Cross-References

Four different kinds of cross-references are used in this dictionary: directional, synonymous, cognate, and inflectional. In each instance the cross-reference is readily recognized by the small capitals in which it is printed.

A cross-reference following a dash and beginning with see or compare is a directional cross-reference. It directs the dictionary user to look elsewhere for further information. A compare cross-reference is regularly appended to a definition; a see cross-reference may stand alone:

wel·ter·weight . . . noun . . . — compare LIGHTWEIGHT, MIDDLEWEIGHT
¹ri·al . . . noun . . . — see MONEY table

A cross-reference immediately following a boldface colon is a synonymous cross-reference. It may stand alone as the only definitional matter for an entry or for a sense or subsense of an entry; it may follow an analytical definition; it may be one of two synonymous cross-references separated by a comma:

gar·ban·zo . . . noun . . . : CHICKPEA
¹ne·glect . . . transitive verb . . . 1 : to give little attention or respect to : DISREGARD
²main adjective . . . 1 : CHIEF, PRINCIPAL

A synonymous cross-reference indicates that a definition at the entry cross-referred to can be substituted as a definition for the entry or the sense or subsense in which the cross-reference appears.

A cross-reference following an italic variant of is a cognate cross-reference:

kaftan variant of CAFTA

Sometimes a cognate cross-reference has a limiting label preceding variant of as a specific indication that the variant is not standard English:

haul·ier . . . British variant of HAULER
²hist . . . dialect variant of HOIST
sher·ris . . . archaic variant of SHERRY

A cross-reference following an italic label that identifies an entry as an inflected form of a noun, of an adjective or adverb, or of a verb is an inflectional cross-reference. Inflectional cross-references appear only when the inflected form falls at least a column away from the entry cross-referred to:

calves plural of CALF
³wound . . . past and past participle of WIND

When guidance seems needed as to which one of several homographs or which sense of a multisense word is being referred to, a superscript numeral may precede the cross-reference or a sense number may follow it or both:

¹toss . . . transitive verb . . . 3 . . . c : MATCH 5a