An American Dictionary of the English Language

An American Dictionary of the English Language, (1828), two-volume dictionary by the American lexicographer Noah Webster. He began work on it in 1807 and completed it in France and England in 1824–25, producing a two-volume lexicon containing 12,000 words and 30,000 to 40,000 definitions that had not appeared in any earlier dictionary. Because it was based on the principle that word usage should evolve from the spoken language, the work was attacked for its “Americanism,” or unconventional preferences in spelling and usage, as well as for its inclusion of nonliterary words, especially technical terms in the arts and sciences. Despite harsh criticism, the work sold out, 2,500 copies in the United States and 3,000 in England, in little over a year. It was relatively unpopular thereafter, however, despite the appearance of the second, corrected edition in 1840; and the rights were sold in 1843 by the Webster estate to George and Charles Merriam.

(Read H.L. Mencken’s 1926 Britannica essay on American English.)