December 2009 update

On 10 December 2009 the alphabetical range refund-reputeless was added to the New Edition: every word in this range has been thoroughly revised and updated. Below are listed all the new words in the range. We have also added a further list of new words from across the alphabet. The OED‘s chief editor, John Simpson, provides some observations on the revision of this section of the alphabet, and Graeme Diamond comments on some of the most interesting new words in the batch.

Revisions

OED publication range No 40 (refundreputeless) is set right in the middle of the re- series of words. On the face of it, this may seem a reasonably easy batch of terms to revise and update: many simply involve doing something again (rekey, relearn, remarry, etc.). In fact, the prefix re- is more complicated than this. The main entry for re- (already published) indicates the various semantic implications of the prefix:

‘denoting that the action itself is performed a second time, and sometimes that its result is to reverse a previous action or process, or to restore a previous state of things’.

So the prefix offers several potential meanings for each term, each of which has to be investigated against the lexical evidence.

But the surprise for those not familiar with the twists and turns of the alphabet is that a large number of these apparently simple terms turn out to be complex major words in their own right.

This section of the quarterly publication notes normally contains a listing of the major terms revised in the previous quarter. The list is often quite extensive. But this quarter the editorial staff of the dictionary have found themselves particularly busy, given the complexity of many of these words from an area of the alphabet which seemed to offer plain sailing:

refund, refuse, refute, regal, regard, regatta, regency, regenerate, regenerate, regent, reggae, regime, regimen, regiment, regimental, region, register, registrar, registration, registry, regress, regression, regressive, regret, regroup, regular, regulate, regulation, regurgitate, rehabilitate, rehash, rehearsal, rehearse, rehouse, Reich, reign, reimburse, reimport, reimpose, rein, reincarnation, reincorporate

reindeer, reinfect, reinforce, reinforcement, reinsert, reinstate, reinsure, reintegrate, reinterpret, reintroduce, reinvent, reinvigorate, reissue, reiterate, reject, rejig, rejoice, rejoin, rejoinder, rejuvenate, rekey, relabel, relapse, relate, relation, relational, relative, relativity, relaunch, relax, relaxation, relay, relearn, release, relegate, relent, relentless, relevant, reliable, reliance, relic, relict, relief

relieve, religion, religious, relinquish, relish, relive, reload, relocate, reluctant, rely, remain, remainder, remake, remand, remark, remarkable, remarry, remaster, REME, remedial, remedy, remember, remembrance, remind, reminder, reminisce, reminiscence, reminiscent, remission, remit, remittance, remix, remnant, remodel, remonstrance, remonstrate, remorse, remorseful

remorseless, remortgage, remote, remount, removal, remove, remunerate, Renaissance, renal, rename, renationalize, rend, render, rendering, rendezvous, rendition, renegade, renege, renegotiate, renew, rennet, renounce, renown, rent, rental, renumber, renunciation, reoccur, reoffend, reorder, reorganize, reorient, reorientate, rep, repack, repackage, repaginate, repaint, repair, reparation

repartee, repast, repatriate, repay, repeal, repeat, repeater, repêchage, repel, repellent, repent, repercussion, repertoire, repertory, repetition, repetitious, repetitive, rephrase, repine, replace, replacement, replan, replant, replay, replenish, replate, replica, replicate, replication, reply, repoint, repopulate, report, reportage, reporter, repose, repository, repossess, reprehensible

represent, representation, representational, representative, repress, repressive, reprice, repressor, reprieve, reprimand, reprint, reprisal, reprise, repro, reproach, reproachful, reprobate, reprocess, reproduce, reproduction, reprogramme, reprographics, reproof, reprove, reptile, republic, republican, republish, repudiate, repulse, repulsive, repurchase, reputable, reputation, repute

