LibGuides: Electronic Resources Directory: Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

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Introduction to Dictionaries

It happened. A professor asked you what a word or term in an assigned case meant. You never looked it up or don't know how to pronounce it. It happens. But it doesn't have to happen again!

Below you will find a collection of dictionaries, many of them law-related, all of them electronically accessible to current UBalt Law members. The mostly commonly used legal dictionaries are Black's (Westlaw) and Ballentine's (Lexis+). Students should consider starting with Wex and then moving to a full legal dictionary, which will likely contain important annotations related to the relevant term that are not found elsewhere along with citations to materials utilizing the term.

For those performing research involving historical definitions, we have a selection of historical dictionaries linked here. They can be complicated to utilize electronically, so feel free to reach out to the Law Library if you need assistance, especially if you don't see the one you need.

Law-Specific Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Black's Law Dictionary, 10th Edition
Westlaw provides an online version of Black's, the most prominent legal dictionary. The 10th edition features more than 50,000 terms and 16,000 new definitions, including terms such as affluenza defense and one-bite rule.
Lexis+ Dictionaries
Lexis provides a handful of dictionaries, most of which are specifically legal dictionaries. They provide definitions, abbreviations, and usage advice for legal terms of art.
Researchers can search as many of the following dictionaries as you would like:
• Attorney's Dictionary of Patent Claims
• Attorneys' Dictionary of Medicine
• Ballentine's Law Dictionary, 3rd Edition
• Burton's Legal Thesaurus, 6th Edition
• Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT)
• The Law Dictionary
• OCCUPATIONAL CROSSWALK: DOT & SCO
• The Wolters Kluwer Bouvier Law Dictionary Desk Edition
Additional Information and Help less...
For more information about each title, on Lexis select the icon immediately to the right of each title's link, which will either look like a lower-case i within a circle, or a small file box (which indicates the dictionary is no longer kept updated).
If our link stops working, try manually locating the material by: From the main Lexis page, in the Explore box, select: Content (if necessary) > Secondary Materials. Then under Content Type select Dictionaries. And please let us know so we can correct the issue!

Spinelli's Law Library Reference Shelf, by HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Spinelli's contains an extensive collection of dictionaries. Select Dictionaries in the database's upper navigation bar to view the title list.
Need help using this collection? Try HeinOnline's About Spinelli's Law Library Reference Shelf.
A Title List can be downloaded in KBART (TXT), CSV, or HTML format.
When using Hein, if you find you need help, click the Search Help link under the search box, or the Help link in the top information bar. Additionally, feel free to explore the items below.
Getting Started in HeinOnline.
Using HeinOnline.
HeinOnline Knowledge Base.
Hein's Tip of the Week.
HeinOnline's Suite of Tools.
What's New at Hein?

Wex
Free legal dictionary and encyclopedia sponsored and hosted by the Legal Information Institute (LII) at the Cornell Law School. Wex entries are collaboratively created and edited by legal experts.
Additional Information and Help less...
Wex is a product of the Legal Information Institute at the Cornell Law School, a pre-eminent source of legal information. Much of its current content is based on (or directly incorporates) material developed by the LII for use on the its website.
More information about Wex can be found in the Wex FAQ.

Checkpoint Edge (Thomson Reuters) This link opens in a new window
This database contains the Westin: WG&L Tax Dictionary. If the provided link does not work, from the toolbar select [More] > [Table of Contents]. Then from the left-hand navigation bar, select [Jump to: Titles] and scroll to the end, selecting [Westin: WG& Tax Dictionary].
Researchers can view a Table of Contents for Checkpoint Edge by selecting [More] from the toolbar, then [Table of Contents]. Various general calculators can be found under [More] > [Tools], and [More] > [News] provides a stream of tax updates and access to the news library.
View the Checkpoint Edge Help Contents for detailed guidance to using the platform, including product training, quick reference documents, the Customer Help Center, Checkpoint Learning, and general updates and walkthroughs. Users can also select the icon of a question mark within a circle to access specific help whenever they see it.

Historical Legal Dictionaries

Google Books
If you know the specific title of the historical legal dictionary that you are looking for you should give this option a try, though results not guaranteed!

HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Older dictionaries can be located within HathiTrust, although access is not guaranteed. If you experience any issues, contact the Law Librarians for further assistance!
Help with the Digital Library.
About the Hathi Trust Digital Library.
Making of Modern Law: Legal Treatises, 1800-1926 This link opens in a new window
There is a slim chance that the historical legal dictionary you need is in this collection! Collection contains both American and European materials.
To access guidance for using this resource, once in the database select the "Help" link at the bottommost section of the webpage.
About Gale.

Westlaw's Rise of American Law: Dictionaries and Words and Phrases (ROAL-DICT)
-- Anderson's Dictionary of Law
-- Black's Law Dictionary - 1st Edition
-- Black's Law Dictionary - 2nd Edition
-- Black's Law Dictionary - 3rd Edition
-- Judicial and Statutory Definitions of Words and Phrases
Additional Information and Help less...
Should the link fail, please let us know and in the meantime try: Secondary Sources > Texts & Treatises > Rise of American Law > Dictionaries and Words and Phrases.

General Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Britannica Academic This link opens in a new window
Incorporates many types of resources, so that a single consolidated search can yield thorough research. A base of over 100,000 fact-checked articles and historical Britannica Year in Review supplemental articles, plus an expansive collection of multimedia including images, videos, audio, interactives, and infographics.
Reference dictionary definitions from Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary, journal and periodical content provided by EBSCO, hand-picked Web’s Best Sites links, and primary sources & e-books from multiple sources including the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale Law School.
All articles have computer text-to-speech options. Look for the speaker icon in the main toolbar.
If you need any help researching with this specific database, visitBritannica Academic Resources, Support, and General Information for easy to follow guidance.
About Britannica.
Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
Guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of 600,000 words— past and present—from across the English-speaking world. As a historical dictionary, the OED is very different from dictionaries of current English, in which the focus is on present-day meanings. You’ll still find present-day meanings in the OED, but you’ll also find the history of individual words, and of the language—traced through 3 million quotations, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts and cookery books. In the process of its first major revision; updates revise and extend the OED at regular intervals (typically quarterly).
Additionally, now fully incorporated into OED Online, the Historical Thesaurus of the OED arranges the dictionary by meaning. Researchers can trace the changing language of the material world, the mind, and society, from the Anglo-Saxon period to the modern day.
Video Guides: for help navigating an entry, searching, understanding the web platform, categories, sources, and locating the help section.
Updates to the OED:The OED is updated on a quarterly basis, and the updates make up the Third Edition of the OED. The material added to the dictionary includes revised versions of existing entries (which replace the older versions), and new words and senses both within the alphabetical sequence of revised entries and also across the whole A to Z range.
Student and Teacher Resources, including researching with the OED, how to use the OED, and Help for OED Online.
How-to Guide: OED Historical Thesaurus [pdf file].
How-to Guide: Searching the OED [pdf file].
About Oxford English Dictionary.

Medical Dictionaries

Health Source: Consumer Edition (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Contains Merriam-Webster's Medical Desk Dictionary.
Researchers can access a Title List in Excel or HTML format, organized by Coverage or Subject.
Users wanting detailed guidance on using this database can utilize EBSCOhost Help, or by clicking Help at the top, right-hand side of the page.
For technical issues, consult EBSCO Connect Help.

Lexis+ Dictionaries
Contains the Attorneys' Dictionary of Medicine.
More can be read about this resource above under Legal Dictionaries.
Additional Information and Help less...
For more information about each title, on Lexis select the icon immediately to the right of each title's link, which will either look like a lower-case i within a circle, or a small file box (which indicates the dictionary is no longer kept updated).
If our link stops working, try manually locating the material by: From the main Lexis page, in the Explore box, select: Content (if necessary) > Secondary Materials. Then under Content Type select Dictionaries. And please let us know so we can correct the issue!

Related Material of Interest

Westlaw's Words & Phrases
"Contains judicial definitions, from both state and federal courts, from both published and unpublished opinions. Definitions may pertain to statutory language, court rules, administrative regulations, or business documents, among other sources. Each definition contains a citation from the court that provided the definition. Each definition is also classified by West's attorney-editors to the West Key Number System(R), wherever possible*. New judicial constructions and interpretations of words and phrases are promptly supplied as they become available from the courts."
Coverage: Begins in 1781.
Additional Information and Help less...
If the link does not work, please let us know and in the meantime try Westlaw > Cases > Words and Phrases.
This online version of Words and Phrases contains the entries from the print version as well as additional entries not available in the print publication. It also contains some older references that were not classified to the West Key Number System.