and I wonder where she will staaay, my lil JRunaway. A run-run-run-JRunaway.

September 12, 2004 12:35 PM

You can get at the Oxford English Dictionary for free. Yay. Unfortunately you have to use this backdoor thing. Don't tell anyone.
posted by Pretty_Generic (59 comments total)

1535-36 Lyndesay Answer to Kingis Flyting 49: Ay fukkand lyke ane furious Fornicatour.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 12:44 PM on September 12, 2004

Ay fukkand lyke it tu.
posted by quonsar at 12:49 PM on September 12, 2004

This is way cool!

Ummm.....so when do I get my air car and robotic servants ?
posted by troutfishing at 1:07 PM on September 12, 2004

[this is good]

1914 A. N. Lyons Simple Simon i. v. 84 `What ho!' she exclaimed. `You've biffed him. Good on you, my lad!' 1944 L. Glassop We were Rats ii. xi. 65 `What a bloke believes is his own business.' `Good on you, mate,' said somebody behind me. `Give it to him.' 1949 H. Wadman Life Sentence i. i. 8 Good on you. Of course, I oughtn't to care twopence about your opinion, but it's nice to know you agree with me. 1953 K. Tennant Joyful Condemned xxvii. 268 Vance laughed thunderously. `Good on you, Rose.' 1959 N.Z. Listener 21 Aug. 8/4 `Good on you!' said Dad, smacking my new leg approvingly, `that's the spirit.' 1961 P. White Riders in Chariot xiii. 456 `Goodonya, mate!' called the heartier of the females.
posted by roboto at 1:14 PM on September 12, 2004

Woo hoo.
posted by Quartermass at 1:24 PM on September 12, 2004

Question: I'm a bit dim, so help me out. I found this thing a long, long time ago and have been putting it to use. Now that has been widely exposed, how long will this backdoor work? Or is there something I don't understand going on?
posted by elwoodwiles at 1:35 PM on September 12, 2004

This saves us all lots of time, since we no longer have to hang out in pr0n hax0ring irc chans and beg 15-year-olds to get us OED passwords. Or was I alone in that?

Does the CD-ROM edition still cost $400? Does the yearly site subscription still cost $300? Is the 40volume microprint edition still on my permanent birthday wishlist?
posted by damehex at 1:36 PM on September 12, 2004

Hold up. self link. what, exactly is going on here?
posted by elwoodwiles at 1:38 PM on September 12, 2004

Is this post linked to your homepage with a redirect because you don't want the site to be indexed? Why not just use tinyurl or something?
posted by yerfatma at 1:39 PM on September 12, 2004

my money is on Pretty_Generic not posting a blatant self link, and more like yerfatma's idea of a redirect.
posted by triv at 1:48 PM on September 12, 2004

Maybe, but it's strange that pretty_generic has the same middle name as the title of the linked webpage.
posted by elwoodwiles at 1:51 PM on September 12, 2004

[15:36] * Pretty_Generic posts the ULTIMATE selflink
posted by quonsar at 2:03 PM on September 12, 2004

you have to ruin everyone's party don't you q?
posted by Stynxno at 2:11 PM on September 12, 2004

List of abbreviations, signs, etc.

Goes on to list 100s of short hand symbols and signs needed to read entries.. this tradition dates back to when medieval monks paper was expensive and carried through when producing books was costly.. now it's all online, it seems out of date and quaint.

BTW great link, regardless.
posted by stbalbach at 2:47 PM on September 12, 2004

*purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr*
posted by JanetLand at 2:56 PM on September 12, 2004

Bad Kostya!
posted by riffola at 3:07 PM on September 12, 2004

*takes triv's money*
posted by elwoodwiles at 3:22 PM on September 12, 2004

im confused? what the hell is this? i cant even put it together after reading the comments, that made me even more confuseder.
posted by Satapher at 3:47 PM on September 12, 2004

This is why you should all visit #mefi more often.
posted by brownpau at 3:54 PM on September 12, 2004

Yes, yes, but can someone give us the condensed version, please?
posted by davidmsc at 4:16 PM on September 12, 2004

Yes, yes, but can someone give us the condensed version, please?

Pretty_Generic is self-linking. Evidence can be found in the HTML source of the link he refers to.

And you know....I don't care.....it's a good post!
posted by SpaceCadet at 4:20 PM on September 12, 2004

And you know....I don't care.....it's a good post!

HERESY!!!
posted by Krrrlson at 4:26 PM on September 12, 2004

Pretty_Generic wrote the OED ?

(actually I remember reading another version in a book somewhere)
posted by milovoo at 4:33 PM on September 12, 2004

What the heck is the O(old) ED? ils it like the Old Testament? Why not the New Oxford Dictionary--out with the old! advise.
posted by Postroad at 5:12 PM on September 12, 2004

I want to know more about this "matefilter."
posted by onlyconnect at 5:16 PM on September 12, 2004

What the heck is the O(old) ED?