Lists of words are not particularly readable. The entries themselves are much more alive. Take reptile (the noun). OED1 states that the word entered English from the Bible (Vulgate version), and is first recorded in English in the works of John Gower in the 1390s. It illustrates reptile‘s use with examples drawn from Milton, Pope, and Goldsmith, and James Dwight Dana, the celebrated American geologist. The revised entry similarly traces the English word back to the Vulgate, but also shows the spread of contemporaneous cognate forms in France (Old French 13th century; Middle French 1314). OED1 countenanced a British English pronunciation rhyming with septal; OED3 only finds this pronunciation today in North America. OED3 expands the types of sources in which reptile is cited, including the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (1825), Life magazine (1937), and the Ecologist (2006). While OED1 defined reptile as ‘an animal belonging to the class Reptilia’ (which in turn it defined as ‘that class of vertebrate animals which includes the snakes, lizards, crocodiles, turtles and tortoises’), OED3 prefers ‘an animal of the vertebrate class Reptilia, the members of which are characterized by having a dry impervious skin covered in horny scales’, and provides a more discursive encyclopedic note:

The four orders of living reptiles comprise the snakes and lizards (Squamata), the turtles and tortoises (Testudines or Chelonia), the crocodilians (Crocodylia), and the tuataras (Rhynchocephalia). Among several extinct groups of reptiles which dominated life in the Mesozoic era are the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and therapsids.
Living reptiles are all poikilothermic (cold-blooded). They are air-breathing and lack a gill-bearing larval phase, usually developing from soft-shelled amniote eggs laid on land (though ovovivipary is quite common). From a cladistic point of view the reptiles are a grade of vertebrates rather than a clade (see note at Reptilia n.).

By the 18th century OED1 was faced with the less savoury meaning of reptile: ‘A person of a low, mean, grovelling, or repulsive character’. It cites this from Henry Fielding, Samuel Johnson, William Cobbett, Harriet Martineau, and P. G. Wodehouse. OED3 takes this meaning (now ‘A person of mean, grovelling, or contemptible character; a loathsome or repulsive person’) back from 1749 to 1697, and again broadens the array of cited sources by introducing the translator of the 1697 Spanish letters, the Saturday Review (1883), the Titusville Herald (Pennsylvania, 1925), and the Sydney Morning Herald (1990).

The verb to repaper was active in the mid 19th century. OED1 (fortified by the 1982 volume of the Supplement to the OED) identifies its meaning as ‘to paper (a room, etc.) again’, and include this transitive sense – and an early intransitive use from Elizabeth Gaskell – in its brief quotation paragraph running from 1854 to Len Deighton in 1974.

OED3 shows that to repaper was actually active fifty years earlier. A new first sense (‘to wrap or cover in paper again’), again transitive, enjoyed a brief spell of popularity from 1785 (where it is first recorded in John Wright’s long-forgotten Address to the members of both houses of Parliament on the late tax laid on fustian, and other cotton goods) until the late 19th century. By 1824 a new meaning was entering the language, as ordinary people took to decorating their walls with paper (‘to apply new wallpaper to (a room, wall, etc.)’). By 1842 the equivalent intransitive use is found in Ainsworth’s Magazine, with the noun re-papering coming along four years later.

While householders were getting to grips with wallpaper in the early 19th century, physicists were struggling with relativity. Although the theories referred to today date from the early twentieth century, the word was used earlier in similar contexts (1858: ‘motion implies relativity of either place or time, both of which are incompatible with eternity’). The current definition elaborates that of the Supplement to the OED in 1982 (now ‘the quantitative dependence of observations on the relative motion of an observer and an observed object, esp. as regards the nature and behaviour of light, space, time, and gravity; the branch of physics concerned with this, which arose out of the work of Albert Einstein (see the note following)’, and invites the reader to explore the subject more deeply into the small-type notes accompanying the entry.

Recapitulation

It’s almost ten years since the OED went online on 14 March 2000 with its first range of revised and updated entries: the 1067 entries making up Mmahurat. In retrospect, it is surprising to see how much those early entries have changed since they were first published. Many have just altered in small ways as bibliographical details have been updated as part of the project’s general background revision of the database. But almost 15% of those first 1,000 entries in the letter M have changed more substantially.

