Word: merriams
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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THESE are excerpts from the new edition of Webster's New International Dictionary, published last week by G. & C. Merriam Co. (see EDUCATION). In offering new definitions, the new edition makes important use of phrases quoted from widely diverse sources, the quotation being chosen "primarily for its contribution to an understanding of meaning." The eleven phrases quoted above are from TIME-a sampling of more than 100 instances in which the new dictionary uses TIME as a source...
...first great English dictionary. Samuel Johnson intended his definitions to be laws that would firmly establish meanings. But usage thumbs its nose at laws; the dictionary nowadays is more a Social Register of words than a Supreme Court of language. In the 27 years since the G. & C. Merriam Co. published the Second Edition of its unabridged Webster's New International Dictionary, thousands of new words have clamored to be listed. Last week, after investing $3,500,000 and 757 "editor-years," Merriam responded with a brand-new edition ($47.50 and up). It is the most radical version...
...millions of voters: Upton Sinclair's E.P.I.C. (End Poverty in California) and the Ham-and-Eggs movement, both Utopian schemes to aid the poor and aged. Running as the Democratic nominee for Governor on an E.P.I.C. platform in 1934, Sinclair got 879,000 votes to Republican Frank Merriam's 1,138,000. Ham-and-Eggs, cooked up by a radio announcer and two admen, attracted wide public support (and several notorious scoundrels), forced a special referendum on its $3O-Every-Thursday proposal for California to pay off $1.5 billion in annual pensions with worthless scrip. It lost...