Editing of entries  There are two principal modes of editing on
the OED. The first is editing from scratch – that is, editing a
word or sense that is entirely new to the dictionary; the second
is revising and updating an existing dictionary entry. In
general the editorial process followed by New Words and Revision
editors is similar, the principal difference being that Revision
editors start with text from an earlier edition of the
dictionary, and New words editors start with a collection of
quotations and other references to a particular word or meaning.
Why is the OED being revised?  The original OED was published
between 1884 and 1928. New words and new meanings of old words
have been added to the dictionary since then, but the basic text
of the dictionary remained unchanged. Smaller Oxford
dictionaries have, of course, been updated regularly, but it was
only with the computerization of the text of the dictionary in
the 1980s that revising the OED became a practical possibility.
Over the same period the