Take the very first entry, for M itself. It’s a large entry, containing many initialisms which begin with this letter. Back in 2000 our first example for ME (= ‘medical examiner’) came from Webster’s Third International Dictionary (1961). But a new discovery in 2008 by one of the dictionary’s correspondents took this back to 1935. Much the same happened to MI (= ‘myocardial infarction’), predated from 1973 to the current 1968, and to MYOB (= ‘mind your own business’) from 1915 right back to 1855 (and well before the time of SMS messaging).

These changes do not only apply for first dates: back in that first range the second definition of magadize has been amended as a result of new data, as was part of the definition for magic word (= ‘please’). In 2007 the entry for magnolia was expanded by the introduction of a subsense for the North American magnolia warbler.

So the steady advance through the alphabet to R is paralleled, on a smaller scale, by important changes that happen to entries that have already been revised, as the OED keeps up with the language on as many fronts as it is realistically able.

Royalynn O’Connor (4 April 1963 – 3 October 2009)

Royalynn was the foremost advocate of the OED online in the United States at the time of the dictionary’s online launch in 2000. In the 1990s Royalynn was the Online Product Director at Oxford University Press in New York. She was well aware that the concept of putting the OED online was revolutionary at the time: was the Internet up to handling such a large text database? Could we develop search routines that were efficient (and useful)? There were many such questions the answers of which could have beached the project.

Without her infectious enthusiasm and her evangelizing mission to make the online OED accessible to every North American university library, and beyond, it’s very likely that the rise of the OED online would have been much less swift. Her premature death in October 2009 robbed the OED of one of its staunchest supporters, and I’d like to record here the debt that the dictionary owes to Royalynn.

Lexicographical conference in Oxford

Perhaps I can end by noting that the Fifth ICHLL conference (the International Conference on Historical Lexicography and Lexicology) takes place in Oxford next year, between 16 and 18 June 2010. Although this is not an ‘OED’ conference, it seems an excellent opportunity for historical lexicographers and others to meet together to discuss their work.

John Simpson

Chief Editor, Oxford English Dictionary

New words

This OED release includes a characteristically wide variety of entirely new entries, as well as many newly added senses, compounds, and phrases. In the last category, a number of evocative colloquial idioms make their first appearance in the text; to prolong the agony (at AGONY n.), bright as a button (at BRIGHT adj. and n), calm before the storm (at CALM n.¹), tall drink of water (at DRINK n.). A higher-than-average proportion of the added senses and compounds relate to social, legal, and political concerns: accreditation, advance directive, adversarial system, cardboard city, change management, community rehabilitation order, force protection. Many of these terms have a longish history. However this batch also contains a number of newly prepared entries for much more recent coinages, many of them technical terms.

Developing technologies continue to furnish hundreds of new words and compounds every year, and these are amongst the most difficult to evaluate objectively for inclusion in OED. With infinite editorial resources, we could mine this seam endlessly, but even a dictionary as comprehensive as this cannot hope to cover more than a small percentage of terminology in specialist use. The abiding editorial principle is to cover the most widely used and enduring vocabulary in any subject.

Technical neologisms can be hard to evaluate. Particularly in a field like consumer electronics, new terms can rapidly gain a level of usage which would pass the most stringent threshold, were frequency the sole criterion for inclusion. But longevity is another key consideration, and it’s not possible to determine quickly the staying power of such high-profile coinages. Post-industrial history is littered with superseded technologies and their associated vocabulary, and OED includes many temporary technical terms of this kind: from the recently deceased minidisc, to the almost forgotten theatrophone, a late 19th-century invention, offering live relay of theatrical or musical performances to the home phones of subscribers (Marcel Proust among them).

Even if a word is gone tomorrow, there will be those who want to know it was here today. The theatrophone might sound primitive, even outlandish now, but it was advanced in its day, and it has a historical importance, too. It was one of the first devices to fulfil an ambition to provide remote real-time access to entertainment and information; the same ambition that has fuelled the subsequent history of broadcasting and digital communications. The technology and terminology have changed (from broadcasting and simulcasting to webcasting and streaming), but the very diversity of the linguistic history illustrates the abiding strength of that one aspiration.