The OED has citations of first usage and etymology making it much more thorough and IMO, more interesting.
posted by milovoo at 5:24 PM on September 12, 2004

The first ever forgiveable self link.
Duly noted.
posted by Outlawyr at 5:44 PM on September 12, 2004

This is the most valuable thing you will ever own. It can't last.
posted by Faze at 5:45 PM on September 12, 2004

My concern is that this will be noticed and quickly disabled. Of course, I don't understand why it works, so I may be wrong.
posted by elwoodwiles at 6:20 PM on September 12, 2004

The OED is the best dictionary in the world, period. Words aren't removed just because they are obsolete, and in the electronic form you can even search for varient spellings as well as dialect variations - it is an essential tool in reading documents from 1500 forward. Yeah, and it's lots of fun, too. I don't know how I would survived for the past few years without university networks (which generally always have access).

I am worried that this won't last now - Maybe what we need to do is just declare the OED a world treasure that should be accesible to all (I know - it's just a pipe dream - but it's a good pipe dream). And every language deserves an O?D.
posted by jb at 6:29 PM on September 12, 2004

it is an essential tool in reading documents from 1500 forward

Disclaimer: does not apply to IM conversation logs.
posted by yerfatma at 6:32 PM on September 12, 2004

Postroad - I don't recognise what you mean by the "New Oxford Dictionary" - but the OED really is the only dictionary in the world with the kind of level of completeness necessary. Last year I had to transcribe and annotate a 1637 inventory of a house - OED had just about every obscure word, and I didn't have to resort to any difficult to use dialect guides. It will also note obscure and obsolete definitions for English words.

yerfatma - it will, one day. Give them a bit of time first, at least a century (you really can't rush good things).
posted by jb at 6:35 PM on September 12, 2004

|| meta ('mi:t@), sb.1 Rom. Antiq. Pl. metæ ('mi:ti:). [L. me¯ta.] One of the conical columns set in the ground at each end of the Circus, to mark the turning-place in a race. Hence transf. A boundary.
1577 Harrison Descr. Brit. i. 2 in Holinshed, So that the aforesaid line shall henceforth be their Meta and partition from such as be ascribed to America. 1662 Ray Three Itin. iii. 183 In Somersetshire they have a way of setting their mows of corn on a frame..standing upon four stones cut with a shank, and upon that an head like a meta. 1845 Athenæum 1 Feb. 126 We have the cross erected between two `metæ'.

'meta, Meta, sb.2 Abbrevs. of metaldehyde. Spec. a block of metaldehyde used (a) as fuel for cooking and heating, (b) for killing slugs. Also attrib. Registered as a proprietary term by Lonza Elektrizitätswerke, Switzerland, in 1924 Trade Marks Jrnl. 26 Mar. 717 (as a fuel) and in 1938 Ibid. 18 May 603 (slug-killer).
1925 E. F. Norton Fight for Everest 1924 v. 102 Our loads..comprise one 10-lb. tent, two sleeping bags, food and `meta' (solid spirit). 1925 E. F. Norton Fight for Everest 1924 706 The meta cooker doing its indifferent best to produce half a pot of warm water. 1938 Times 26 Nov. 15/6 Tablets of Meta crushed and used by itself or mixed with bran, may be put about among plants before dark and the victims collected in the morning. 1947 F. Smythe Again Switzerland vi. 120 He carries with him a packet of `meta' fuel. 1952 E. R. Janes Flower Garden 119 Metaldehyde (Meta) is a very fine slug killer... Under some conditions in the dead of winter it is hardly possible to apply Meta. 1955 P. Bauer Kanchenjunga Challenge iv. iv. 196 We went on travelling light with perhaps the Zdarsky sack and a small meta-tablet cooker.

meta ('mEt@), a. Chem. Now usu. italicized. [f. meta- prefix.] Characterized by or relating to (substitution at) two carbon atoms separated by one other in a benzene ring; at a position next but one to some (specified) substituent in a benzene ring. Also as adv.
1876 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. XXIX. 237 The author places the sulpho-acids obtained by the action of sulphuric acid on..iodobenzene in the meta (1:3) series. 1924 E. J. Holmyard Outlines Org. Chem. xix. 367 The para isomer C6H4X2 can yield only one trisubstitution product C6H3X3, while the ortho can give two and the meta can give three. 1938 L. F. Fieser in H. Gilman Org. Chem. I. ii. 146 There is..no such enormous difference in reaction rate..as there is between the ortho-para directing amines and the meta orienting ammonium salts. 1949 [see Orient v. 4 a]. 1968 R. O. C. Norman Princ. Org. Synth. xi. 357 Position a, which is ortho to acetamido and meta to methyl, is more reactive than position b, which is meta to acetamido and ortho to methyl.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:47 PM on September 12, 2004

filter ('fIlt@(r)), sb. Forms: 5-9 filtre, (6 fylter, -ture), 6- filter. Also 7 philter. [ME. filtre, a. OFr. filtre, ad. med.L. filtrum: see felt]

†1 = felt sb. Also a piece of felt. Obs.
C. 1400 Maundev. (Roxb.) xxvi. 125 Þan es he sette apon a blak filtre, with þe whilk þai lift him vppe and settez him in his trone. C. 1400 Maundev. xxxiv. 152 Þai dwell all in tentez made of blakk filtre.

