Patent ID: 8521517

Claim:
A system comprising: an electronic device comprising one or more persistent data storage devices storing multiple definitions of a first term, each of the definitions stored in association with a characterization of a context of texts in which the definition appropriately characterizes usage of the first term, wherein at least some of the definitions are stored in association with characterizations of time periods, and one or more media files that includes textual content, the textual content including the first term; one or more display screens configured to display the textual content of a first of the media files; one or more input elements configured to receive a user selection of the first term within a particular textual content; and one or more data processing devices programmed to respond to receipt of the user selection of the first term by performing operations comprising accessing, from the one or more persistent data storage devices, the characterizations of the contexts of the texts that are stored in association with the definitions of the first term, comparing the accessed characterizations of the contexts of the texts with one or more characteristics of the context of the particular textual content, and ranking the definitions of the first term according to respective likelihoods that the definitions appropriately characterize the usage of the first term within the particular textual content, wherein the one or more data processing devices is programmed to compare the time periods with a date when the particular textual content was authored.