Because OED‘s editorial policy is to retain permanently any word entered into the Dictionary, we seek to maintain a high level of awareness of new and evolving language while reserving judgement about its durability. For technical terms, we also look for indications that usage has extended outwards from purely specialist writing into general-interest or news publications. We will note and track a neologism, often researching and drafting a definition, but we generally publish only when a word has appeared continuously and frequently in print or online sources for at least a decade. On those criteria, published for the first time in OED this quarter are two entries for recent technical coinages with brief but contrasting histories.

3G

Developments in mobile communications provide a fertile source of neologisms (jargon, if you prefer). First recorded in 1995, 3G denotes the third generation of wireless telecommunications technology: the point at which mobile phones, laptops, and other portable devices could access Internet and multimedia services wirelessly via broadband technology.

If you suspect that the first and second generations somehow passed you by, there is a good reason for that; one which also explains why you won’t (yet) find corresponding entries for 1G and 2G in OED. First generation mobile telephony comprised mobile voice calls via analogue radio signals. The second generation technology (dating from the early 1990s) marks the introduction of digitally encrypted voice signals and the addition of some data services, such as text messaging, which ushered in the age of the mass-produced mobile phones. So, the technology – or at least the phenomenon it created – is perfectly familiar, but for most of us the terminology isn’t.

The obvious explanation for this would be that 1G and 2G had been only in specialist technical use until 3G was popularised as part of the marketing campaign for the commercial launch of phones using the technology. But to date we’ve found no evidence of 1G or 2G that predates that for 3G. Our research suggests that the terms 1G and 2G – indeed the idea of the first and second generation – were conceived retrospectively, to coincide with the development of 3G, and as means of suggesting its advance on older standards. It’s an unusual case of terminology being manufactured with the kind of in-built obsolescence more often associated with the products themselves.

Although mobile phones still use 2G technology, the term isn’t widely used except in technical descriptions – after all, it’s not a selling point. 1G emits an even fainter signal. They may never gain sufficient currency for separate inclusion in OED, but at least their unusual phantom history is briefly recorded in the entry for 3G. By contrast, 4G is already flourishing as a term, despite the fact that the technology it may eventually describe is still being developed.

blogosphere

OED‘s entries for blog, blogger, blogging, and weblog were published in 2002: unusually rapid entrants, though weblog had been in use since the 1990s. Only now is the related entry for blogosphere published. The reason for its later inclusion is that (in contrast with blog itself) this word did not quickly establish itself, even among the blogging community it describes.

The quotations cited in the entry illustrate its halting early development, and may afford an insight into how new coinages establish themselves (or don’t) in regular usage. Here is the first recorded instance, from the Usenet archives:

1999 B. L. Graham www.bradlands.com (Weblog) 10 Sept. (O.E.D. Archive), Goodbye, cyberspace! Hello, blogiverse! Blogosphere? Blogmos?

Perhaps because the writer suggests three alternatives, blogosphere appears not to have been taken up and reused by readers of the piece. More than two years later comes an apparently independent re-coinage:

2002 W. Quick DailyPundit 1 Jan. in www.iw3p.com (O.E.D. Archive), I propose a name for the intellectual cyberspace we bloggers occupy: the Blogosphere.

For whatever reason – the firmness of the proposal (without alternatives), wider readership of the message, the appeal to intellectualism or community – this appears to have generated further usage. From early 2002, the term becomes relatively common in blogs, quickly extending into the world of conventional print. Second time around, blogosphere seems to have found its niche.