2 a A piece of felt, woollen cloth, paper, or other substance, through which liquids are passed to free them from matter held in suspension.Now only with reference to chemical manipulation, where the filter is usually of unsized paper.
1563 T. Gale Antidot. ii. 76 b, Distill them by a fylture or thorowe a lyttle bagge, or by a peece of clothe. 1683 Pettus Fleta Min. i. (1686) 214 Dissolve the Vitriol and purify it through a Filtre. 1769 Lane in Phil. Trans. LIX. 220 The clear liquor being decanted, the remainder was passed through a filter. 1812 Sir H. Davy Chem. Philos. 285 The whole is then to be poured upon a filtre of cloth. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 53 Collected on a filter, washed and dried.

b `A twist of thread' (or a strip of cloth) `of which one end is dipped in the liquor to be defecated, and the other hangs below the bottom of the vessel, so that the liquor drips from it' (J.). Obs. exc. in capillary filter.
1559 Morwyng Euonym. 75 Distillacion by a filter, or a list of wollen cloth. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xxxv. 263 We resolved, instead of a List of Cotton, or the like Filtre, to make use of a Siphon of Glass. 1727-41 in Chambers Cycl. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 455/2 Capillary-filter, a simple mode of freeing water of its larger impurities by means of a cord of loose fiber.

c In wider sense: Any contrivance for freeing liquids from suspended impurities; esp. an apparatus consisting of a vessel in which the liquid is made to pass through a stratum of sand, charcoal, or some porous substance.
1791 J. Peacock Patent No. 1844 The filters will be cleansed by drawing out the head or body of water or fluid. 1834 S. Bagshaw Patent No. 6708 An improved filter for water or other liquids. 1872 Baker Nile Tribut. xx. 339 Nevertheless the natives had scraped small holes in the sand, as filters. 1879 A. B. MacDowall in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9) IX. 167/2 The filter was occasionally cleaned with an exhausting and condensing pump.

d transf. and fig.
1605 Timme Quersit. i. v. 20 The common salt..passing thro' the philter of the earth. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xii. (1803) 241 This natural filter [the bills of a duck]. 1840 Alison Hist. Europe (1850) VIII. l. §39. 159 The whole information..was strained through the imperial filters. 1873 Tristram Moab xii. 228 A heavy conversation of ponderous compliments passed through the dragoman filter.

3 a A contrivance for arresting dust, smoke, disease-germs, etc. in the air which is breathed.
1874 Knight Dict. Mech. s.vv. Filter, Air-filter.

b Photogr. A screen to cut out rays which interfere with correct colour-rendering; = colour-filter (see colour sb.1 18).
1900, 1902 [see colour sb.1 18]. 1912 E. J. Wall Dict. Photogr. (ed. 9) 335 Most makers of orthochromatic..plates also supply filters specially adapted for use with their plates. 1948 [see colour sb.1 18]. 1958 M. L. Hall Newnes' Compl. Amat. Photogr. viii. 97 Light filters are transparent, coloured discs which are attached to the camera lens for the purpose of modifying the colour quality of the light transmitted but which do not otherwise affect the image formed by the lens.

c In a cigarette: a pad of absorbent material fitted at the unlit end to purify the smoke. Also, a cigarette so fitted.
1908 Lancet 21 Mar. 907/2 A pad of cotton wool is inserted into the paper casing of these cigarettes, which effectually prevents dust and shreds of tobacco entering the mouth, besides which a large proportion of the objectionable oils formed during smoking is arrested in the wool filter. 1958 Amer. Speech XXXIII. 147 A new cellulose fiber for..cigarette filters. 1963 N. Freeling Gun before Butter ii. 96 Yes, I do smoke but only filters.

d Radiol. and Nuclear Sci. A sheet or block of material inserted in the path of a beam of X-radiation or elementary particles in order to reduce the intensity of radiation of certain wavelengths or energies.
1917 Arthur & Muir Man. Pract. X-Ray Work (ed. 2) x. 313 For skin treatment it is well to use a weak filter-such as thick paper-which will absorb the softest rays which..might otherwise produce dangerous over-effects. 1957 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 898/1 In some of the work for which X-rays are used, the quality or penetrating ability of the radiation is expressed..in terms of its absorbability in filters of standard composition and thickness. 1969 G. E. Bacon Neutron Physics x. 127 We can..use a sufficiently thick block of graphite as a filter which..removes all neutrons with a wavelength greater than 0·67 nm.

