Be Your Own Editor

I’m back after a lengthy hiatus during which I moved into a new home, which I am gradually turning into a writing/blogging sanctuary for those brief snippets of time I find now and then to write/blog. Will let you know how that goes.

Meanwhile, I was inspired to return to the airwaves when I learned of a very useful Google search tool that I can’t believe I didn’t know about before.

Try typing, in your Google search bar, the word “define,” followed by a colon, followed by a word whose meaning or usage or etymology you want to learn more about. Example:

define:hiatus

The results will be a fascinating (to word geeks, anyway) compendium of links to definitions or other discussions of the word, on websites ranging from Princeton’s WordNet to Britannica to Wiktionary to more term-specific sites such as www.servicetitleco.com (which defines “hiatus” as “a gap or space unintentionally left between, when attempting to describe adjacent parcels of land”—who knew?).

For some reason I couldn’t find on Google’s website, actual online dictionaries are for the most part omitted from the results. You’ll find no Merriam-Webster here. But you already knew about dictionaries, after all. The information to be gleaned from a “define” search is much more varied and interesting, and might lead you off on all sorts of Internet meanderings that can serve as an effective procrastination tool. (No, wait, scratch that…)

For example, if I type in “define:writer” I get not only “a person who writes; an author” but also “the first solo album by Carole King which was released 1970.” Which makes me want to go listen to Carole King. Which I can do while writing!

This whole thing makes me wonder how many Google tools I still haven’t come across. If anyone knows any useful ones, please share.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 at 5:22 pm and is filed under Web & Tech, Writing/Editing Tips: Nuts and Bolts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.