Michael Proffitt

Managing Editor, Oxford English Dictionary

List of new words

  • refundable, adj.
  • refunded, adj.2
  • reg, n.4
  • regarrison, v.
  • regd., adj.
  • regender, v.2
  • reggaeton, n.
  • reggiano, n.
  • regift, n.
  • regift, v.
  • regioselective, adj.
  • registration mark, n.
  • registry book, n.
  • Regius, adj.
  • reglow, v.
  • rego, n.
  • regt, n.
  • regular expression, n.
  • regule, n.
  • regurgitative, adj.
  • rehabbed, adj.
  • rehabbing, n.
  • rehabilitating, adj.
  • rehair, v.
  • rehairing, n.
  • rehang, n.
  • rehaul, n.
  • rehaul, v.
  • reheel, v.
  • Rehobother Bastard, n.
  • rehome, v.
  • rehybridize, v.
  • rehydrating, n.
  • rehydrating, adj.
  • Reichschancellor, n.
  • Reichsführer, n.
  • Reichskanzler, n.
  • Reichsminister, n.
  • re-imaging, n.
  • reimbue, v.
  • reimpregnation, n.
  • reinduct, v.
  • reingest, v.
  • reinject, v.
  • reinjection, n.
  • reinstallation, n.
  • reintern, v.
  • reinternment, n.
  • reinterview, n.
  • reinterview, v.
  • reinvesting, n.
  • reinvigorating, n.
  • reinvigorating, adj.
  • reionization, n.
  • reionize, v.
  • reishi, n.
  • rejumble, n.
  • rekene, adv.
  • rekey, v.
  • relading, n.
  • relamp, v.
  • relasch, v.
  • relatedly, adv.
  • relating, n.
  • relationing, adj.
  • relayer, n.1
  • relayer, n.2
  • relayer, n.3
  • re-lease, v.2
  • relegitimize, v.
  • relevy, v.2
  • reliabilism, n.
  • reliabilist, adj. and n.
  • relighting, adj.
  • religioso, n.1
  • reline, n.
  • relitigate, v.
  • relitigation, n.
  • reloan, n.
  • reloan, v.
  • relocating, n.
  • relocating, adj.
  • relocator, n.
  • re-look, n.
  • remail, v.
  • remailer, n.
  • remailing, n.
  • remanding, n.
  • remanding, adj.
  • remanent, n.2
  • remap, v.
  • re-mark, n.3
  • remediating, adj.
  • remediator, n.
  • remedious, adj.
  • remembery, n.
  • remending, n.
  • remerge, v.1
  • REMF, n.
  • remigium, n.
  • remigrant, n.
  • rem in re, n.
  • remix, n.
  • remixer, n.
  • remolten, adj.
  • remote control, n.
  • remote controller, n.
  • remotivation, n.
  • remuster, n.
  • remyelination, n.
  • renaming, n.
  • renegotiable, adj.
  • renewalism, n.
  • renewalist, n. and adj.
  • rengarenga, n.
  • reniculus, n.
  • reno, n.
  • renovating, n.
  • rent, n.3
  • renumerative, adj.
  • renunciate, n.
  • renunciator, n.
  • renvers, n.
  • reocclusion, n.
  • reopener, n.
  • reoperation, n.
  • reorg, v.
  • rep, n.2
  • rep, adj.1 (and n.7)
  • repackage, n.
  • repaginate, v.
  • repagination, n.
  • reparate, v.
  • reparating, n.
  • reparent, v.
  • reparenting, n.
  • repaying, n.
  • rep by pop, n.
  • repeater, v.
  • reperformance, n.
  • re-petition, v.
  • re-petitioner, n.1
  • replait, v.2
  • replant, n.
  • repleading, n.
  • repledge, n.2
  • replenishing, adj.
  • replesh, v.
  • replot, n.
  • repmobile, n.
  • repointing, n.
  • reporting, adj.
  • reposado, n.
  • reposing, n.1
  • repositionable, adj.
  • repossessor, n.
  • repost, v.3
  • reposting, n.1
  • repressure, n.1
  • repressure, v.
  • reprice, v.
  • reprioritize, v.
  • reprioritizing, n.
  • reprobating, n.
  • reprobe, v.
  • reproducing, n.
  • reproof, v.
  • republicanizing, adj.
  • republicism, n.
  • republishing, n.
  • repulp, v.
  • repumping, n.
  • repunit, n.
  • repurification, n.

