.IR kinæsthesis ).
The
.L -p
flag with a long prefix of the desired word is often successful.