ENTRY ORDER

The thesaurus consists of main and secondary entries introduced by alphabetically ordered boldface entry words:

Entry Word: raid
Function: verb
1 to make a raid upon <Indians raided the settlers frequently>
Synonyms foray, harass, harry, maraud
Related Words despoil, devastate, ravage, sack, spoliate, waste; loot, plunder, rifle, rob
2 Synonyms invade 1, foray, inroad, overrun, overswarm

Entry Word: raider
Function: noun
Synonyms MARAUDER, forager, freebooter, looter, pillager, plunderer, ravager, ravisher, sacker, spoiler

Entry Word: rail
Function: noun
Synonyms RAILING, balustrade, banister

In these examples, raid, raider, and rail are entry words introducing either a main entry (as raid verb 1) or a secondary entry (as raid verb 2, raider noun, or rail noun).

Homograph entry words are entered in historical order; the first used in English is entered first:

Entry Word: till
Function: preposition

Entry Word: till
Function: conjunction

Entry Word: till
Function: verb

When an entry word is a verb that is used predominately with one or two prepositions or adverbs, it is entered with the verb segment in boldface type followed by the parenthetical element in lightface type. Such verb + particle combinations follow immediately after their base verb in alphabetical order:

Entry Word: put Function: verb Entry Word: put (back) Function: verb Entry Word: put (on) Function: verb

Entry Word: put (on or upon) Function: verb Entry Word: put Function: noun

Fixed verb + adverb collocations commonly entered in dictionaries as two-word verbs have boldface entry at their appropriate alphabetical positions in this book. However, they follow any verb + particle combinations occurring in the same alphabetical sequence:

Entry Word: take Function: verb Entry Word: take (from) Function: verb Entry Word: take (to) Function: verb Entry Word: take away Function: verb

Entry Word: take back Function: verb Entry Word: take down Function: verb Entry Word: take in Function: verb Entry Word: take off Function: verb

Entry Words ordinarily conform to normal dictionary practices: for instance, they are styled as singular nouns or infinitive verbs. Special situations (as plural usage or variant spellings) are signaled by the use of boldface subheads:

Entry Word: crossroad
Function: noun
usually crosswords plural but singular or plural in construction
Synonyms juncture 2, . . .

Entry Word: woe
Function: noun
3 usually woes plural
Synonyms disaster, . . .

Entry Word: catercorner
Function: adverb
or catty-corner or kitty-corner
Synonyms diagonally, . . .

In these example, crossroads and woes are subheads showing plural usage, and catty-corner and kitty-corner are subheads showing variant spellings of the entry words.

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