In addition to these new entries, a number of new subordinate entries were added to existing entries. These included:

  • (Under refurnish, v.)
    • refurnishing
  • (Under refusal, n.)
    • refusal letter
    • refusal rate
  • (Under refuse, n.1 and adj.)
    • refuse removal
    • refuse truck
  • (Under regal, n.1 and adj.)
    • regal fritillary
  • (Under regale, v.)
    • regaling
  • (Under regarrison, v.)
    • regarrisoning
  • (Under regency, n. and adj.)
    • Regency buck
  • (Under regenerative, adj. and n.)
    • regenerative medicine
  • (Under regener, v.)
    • regenered
  • (Under regent, n.)
    • regent bowerbird
    • regent parrot
  • (Under reghel, n.)
    • reghel-stick
  • (Under regift, v.)
    • regifter
    • regifting
  • (Under regimental, adj. and n.)
    • regimental colour
  • (Under regioselective, adj.)
    • regioselectivity
  • (Under registered, adj. and n.)
    • registered debt
  • (Under registration, n.)
    • registration card
    • registration paper
    • registration desk
    • registration document
    • registration form
    • registration office
    • registration period
  • (Under registry, n.)
    • registry key
  • (Under regression, n.)
    • regression hypnosis
    • regression therapy
    • regression model
  • (Under regular, adj., n., and adv.)
    • regular foot
    • Regular Baptist
    • regular session
  • (Under regularize, v.)
    • regularizing
  • (Under regulator, n.)
    • Regulator movement
    • regulator protein
  • (Under regulatory, adj.)
    • regulatory protein
    • gene regulatory protein
  • (Under regulus, n.)
    • regulus metal
  • (Under rehab, n.)
    • rehab farm
  • (Under rehabilitation, n.)
    • rehabilitation order
    • rehabilitation unit
    • rehabilitation course
    • rehabilitation facility
    • rehabilitation hospital
    • rehabilitation plan
    • rehabilitation project
    • rehabilitation service
  • (Under rehash, v.)
    • rehashing
  • (Under rehearsal, n.)
    • rehearsal party
    • rehearsal period
    • rehearsal schedule
    • rehearsal space
    • rehearsal studio
  • (Under reheel, v.)
    • reheeling
  • (Under Reichstag, n.)
    • Reichstag building
  • (Under reify, v.)
    • reifier
  • (Under reigh, adj.)
    • reighness
  • (Under reimplant, v.)
    • reimplanted
  • (Under rein, n.1)
    • rein orchid
  • (Under reincorporate, v.)
    • reincorporated
  • (Under reindeer, n.)
    • reindeer warble fly
  • (Under reinterpret, v.)
    • reinterpreter
  • (Under reinvent, v.)
    • reinvented
    • reinventing
  • (Under reinvest, v.)
    • reinvested
  • (Under reissue, v.)
    • reissuing
    • reissued
  • (Under rejection, n.)
    • rejection letter
  • (Under rejigger, v.)
    • rejiggered
  • (Under relabel, v.)
    • relabelling
  • (Under relamp, v.)
    • relamping
  • (Under relapse, n.2)
    • relapse rate
    • relapse prevention
  • (Under relational, adj. and n.)
    • relational grammar
    • relational grammarian
    • relational operator
    • relational word
  • (Under relationship, n.)
    • relationship banker
    • relationship banking
    • relationship manager
    • relationship management
    • relationship marketing
    • relationship selling
    • relationship therapy
  • (Under relative, n., adj., and adv.)
    • relative aperture
    • relative atomic mass
    • relative error
    • relative molecular mass
    • relative proper motion
  • (Under relatively, adv.)
    • relatively prime
  • (Under relativity, n.)
    • relativity theory
  • (Under relaunch, v.)
    • relaunched
    • relaunching
  • (Under relaxate, v.)
    • relaxating
  • (Under relaxation, n.)
    • relaxation tape
    • relaxation technique
    • relaxation therapy
    • relaxation exercise
  • (Under release, n.)
    • release form
    • release paper
    • release version
    • release mechanism
    • release schedule
  • (Under relegate, v.)
    • relegating
  • (Under relegitimize, v.)
    • relegitimized
  • (Under reliability, n.)
    • reliability engineering
    • reliability analysis
    • reliability estimate
    • reliability score
    • reliability standard
    • reliability study
  • (Under relic, adj.)
    • relic form
  • (Under relic, n.)