e Electronics. A passive circuit that attenuates all signals except those within one or more frequency bands.
1920 Radio Rev. July 505 By a combination of the two types of filter only currents between the two frequency limits are transmitted. 1922, etc. [see band sb.2 14]. 1938 F. E. Terman Fund. Radio x. 267 The pulsating voltage delivered by the rectifier output can be smoothed into a steady direct-current voltage..by being passed through an electrical network called a filter, which ordinarily consists of series inductances and shunt condensers. 1955 G. M. Glasford Fund. Telev. Engin. xvii. 581 There must be employed in the video section a 4·5-Mc rejection filter to remove the audio carrier and its sidebands from the video signal. 1959 Engineering 30 Jan. 153/3 A conventional voltage doubler serves as the high voltage rectifier, with sufficient capacitance employed in the filter to reduce the r.m.s. ripple to 0.5 per cent.

4 A material for filtering. rare.
1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 26 The burning it over and over again..produces a better filtre than at first. 1870 Tyndall in Nature 27 Jan. 341 This [cotton-wool] was the filter used by Schroeder in his experiments on spontaneous generation.

5 attrib. and Comb., as filter-shop; also filter aid, any substance added to a liquid or to a filtering medium in order to improve filtration by preventing the formation of an impervious filter cake; filter-arrow, a device forming part of a traffic signal (cf. filter v. 3 b); filter-bed, a pond or tank with a false bottom covered with sand or gravel, serving as a large filter; also fig.; filter cake, the insoluble residue deposited on a filter; so filter-caked adj.; filter circuit Electronics = 3 e above; filter condenser Electronics, a capacitor forming one of the chief elements in a filter circuit; filter factor: see factor sb. 7 c; filter-faucet (see quot.); filter-feeder, an animal that obtains its nourishment by means of filter-feeding; filter-feeding vbl. sb., the filtering and ingestion of nutrient matter suspended in water; also as adj.; filter-paper, porous paper to be used for filtering; filter-passer, a filter-passing `organism', esp. a virus; filter-passing a., not retained by a filter, esp. by one that does retain bacteria; filter-press, (a) a filter in which the liquid is forced through by pressure; (b) a machine for extracting oil from fish; filter reactor Electronics, a reactor forming one of the chief elements in a filter circuit; filter shot Photogr., a photograph taken through a colour-filter; filter tip = 3 c above; hence filter-tipped a., filter-tipping vbl. sb.
1946 Dickey & Bryden Theory & Pract. Filtration iii. 47 A precoat and/or a *filter aid are often necessary, to prevent the deposited particles from being carried..into the interstices of the filter medium, or filter cake. 1951 Kirk & Othmer Encycl. Chem. Technol. VI. 510 Materials such as kieselguhr or diatomite, asbestos fibres,..and sawdust flour are examples of materials used as filter aids. 1963 Times 24 May p. xiv/1 (Advt.), Filteraids and chemicals to purify most pipe-borne liquids. 1965 Priestley & Wisdom Good Driving xi. 77 A *filter-arrow allowing left-turning vehicles to proceed. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 846/2 *Filter-bed, a settling pond whose bottom is a filter. 1885 Weekly Notes 7 Feb. 24/2 The water..was filtered through filterbeds on their premises. 1892 Pall Mall G. 25 May 2/1 All that is known here of the Transvaal..comes through the political filter-beds of Cape Town. 1912 Mining & Engin. World 20 Apr. 863/3 In forming a *filter cake with any material there is a certain point where the rate of filtration begins to drop off very rapidly due to the resistance offered by the cake. 1967 Filtration & Separation IV. 471 Most filter cakes show some degree of compressibility. 1956 K. Imhoff et al. Disposal of Sewage xii. 202 The *filter-caked sludge may be dried finally by heat and sold as fertilizer. 1920 Radio Rev. July 505 A number of special *filter circuits designed with the object of allowing certain frequencies to pass and cutting out others. 1962 A. Nisbett Technique Sound Studio iv. 82 Correction of a whole range of faults, such as noise, distortion, and unsatisfactory frequency response, is often attempted by means of filter circuits. 1922 A. F. Collins Book of Wireless Telegraph & Telephone iii. iv. 197 Connect the filter reactor and the *filter condensers to the mid-taps of the filament secondaries. 1951 S. Deutsch Theory & Design Telev. Receivers xii. 406 The size of the various filter condensers is determined by consideration of tolerable ripple. 1921 *Filter factor [see factor sb. 7 c]. 1958 M. L. Hall Newnes' Compl. Amat. Photogr. vii. 98 Filters reduce the light transmitted to form the image and require a compensating exposure increase; with certain very pale filters..this filter factor is..small enough to be ignored... The increase is specified as a multiplying factor. 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 846/2 *Filter-faucet, one having a chamber containing sand, sponge, or other material to arrest impurities. 1928 Trans. R. Soc. Edin. LV. i. 235 Besides being a *filter feeder, Hemimysis also feeds from large solid masses of food. 1959 A. Hardy Fish & Fisheries v. 109 The most elaborately developed suspension-feeders are the bivalve (lamellibranch) molluscs. They are filter-feeders. Their gills have been enormously enlarged..as sieving devices to collect the fine particles of food from the water which is propelled through them by cilia. 1931 Trans. R. Soc. Edin. LVI. iii. 537 A study of the feeding mechanisms and physiology of digestion in Polychaetes has..been begun, choosing a *filter-feeding form as a starting point. 1963 R. P. Dales Annelids 11 With loss of motility we find more selective methods of feeding, this evolution culminating in the filter-feeding fan or feather-duster worms. 1849 D. Campbell Inorg. Chem. 18 A few grains of recently-heated spongy platinum, in a small piece of *filter paper. 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 109 Dried on pure filter paper. 1913 J. McFadyean in XVIIth Internat. Congress Med. IV. i. 50 The term `*filter passers' has been adopted..as the preferable name for the microorganisms which..were..called the ultra-visible or invisible viruses. 1919 Nature 6 Nov. 210/2 The infective agents of the common exanthemata..are at some period of their life-history so small as to be included amongst the `filter-passers'. 1946 Nature 21 Sept. 398/1 Bacteria, filter-passers, viruses, protozoan and metazoan parasites or fungi. 1915 Lancet 4 Dec. 1241/2 Attempts were made to demonstrate the presence of non-pathogenic *filter-passing viruses. 1930 Morning Post 24 Nov. 3 `Ultramicroscopic' or `filter passing' virus. 1947 Auden Age of Anxiety (1948) v. 107 No filter-passing Virus invade. 1957 G. E. Hutchinson Treat. Limnol. I. vi. 385 They give the percentage effect of suspended or retained and dissolved or filter-passing material on the absorption. 1889 Pall Mall G. 2 May 7/1 The sludge is next forced into a *filter press. 1922 A. F. Collins Book of Wireless Telegraph & Telephone iii. iv. 194 The purpose of a *filter reactor is to smooth out the pulsating direct current after it is produced by the rectifier tube. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes II. iv. 112, I have seen water like it at the *Filter shops. 1951 J. B. Priestley Festival at Farbridge i. iii. 126 We got some lovely *filter and scrim shots. 1932 Daily Mail 12 Oct. 8/4 (Advt.), The *Filter Tip that holds throat irritants in check. 1953 Wall St. Jrnl. 1 Oct. 1/4 The work on a filter-tip cigaret began early in 1951. The company was seeking a non-mineral material to filter the smoke and finally decided upon a highly purified alpha cellulose tip. 1957 New Yorker 23 Nov. 100/2 When I ran out of American filter-tips, I chose the nearest equivalent I could find-a Bulgarian make. 1957 Times 28 Dec. 4/2 A substantial increase in the sales of filter-tip cigarettes was a common feature of tobacco sales in Britain and the United States in 1957. 1954 Newsweek 16 Aug. 72/3 The American Tobacco Co...brought out a *filter-tipped version of Herbert Tareyton, its king-size and cork-tipped brand. 1954 Wall St. Jrnl. 18 Nov. 10/2 American Machine Foundry Co. has developed a new method of applying filter tips to cigarets which it claims `renders obsolete all other *filter tipping devices currently used in the tobacco industry'.

