The format of the OED 's entries has influenced numerous other historical lexicography projects. Following each definition are several brief illustrating quotations presented in chronological order from the earliest ascertainable use of the word in that sense to the last ascertainable use for an obsolete sense, to indicate both its life span and the time since its desuetude, or to a relatively recent use for current ones.
The first electronic version of the dictionary was made available in 1988. Since 2000, compilation of a third edition of the dictionary has been underway, approximately half of which was complete by 2018. More supplements came over the years until 1989, when the second edition was published, comprising 21,728 pages in 20 volumes. In 1933, the title The Oxford English Dictionary fully replaced the former name in all occurrences in its reprinting as twelve volumes with a one-volume supplement.
In 1895, the title The Oxford English Dictionary was first used unofficially on the covers of the series, and in 1928 the full dictionary was republished in ten bound volumes.
Work began on the dictionary in 1857, but it was only in 1884 that it began to be published in unbound fascicles as work continued on the project, under the name of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by The Philological Society.
It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a comprehensive resource to scholars and academic researchers, as well as describing usage in its many variations throughout the world. The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED) is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). Seven of the twenty volumes of the printed second edition of The Oxford English Dictionary (1989)