    • relic case
  • (Under relief, n.2)
    • relief camp
    • relief train
    • relief aid
    • relief coordinator
    • relief doctor
    • relief effort
    • relief measure
    • relief mission
    • relief nurse
    • relief operation
    • relief package
    • relief programme
    • relief teacher
  • (Under relieving, adj.)
    • relieving teacher
  • (Under religion, n.)
    • religion of nature
    • religion class
    • religion school
    • religion teacher
  • (Under religious, adj. and n.)
    • religious house
    • religious humanism
    • religious humanist
    • religious knowledge
    • religious police
    • religious right
    • religious society
    • Religious Society of Friends
    • religious studies
    • religious-mindedness
  • (Under relocate, v.)
    • relocated
  • (Under relocation, n.)
    • relocation plan
    • relocation service
  • (Under reluctance, n.)
    • reluctance motor
  • (Under relying, adj.)
    • relying party
  • (Under remand, n.)
    • remand prison
  • (Under remanufacture, v.)
    • remanufactured
    • remanufacturing
  • (Under remarkable, adj., n., and adv.)
    • remarkable-looking
  • (Under remaster, v.)
    • remastered
  • (Under remembrance, n.)
    • book of remembrance
    • day of remembrance
    • remembrance book
    • remembrance ceremony
  • (Under remineralize, v.)
    • remineralizing
  • (Under remix, v.)
    • remixed
  • (Under remote, adj., n., and adv.)
    • remote locking
    • remote sensor
    • remote viewer
    • remote viewing
  • (Under removal, n.)
    • removal order
  • (Under Renaissance, n.)
    • Renaissance Revival
    • Renaissance woman
  • (Under renal, adj. and n.)
    • renal corpuscle
    • renal tubule
  • (Under render, n.1)
    • render farm
  • (Under rendering, n.)
    • rendering coat
  • (Under renegotiate, v.)
    • renegotiating
  • (Under rental, n.)
    • rental income
  • (Under rent, n.1)
    • rent-seeker
    • rent-seeking
    • rent stabilization
    • rent-stabilized
    • rent barley
    • rent payer
    • rent money
    • rent payment
  • (Under renumber, v.)
    • renumbered
  • (Under reoffending, n.)
    • reoffending rate
  • (Under reorganize, v.)
    • reorganizing
  • (Under repair, n.2)
    • repairperson
  • (Under repartition, v.)
    • repartitioning
  • (Under repeat, n.)
    • repeat flowering
    • repeat prescription
    • repeat rate
  • (Under repentance, n.)
    • place of repentance
    • public place of repentence
  • (Under repetitive, adj. and n.)
    • repetitive DNA
    • repetitive motion injury
  • (Under repique, v.)
    • repiquing
  • (Under replacement, n.)
    • replacement cycle
    • replacement fertility
    • replacement level
    • replacement period
    • replacement rate
    • replacement ratio
    • replacement theory
  • (Under replant, n.)
    • replant disease
  • (Under replant, v.)
    • replanted
  • (Under replication, n.)
    • replication origin
  • (Under reply, n.)
    • reply coupon
    • international reply coupon
  • (Under report, n.)
    • report book
    • report form
    • report-writer
    • report-writing
  • (Under report, v.)
    • report-back
  • (Under reported, adj.)
    • reported speech
  • (Under reporter, n.)
    • reporter gene
  • (Under reporting, n.)
    • reporting verb
  • (Under representation, n.1)
    • representation by population
    • representation theory
    • group representation theory
  • (Under repress, v.1)
    • repressment
  • (Under repression, n.)
    • repressionary
  • (Under reprioritize, v.)
    • reprioritization
    • reprioritized
  • (Under reprobation, n.)
    • reprobationary
  • (Under reproduction, n.)
    • reproduction ratio
  • (Under reproductive, adj.)
    • reproductive rights
    • reproductive technology
    • assisted reproductive technology
  • (Under reprogramme | reprogram, v.)
    • reprogrammed
  • (Under reproof, v.)
    • reproofing
  • (Under reptile, n.1)
    • reptile brain
  • (Under reptilian, adj. and n.)
    • reptilian brain
  • (Under republican, adj. and n.)
    • Republican Guard
    • Republican Pawnee
    • republican bird
  • (Under republic, n.)
    • Republic Day
  • (Under repulp, v.)
    • repulping