filter ('fIlt@(r)), v. Forms: 7 fylter, 7-9 filtre, 6- filter. Also 6 philter. [ad. mod.L. filtra¯re, f. filtrum filter sb. Cf. Fr. filtrer.]

1 a trans. To pass (a liquid) through a filter, or some porous medium, for the purpose of removing solid particles or impurities. Also with off. Also absol.
1576 G. Baker Jewell of Health i. i. 2 The dropping caused by a Lyste, or piece of Woollen cloth..which maner of dooing the Chymistes name Fyltring. 1594 Plat Jewell-ho., Chim. Concl. 23 Some use to filter this Lee divers times. 1605 Timme Quersit. i. ix. 36 They dissolue many times, they fylter, and coagulate. 1671 Grew Anat. Plants i. i. §31 The Sap..not being filtred through so fine a Cotton. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physic (1762) 86 Filtre the Tincture thro' Paper. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 507 Sages strove In vain to filter off a crystal draught Pure from the lees. 1812-6 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 355 Putrid and stinking water may be rendered sweet by filtering it through charcoal-powder. 1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 200 We then filter, washing the blue-coloured sulphate of lime remaining on the filter till it becomes red. 1853 Soyer Pantroph. 27 The liquid was several times filtered.

b transf. and fig.
1830 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 291 The Chamber of Deputies, though filtered through every process which policy could invent. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, First Visit Wks. (Bohn) II. 5 The passage would no doubt strike you more in the quotation than in the original, for I have filtered it. 1885 Manch. Exam. 10 Jan. 5/3 At present his instructions to counsel are filtered through a solicitor. 1892 Pall Mall G. 4 May 1/3 Each of these images is `filtered' through a colour screen.

