Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (OALD) was the first advanced learner's dictionary of English. It was first published in 1948. It is the largest English-language dictionary from Oxford University Press aimed at a non-native audience. Users with a more linguistic interest, requiring etymologies or copious references, usually prefer the "Concise Oxford English Dictionary", or indeed the comprehensive "Oxford English Dictionary", or other dictionaries aimed at speakers of English with native-level competence. History. The "Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary", previously entitled the "Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English", started  life as the "Idiomatic and Syntactic Dictionary", edited by Albert Sydney Hornby. It was first published in Japan in 1942. It then made a perilous wartime journey to Britain where it came under the wing of OUP, which decided it would be the perfect counterpart for the prestigious OED. A. S. Hornby was a teacher of English studies at a small college in Japan; he had gone there in 1923 to teach literature, but his experiences in the classroom drew his attention to the need for sound principles of language teaching. At that time Harold E. Palmer headed the Institute  for Research into English Teaching in Tokyo, and in 1931 he invited Hornby to work on vocabulary development at the Institute. The result of this was the "Idiomatic and Syntactic Dictionary", published by Kaitakusha in 1942. A year before publication, Hornby had managed to send an advance copy in sheets of the book to B. Ifor Evans at the British Council, a tough feat during the war. Ifor Evans offered him a job, and in 1942 Hornby came back to Britain and joined the Council, which posted him to Iran. The sheets reached Humphrey S. Milford, then publisher to the  University of Oxford and effectively OUP's managing director. Milford saw immediately that the dictionary could fill a troublesome gap in the Press's lists, since it was compiled for non-English speakers and rested on Hornby's solid experience in teaching the language overseas. Thus it explained spelling, grammar, phonetics, and usage much more extensively than would a dictionary for native English speakers. With the cachet of the Press to promote it, it could take the "Oxford dictionary" brand to readerships that might be intimidated or puzzled by the more magisterial OED. But the command economy of World War  II under which all British publishers were then operating posed a problem: everything was in short supply, and Milford appealed to the British Council for help in getting the paper and cloth. He referred the matter to E.C. Parnwell, who was looking after the Press's overseas projects, Milford being by then too unwell to manage the Press without substantial assistance, as he had been doing since 1904. Hornby had brought with him the world rights to the book excluding Japan and China; Kenneth Sisam, then Secretary to the Delegates of the Press, gave a favourable report to the Delegates  on the book. Milford also used hostility to Japan to push for a subsidy from the British Council, saying that "the Japanese are very cheap producers" and were likely to capture the market. The book had more than 1,500 pages and for an edition of 10,000 copies would need ten tons of paper. Milford applied for a special release to acquire this paper "in the direct interest of British culture and overseas trade, particularly in the non-sterling areas". He had adequate paper stock to begin the edition but this was all earmarked for "essential reprints" and he could only  use it if replacements were guaranteed. Milford's niece, Eleanor M. Booker, was now working at the India Office, and he lobbied for paper through her. Finally the book came out between 1943 and 1948 and became an instant success. Today it is one of the most used resources by learners of the English language worldwide. The book is useful for all competitive exams. Publications. English dictionaries. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English was first published in 1948; the current edition is the tenth. The following editions exist: Oxford Advanced  Learner's Dictionary. The book's cover title was changed beginning with 4th edition. However, the old name was still being referenced by foreign language versions of the dictionary up to 6th edition. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Academic English. It is a demo version of Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, which includes 100 sample entries from the OALD. Oxford Learner's Thesaurus: A Dictionary of Synonyms. The thesaurus was originated in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary 7th edition, where over 200 sets of synonyms were located at specific lexical entries. English-Chinese dictionaries. Oxford Advanced Learner's  English-Chinese Dictionary. Simplified Chinese versions of Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary (牛津高阶英汉双解词典/牛津高階英漢雙解詞典) has been published by The Commercial Press since 1988. Traditional Chinese version has been published by Oxford University Press (China) Ltd. since 4th edition. Oxford Elementary Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary. Oxford Elementary Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary (牛津初階英漢雙解詞典) is targeted for primary school readers. It was first published in 1998. Oxford Intermediate Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary. Oxford Intermediate Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary (牛津進階英漢雙解詞典/牛津中階英漢雙解詞典) is targeted for secondary school readers. It was first published in 2001. Student's Dictionary. In contrast  to the Oxford's learner dictionaries, which are designed for learning foreign languages (English in the case of OALD), Oxford Student's Dictionary is designed for learners using English to study other subjects. Oxford Student's Dictionary has smaller vocabulary than the OALD counterpart.