''The Imperial Dictionary of the English Language'': ''A Complete Encyclopedic Lexicon, Literary, Scientific, and Technological'', edited by Rev. John Ogilvie (1797–1867), was an expansion of the 1841 second edition of

Noah Webster Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible ( Book of Genesis, chapters ...

's ''American Dictionary''. It was published by W. G. Blackie and Co. of Scotland, 1847–1850 in two large volumes. With the addition of a third supplement volume in 1855, Ogilvie increased Webster's 70,000 word coverage to over 100,000. He included words from

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scien ...

, and the

arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

; much British usage omitted by Webster; an unusual number of provincial and Scottish words; and added quotations and encyclopedic information for many words. With over 2,000

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas tha ...

illustrations, it was the first significantly illustrated dictionary, setting the trend which continues today. A revised and expanded edition by

Charles Annandale Charles Annandale (1843–1915) was a Scottish editor, primarily of reference books. Life He was born at Fordoun on 26 August 1843, the son of James Annandale. He graduated M.A. from the University of Aberdeen in 1867, and later received an honor ...

was published in 1882 at London in four volumes, over 3,000 pages, with about 130,000 entries, revised definitions and etymologies, and 3,000 illustrations. Although the vocabulary coverage was small by today's standards, it was the largest English dictionary at the time. This edition went through numerous printings in various forms well into the twentieth century. Due to disputes with the publisher of Webster's ''American Dictionary'' ( ''G. & C. Merriam Company''), the American edition of the ''Imperial'', published by The Century Company of New York in 1883, contained a copyright notice stating:

Certain owners of American copyrights having claimed that undue use of matter so protected has been made in the compilation of the ''Imperial Dictionary'', notice is hereby given that arrangement has been made with the proprietors of such copyright matter for the sale of this work in this country. The Century Co. May 1st, 1883.

The Century Company acquired rights to Annandale's ''Imperial'' and used it as the basis for the much larger American work, the ''Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia'', published 1889–1891. An adaptation of the ''Imperial'' by George W. Ogilvie, called ''Webster's Imperial Dictionary'', was published in 1904, versions and revisions of which have been issued under various titles, including ''Webster's Universal Dictionary'' and ''Webster's Twentieth Century Dictionary''.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Imperial Dictionary of the English Language English dictionaries 1847 books 1850 books 1855 books