Definitions are sometimes followed by usage notes that give supplementary information about such matters as idiom, syntax, semantic relationship, and status. A usage note is introduced by a lightface dash:
Main Entry: ²cry
Function: noun
11 : . . . distance -- usually used in the phrase a far cryMain Entry: ²drum
Function: verb
2: to dismiss ignominiously : EXPEL
-- usually used with out . . .Main Entry: ¹so
Function: adverb
1 a : in a manner or way indicated or suggested . . .
-- often used as a substitute for a preceding clauseMain Entry: ¹sfor.zan.do
Function: adjective or adverb
: played with a prominent stress or accent
-- used as a direction in musicMain Entry: grin.go
Function: noun
: a foreigner in Spain or Latin America especially when of English or American origin; broadly : a non-Hispanic person -- often used disparaginglyMain Entry: pissed
Function: adjective
2: ANGRY, IRRITATED -- often used with off; sometimes considered vulgarMain Entry: hajji
Function: noun
: one who has made a pilgrimage to Mecca -- often used as a title
Two or more usage notes are separated by a semicolon:
Main Entry: ²thine
Function: pronoun
: that which belongs to thee -- used without a following noun as a pronoun equivalent in meaning to the adjective thy; used especially in ecclesiastical or literary language and still surviving in the speech of Friends especially among themselves
Sometimes a usage note calls attention to one or more terms with the same denotation as the main entry:
Main Entry: water moccasin
Function: noun
1 : a venomous semiaquatic pit viper (Agkistrodon piscivorus) chiefly of the southeastern U.S. that is closely related to the copperhead -- called also cottonmouth, cottonmouth moccasin
The called-also terms are shown in italic type. If such a term falls alphabetically more than a column away from the main entry in the printed edition, it is entered at its own place with the sole definition being a synonymous cross-reference to the entry where it appears in the usage note:
Main Entry: cotton.mouth
Function: noun
: water moccasinMain Entry: cottonmouth moccasin
Function: noun
: water moccasin
Sometimes a usage note is used in place of a definition. Some function words (as conjunctions and prepositions) have little or no semantic content; most interjections express feelings but are otherwise untranslatable into meaning; and some other words (as oaths and honorific titles) are more amenable to comment than to definition:
Main Entry: ¹of
Function: preposition
1 -- used as a function word to indicate a point of reckoningMain Entry: ¹oyez
Function: verb imperative
-- used by a court or public crier to gain attention before a proclamationMain Entry: ¹or
Function: conjunction
1 -- used as a function word to indicate an alternative . . .Main Entry: gol.ly
Function: interjection
-- used as a mild oath or to express surpriseMain Entry: sir
Function: noun
2 a -- used as a usually respectful form of address . . .
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