c Said of the filtering material.
1854 Woodward Mollusea (1856) 37 The sea-weed filters the salt-water. 1882 Watts Dict. Chem. II. 648 Paper which filters slowly may be improved in quality by this treatment.

d Electronics. To pass (an electrical signal, etc.) through a filter (filter sb. 3 e) as a means of removing or attenuating components of undesired frequencies or undue prominence. Also with out: to select or remove (a component of a signal) by means of a filter.
1921 B. Leggett Wireless Telegr. xiii. 399 Zenneck has proposed..to filter out and utilise this harmonic by means of a tuned circuit. 1937 W. G. Dow Fund. Engin. Electronics xxi. 487 The greater the number of anodes, the smaller is the ripple to be filtered out. 1959 Zimmermann & Mason Electronic Circuit Theory iv. 130 The effects of a poorly filtered power supply on an audio system can be heard directly in the form of an objectionable hum.

2 To cause (a liquid) to pass drop by drop, or slowly, through a porous medium (now only in passive); also, †to give forth through the pores, exude. rare.
1583 Stanyhurst Æneis iii. (Arb.) 71 The tre..of swart blud filtred abundance. 1644 Digby Two Treat. i. xx. 183 That streame [of atoms]..clymbing and filtring it selfe along the stones streame. 1860 Maury Phys. Geog. Sea x. §466 Rivers..some of which are filtered through soils..which yield one kind of salts.

3 a intr. To pass as through a filter; to percolate; also with away, down.Cf. F. filtrer, used refl. and intr. in this sense.
1798 W. Blair Soldier's Friend 100 The water..will filter through the sand. 1864 Marsh Man & Nature 438 A stratum of snow..causes almost all the water that composes it to filter down into the earth. 1882 Vines Sachs' Bot. 687 Water will filter through the cell-walls into the cavities of the wood.
transf. and fig. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 207 The sunbeams, filtering small, Freckling through the branches fall. 1868 Yates Rock Ahead ii. iii, A perpetual stream of..people..would filter..through her..drawing-rooms. 1944 Times 29 Apr. 3/3 Here the enemy succeeded in temporarily filtering through our lines. 1958 Hayward & Harari tr. Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago ii. viii. 231 Although the station area was cordoned off..passengers for the local trains had managed, in some unaccountable way, to `filter through' (as we would say now). 1969 Listener 27 Feb. 281/2 Meanwhile foreign literature (Ibsen and Chekhov notably) and painting (the Post-Impressionist Exhibition) were slowly filtering in. 1971 Daily Tel. 16 June 11/5 Hints..of an upsurge in Government spending on new by-passes..have filtered out with unusually effective timing.

b spec. Of road vehicles: to join another line of traffic at a road junction, usu. by deviating from the main stream which is held up by traffic lights.
1928 Traffic Signals to be used by Police & Drivers of Vehicles (H.M.S.O.) ii. 10 At road junctions, when one stream of traffic has been halted, constables should, so far as may be safe or practicable, permit drivers who wish to do so to turn to the left and so filter into the cross stream of moving traffic. 1937 V. Woolf Years 334 He filtered slowly round the corner. 1971 A.A. Continental Handbk. 396 Some crossroads have traffic lights with a flashing yellow arrow which allows drivers to filter off in the direction of the arrow.

4 a To obtain by filtering. Also transf. rare.
1794 Pearson in Phil. Trans. LXXXIV. 387 The liquid filtered from these solutions had a sweetish and bitterish taste. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. i. (1879) 5 Fine dust, which appeared to have been filtered from the wind by the gauze of the vane at the mast-head.

b to filter out (trans.): to separate or prevent the passage of by, or as by, filtering.
1908 [see scratch sb. 6 b]. 1917 G. W. C. Kaye X Rays (ed. 2) ix. 116 By filtering out the soft rays from the primary beam by the use of a suitable screen, the polarisation can be doubled. 1921, 1937 [see 1 d above]. 1927 Davis & Kaye Acoustics of Buildings i. 7 In suitable circumstances it is possible to filter out undesired harmonics. 1936 Discovery July 224/1 These [stops] change the tone-colour..the original note produced being deliberately made very rich in overtones, which in turn are filtered out as required. 1951 Kirk & Othmer Encycl. Chem. Technol. VI. 516 The sand acts as the filter medium and filters out suspended solids. 1961 G. Millerson Technique Telev. Proa. iii. 43 Sound reproduction begins to lose crispness as higher audio notes are filtered out. 1965 N. Chomsky Aspects of Theory of Syntax 224 An extraneous factor..filters out certain latent intepretations provided by the deep structures. 1967 M. Frayn Towards End of Morning viii. 151 He seemed unaware of the noise Damian was making. Bob's head ached..at the effort of filtering the adult conversation out from it. 1971 Daily Tel. 4 Mar. 3/3 Continued flights..could reduce the ozone layer that filters out cancer-producing ultra-violet rays.

