Getting It Defined in Google Glossary

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WebQuotes is capricious and lighthearted, but Google Glossary is productive and grounded. In Chapter 2 I describe how to find your way to quick definitions using the main Web search engine. Here, Google takes the guesswork and trial-and-error out of finding word definitions, building a dedicated glossary search engine. I know people who keep Google Glossary bookmarked for regular use. If and when it moves out of Google Labs and becomes an official feature, my hope and expectation is that it will be added to the Toolbar (see Chapter 9) as a primary Google destination.

Try Google Glossary here:

labs.google.com/glossary

The home page works just like the main Google home page. Type a keyword and press Enter. The keyword(s) should be a term or phrase you want defined. Figure 8-9 shows a Google Glossary results page. Google uses an undivulged collection of Web sources for its definitions. Each definition reveals its source (and links to it), but Google does not divulge what it takes to be a source and keeps the list of sources secret.

Figure 8-9: Search results in Google Glossary, showing a range of definitions for an acronym.

Remember 

Google Glossary results are erratic. This service is definitely a work in progress, but useful nonetheless. Remember that you can always resort to trolling for word definitions in the main Web search index, as I describe in Chapter 2, if you get poor results here.

Poor results appear rampantly, in unexpected places. Within a couple of minutes I was able to stump Google Glossary with fairly common terms, including blade server, hypothyroid, and hyperthyroid. Amazingly, it was baffled by mp3, which is one of the most in-demand search terms on the Internet, and has been for years. Google Glossary did not cope well with “network attached storage” but suggested “Network Attached Storage (NAS)” in its stead, and provided excellent definitions when I clicked that suggestion link.

Remember 

The search results page always offers links to Dictionary.com and the Merriam-Webster site, whether or not it finds definitions for you.

One value of Google Glossary is its lack of bias when defining terms or acronyms with multiple meanings. Figure 8-9 shows this equanimity in action, as Google Glossary offers multiple interpretations of the acronym NAS.

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