Out-of-sequence new entries

10 December 2009 also saw the publication of the the following new entries from across the alphabet:

  • 3G, n.
  • accommodationist, n. and adj.
  • accommodatory, adj.
  • accompanied, adj.
  • adultescent, n.
  • advergence, n.
  • affordability, n.
  • a-life, n.
  • Alzheimer, n.
  • antihypertensive, adj. and n.
  • apartotel, n.
  • autotransfuse, v.
  • backstabbing, n.
  • backstabbing, adj.
  • Baster, n.3
  • Beatlesque, adj.
  • birdwing, n.
  • blogosphere, n.
  • Bridezilla, n.
  • bum rap, n.
  • bum-rap, v.
  • can-do, adj.
  • censorware, n.
  • click-through, adj. and n.
  • cogon, n.
  • conspiratorialism, n.
  • conspiratorialist, n. and adj.
  • coonass, n. and adj.
  • cyclooxygenase, n.
  • Ferber, n.
  • Ferberize, v.
  • flatline, n. and adj.
  • flatline, v.
  • flatlined, adj.
  • flatliner, n.
  • glocal, adj.
  • glocalization, n.
  • glocalize, v.
  • Kemp, n.6
  • Kriek, n.
  • Linux, n.
  • lipectomy, n.
  • panga, n.3
  • senza replica, adv. (and n.)
  • SMS, v.
  • taxflation, n.
  • transdermal, adj.
  • Zamak, n.
  • -zilla, comb. form

In addition to these new entries, the following out-of-sequence subordinate entries were added:

  • (Under accommodation, n.)
    • accommodational
  • (Under advance, n.)
    • advance directive
  • (Under adversarial, adj.)
    • adversarial system
  • (Under adversary, n. and adj.)
    • adversary culture
    • adversary system
  • (Under aesthetic, adj. and n.)
    • aesthetic distance
  • (Under African, n. and adj.)
    • African National Congress
  • (Under after-, prefix)
    • after-meeting
    • aftershow
    • after-tax
  • (Under bracket, n.)
    • bracket creep
  • (Under caffeine, n.)
    • caffeine-free
  • (Under cannon, n.1)
    • cannon-fodder
  • (Under cardboard, n.)
    • cardboard city
  • (Under career, n.)
    • career break
  • (Under Celtic, adj. and n.)
    • Celtic Tiger
  • (Under change, n.)
    • change management
  • (Under cholesterol, n.)
    • cholesterol-conscious
    • cholesterol count
    • cholesterol-free
    • cholesterol-laden
    • cholesterol level
  • (Under consolidation, n.)
    • consolidation loan
  • (Under conventional, adj. and n.)
    • conventional wisdom
  • (Under direct, adj. and adv.)
    • direct product
    • direct proportion
    • direct ratio
    • direct sum
  • (Under extraordinary, adj., adv., and n.)
    • extraordinary session
  • (Under F, n.)
    • f-number
  • (Under fist, n.1)
    • fist pound
    • fist bump
    • fist pump
    • fist-pump
  • (Under force, n.1)
    • force protection
  • (Under genius, n.)
    • genius grant
  • (Under special, adj., adv., and n.)
    • special relativistic
  • (Under sudden, adj., adv., and n.)
    • sudden infant death syndrome

Finally, new meanings were added to the following entries:

  • absorb, v.
  • abstracting, n.
  • accidental, adj. and n.
  • accommodate, v.
  • accreditation, n.
  • accrediting, n.
  • accrediting, adj.
  • across, adv., prep., and adj.
  • aeon | eon, n.
  • agnostic, n. and adj.
  • agony, n.
  • agree, v.
  • backside, n.
  • bag, n.
  • bag, v.1
  • blow-out, n.
  • bright, adj. and n.
  • cack, n. and adj.
  • calm, n.1
  • cane, v.1
  • caned, adj.
  • caning, n.
  • carnage, n.
  • chopper, n.1
  • circulation, n.
  • click, v.1
  • controlled, adj.
  • crease, v.2
  • drink, n.
  • gavel, n.4
  • schedule, n.
  • speed, n.