Hence 'filtered, 'filtering ppl. adjs. Also 'filterer, that which filters or serves as a filter.
1727 Bailey vol. II, Filtered, strained through a Paper, Cloth, etc. 1794 Schmeisser in Phil. Trans. LXXXIV. 421 The remaining filtered liquor was saturated with purified pot-ash. 1809 J. F. Archbold Patent No. 3225 It [sea water] is passed through a filterer. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 162, I love to watch thy [an hour-glass's] filtering burthen pass. 1830 Tennyson Ode to Memory iv, The filtered tribute of the rough woodland. 1853 Soyer Pantroph. 412 Eight barrels of filtered water. 1859 Cornwallis New World I. 38 The stretcher might have been directly under this water filterer.

» filter, var. form of felter v., philtre.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:48 PM on September 12, 2004

Sweet jesus. I should have put that into teeny-tiny text.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:49 PM on September 12, 2004

lambent ('læmb@nt), a. [ad. L. lambent-em, pr. pple. of lambere to lick.]

1 Of a flame (fire, light): Playing lightly upon or gliding over a surface without burning it, like a `tongue of fire'; shining with a soft clear light and without fierce heat.

1647 Cowley Mistress, Answ. Platonicks, As useless to despairing Lovers grown, As Lambent flames, to men i' th' Frigid Zone. 1656 Cowley Pindar. Odes, Destinie iv, The Star that did my Being frame, Was but a Lambent Flame, And some small Light it did dispence, But neither Heat nor Influence.
posted by SNACKeR at 7:01 PM on September 12, 2004

|| meta ('mi:t@), sb.1 Rom. Antiq. Pl. metæ ... ... ...

ummm, just wondering, and you know I got nothing against it,
but are the individual definitions copyrighted somehow? IANAL.
posted by milovoo at 8:20 PM on September 12, 2004

metæfiltrum?
posted by five fresh fish at 8:57 PM on September 12, 2004

avast (@'vA:st), phr. Naut. [prob. a worn-down form of Dutch hou'vast, houd vast, hold fast: cf. Dutch hou stop! stay! and houvast cramp-iron.] Hold! stop! stay! cease!

ye (ji:, jI), pers. pron. 2nd pers. nom. (obj.), pl. (sing.). Forms: see below. [OE. &asg.e, stressed &asg.e¯, &asg.i¯e, corresp. to OFris. j&icirc., OS. gi, ge, (MLG., MDutch ghi, -i, LG., Dutch gij), OHG., MHG. ir (G. ihr), ONor. ér (:-*je¯r), Sw., Da. i: analogically modified forms (after the 1st pers. pl. pron., e.g. OE. &asg.e after we, ONor. ér after vér, HG. ir after wir) of OTeut. *ju¯s, unaccented *juz, represented by Goth. jus, f. root yu- with pl. ending -s (cf. Zend yu¯s&hacek., Lith. ju~s, and Skr. yu¯-

scurvy ('sk3:rvI), a. Forms: 6 skurvy, scurvye, skurvie, skyrvye, 6-7 scurvie, 7 scirvy, skirvie, scurvey, 6- scurvy. [f. scurf sb.1 (with regular change of f into v) + -y. Cf. the later scurfy a.; also Sw. skorfvig, LG. schorfig, Dutch schurftig.]

dog (dQg), sb.1 Forms: 1 docga, 3-7 dogge, (3, 6 doggue, 6 Sc. doig), 6-8 dogg, 3- dog. [late OE. docga (once in a gloss); previous history and origin unknown. (The generic name in OE., as in the Teutonic langs. generally, was hund: see hound.) So far as the evidence goes, the word appears first in English, as the name of a powerful breed or race of dogs, with which the name was introduced into the continental languages, usually, in early instances, with the attribute `English'. Thus mod.Dutch dog, late 16th c. dogge (`een dogghe, vn gros matin d'Engleterre, canis anglicus', Plantijn Thesaur. 1573), Ger. dogge, in 16-17th c. dock, docke, dogg (`englische Dock', Onomast. 1582, `eine englische Docke', 1653), LG. dogge, Da. dogge, Sw. dogg; Fr. dogue (`le genereux dogue anglais', Du Bellay 15..), Ital., Sp., Pg. dogo, Pg. also dogue; in all the languages applied to some variety or race of dog.]


Now I can speak like a true-blue 15th century Dutch pirate!
hou'vast, ye schurftig dogg!
posted by five fresh fish at 9:04 PM on September 12, 2004

I love that the simplest words, like at, have the most complex definitions.

