[lookmark]

I've been waiting for a simple, good offline dictionary native to OS X.

(Not a web-based dictionary, like OmniDictionary, or the Sherlock module; not a systemwide spellchecker like Spell Catcher X.)

Just for the record, my standard for interface is the best dictionary I've used on the Mac, the American Heritage, version 3.0.1.



Simple, clean interface. Quick to load. Resizable. Modestly sized (330K for the app, 12MB for the dictionary file). Search field on top. Pane showing placement in dictionary to the right. A keyboard shortcut will toggle the thesaurus which appears in a pane at the bottom. Button on top for a more advanced search.

That's how you do, IMO, a nice little dictionary app.

But alas, it's Classic -- this is my last Classic app hold-out, and makes less and less sense to keep Classic running just for this little, much-loved guy.

Any gems out there I've missed? Has anyone had any experience with M-W, 11th Ed.? I've heard it's OS X native, but haven't any information on it beyond that.

[lookmark]

Hmm, I just found a screenshot of M-W 11th Ed. for Windows. Doesn't look too bad.



I'd hope (against hope, I'm afraid) that the OS X edition wouldn't be a dreadful Carbon port.

[TheIceMan]

Have you tried UltraLingua?

[lookmark]

Originally posted by TheIceMan:
Have you tried UltraLingua?

I have, thanks.

Pretty quirky interface (though compact). Insists on staying in front of all apps, with no preference to turn that off. But the real problem with UltraLingua is the dictionary itself.

I suspect UltraLingua may be good for multiple languages, but their English dictionary reads like something translated from some other language back into English. It's very weird.

Here's their defintion for apple:

Fruit with red or yellow or green skin and sweet to tart crisp whitish flesh.

Crisp whitish flesh?

Here's fish:

A game for two players who try to assemble books of cards by asking the opponent for particular cards; SYN. go fish.

That's definition number one.

Here's boisterous:

Full of rough and exuberant animal spirits; "boisterous practical jokes"; SYN. knockabout.

Animal spirits? Huh?

Practically every one is like that. Loopy.

[TheIceMan]

Agreed. Ultralingua is VERY basic indeed.

[clarkgoble]

I'm the same way. The web based dictionaries are a tad invasive in my mind. I have the American Heritage Dictionary I brought over from an ancient Sys8 machine to my dual 867. However I lost some of the fonts along the way. But it is much, much better than anything else I've seen.

On my XP box at work I have an old Microsoft Bookshelf which is very useful. I installed an old CD-Rom drive on a networked server and keep it there. I use it all the time. I just wish there was something equivalent for the Mac.

[Russian Mac fan]

I can recommend one of the Webster dictionaries (huge!!) that are sold through palmdigitalmedia.com - they have a Mac version of the excellent Palm Reader Pro:

http://www.palmdigitalmedia.com/prod...der/browse/pro

the dictionaries can be used on both your Palm and your Mac (which is what I am doing) REALLY recommend it - I use it when I am at my computer and on the go!

Here are the two dictionaries:


http://www.palmdigitalmedia.com/book.cgi/0877797544

and http://www.palmdigitalmedia.com/book.cgi/0740812238

I am using the latter

[JKT]

FWIW, OmniDictionary can be used with a client-side downloaded dictionary. Read here to find out how.

[badtz]

javascript:x=escape(getSelection());if(!x)%7Bvoid( x=prompt('Word?',''))%7D;window.location='http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q='+x




I was in the same position also. What I ended up doing was using the script above in Safari. With that, you're able to highlight a word in Safari and press the script [which you can put in the bookmarks bar] and it'll look up the word. OR if you don't have a highlighted word, a box will pop up asking to type in a word.


To add the script, you can highlight it all, then drag it onto your bookmarks bar [and rename it accordingly]

hope that kinda helps

[CharlesS]

I use this little OmniWeb Shortcut:

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?%@

I mapped this shortcut to "mw@", with the result that to look up some word, all I have to do is type "mw whatever" in the Location bar. Very handy.

In Camino you can do this as well, using a bookmark keyword, but it would need to look like this:

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?%s

I don't think this can be done with Safari, though.

[clam2000]

an alternate is dict (http://www.dict.org)
which is an open source dictionary server. you should be able to install it on your mac, and then can type 'dict word' in a terminal to do a search.

I can probably make some sort of guide / binary if needed

--will

[ASIMO]

You need WordNet.

Word up, dawg.

[TheIceMan]

CharlesS: Thanks. I got it to work in OW. Fantastic! How do I do it for Camino? I'm still confused about the bookmark keyword.

[milhouse]

Originally posted by JKT:
FWIW, OmniDictionary can be used with a client-side downloaded dictionary. Read here to find out how.

I followed that tutorial and when omni returns a hit, the definition is blank. Also it only sees half of my installed dictionaries..

Here's a shot of my dict.ini file:

# GNU Collaborative Dictionary
gcide.data=gcide.dict.dz
gcide.index=gcide.index

# Princeton Wordnet
wn.data=wn.dict.dz
wn.index=wn.index

# The Elements Database
elements.data=elements.dict.dz
elements.index=elements.index

# Computing Dictionary
foldoc.data=foldoc.dict.dz
foldoc.index=foldoc.index

# Cia WorldFactbook 2002
world02.data=world02.dict.dz
world02.index=world02.index

# Hitchcock Bible Names
hitchcock.data=hitchcock.dict.dz
hitchcock.index=hitchcock.index

I have other databases installed in the /Applications/JDictd/data directory but didn't write them into the .ini yet.

Only gcide, foldoc and hitchcock are seen by any of several clients.

I'm a relative novice at unix stuff...Any ideas?

[milhouse]

I just grabbed WordNet...Holy ****!

I can't believe more folks don't know about and use this.

[Axo1ot1]

Microsoft Word has a pretty good built-in dictionary

[ASIMO]

Originally posted by milhouse:
I just grabbed WordNet...Holy ****!

I can't believe more folks don't know about and use this.

You're welcome. Spread the word, good christian.

[TheIceMan]

Originally posted by milhouse:
I just grabbed WordNet...Holy ****!

I can't believe more folks don't know about and use this.

Man Holy Sh*t is right. It's great!! Thanks ASIMO.