At is used to denote relations of so many kinds, and some of these so remote from its primary local sense, that a classification of its uses is very difficult. Only a general outline can be here given; its idiomatic constructions with individual words must be looked for under the words themselves, e.g. aim, angry, apt. <snip />

posted by tomharpel at 11:30 PM on September 12, 2004

Someone's breaking the law - this service is supposed to cost the user $29.95 per month.
posted by ikkyu2 at 1:05 AM on September 13, 2004

*waits for confirmation before handing over money to elwoodwiles*
posted by triv at 1:14 AM on September 13, 2004

<Downloads the OED before someone closes the backdoor>
posted by Blue Stone at 1:49 AM on September 13, 2004

Confirmed.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 1:52 AM on September 13, 2004

If the backdoor disappears, you might want to check your local library's website. Lots of libraries have free remote access to the OED for anyone with a library card. Here in the Seattle area both the Seattle Public Library and King County Library systems have OED access.
posted by litlnemo at 3:04 AM on September 13, 2004

It would be a lot cooler if someone could cook up a bookmarklet to do the same thing...
posted by insomnia_lj at 6:09 AM on September 13, 2004

litlnemo, that's probably how it works: P_G's page is on a university's site, so it can access the OED direkt. Presumably anyone at a college could do something similar.
posted by kenko at 7:46 AM on September 13, 2004

It must take a lot of sodding confidence to post such a blatant self-link, too. I like it.
posted by kenko at 7:47 AM on September 13, 2004

dammit.

*hands over money to elwoodwiles and grimaces at Pretty_Generic, whilst muttering about sticking up for people and being an ass*
posted by triv at 8:01 AM on September 13, 2004

copyright ('kQpIraIt), sb. (a.) [f. copy sb. + right sb.]

1 [deletia]

2 attrib. or adj. Protected by copyright; not allowed by law to be printed or copied except by permission of the author, designer, etc.
1870 U.S. Stat. at Large XVI. 213 [To] deposit in the mail two copies of such copyright book or other article.1881 Athenæum 19 Feb. 257/1 There is to be no export of English editions of copyright books to the United States.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:56 AM on September 13, 2004

BTW, the little "Output Form" box kicks ass. There are some really cool ways to view the results.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:58 AM on September 13, 2004

thuggee (TV'gi:). Also -ie. [a. Hindi¯ t&dotbl.hagi¯, abstr. sb. f. t&dotbl.hag thug.] The system of robbery and murder practised by the Thugs. Also attrib.

1837 Edin. Rev. Jan. 358 These..people are known by the name of Thugs, and their profession is called Thuggee. 1858 J. S. Mill Memo. of Improvements in Admin. of India during Last Thirty Years 46 The work of the Thuggee Suppression Department was nearly completed. 1859 Lang Wand. India 98 The suppression of Thuggee in the British dominions. 1898 Speaker 26 Nov. 641/1 Colonel Sleeman..had charge of the Thuggee inquiries. 1902 Daily Chron. 7 Aug. 3/5 Colonel Sir E. Bradford was appointed general superintendent of the operations for the suppression of `thagi and dakaiti', as the India Office calls it.

Now my day is complete.

Btw, "The Meaning of Everything" is a very good read for OED/word-geeks.
posted by of strange foe at 9:52 AM on September 13, 2004

I'M EXUDING SODDING CONFIDENCE AND YOU LIKE ME
posted by Pretty_Generic at 10:15 AM on September 13, 2004

No-one's gonna close the backdoor, because the University of Waterloo, Canada, is a fine academic organisation dedicated to increasing the linguistic understanding of all mankind, and to the freedom of this vitally valuable and enriching information amongst the people of our small planet, regardless of their financial means.





Right?
posted by Pretty_Generic at 10:48 AM on September 13, 2004

Doesn't look like it Pretty_Generic. When I click the link I get a 403 Forbidden message. Specifically it says: Forbidden You don't have permission to access /~zccax08 on this server. But maybe that's just me though.
posted by philcliff at 6:28 PM on September 14, 2004

Nope. It's fuX0red, all right. Can't even look up "hubris."
*thinks dark thoughts*
posted by languagehat at 8:14 AM on September 15, 2004

Don't panic, it's just a problem at my college. The backdoor still works from languagehat's fine website. Normal service resumed shortly, with a bit of luck.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 1:57 PM on September 15, 2004

Well, yeah, my college closed my account. Um. I think they're slightly confused about what I'm doing here. This is a POST form, fercryingoutloud. It's roughly equivalent to an anchor tag, ethically speaking. Waterloo own the data legally, they're choosing to share the data legally, they've been doing so for 5 years... hmm. I'm gonna have to talk to them about this.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 1:21 PM on September 17, 2004

P_G - They probably have a license that says that they cannot share the OED with anyone who is not a university affiliate. Independent scholars face these problems all the time - they cannot get access to electronic journals or resources, because they do not have legal access to university networks.

How does the form of the webpage change the ethics? Personally, I think the ethical thing would be for the the OED to be public regardless of means - but on the legal side, since it was financed privately, and access is sold, it would seem that any thing that reproduced the OED would be copyright infringement. Certainly, it could violate the terms of Waterloo's contract with the OED - they would have shut your page down to prevent loosing access to the OED altogether.
posted by jb at 12:20 AM on September 19, 2004