1 Look Dictionaries
About every dictionary imaginable. You may spend way too much time here if words intrigue you.

Acronym Finder
Confused by alphabet soup? You'll most likely find your answer here. This site offers more than 180,000 definitions of acronyms and abbreviations, one of the most comprehensive databases on the Web.

American Sign Language Browser
A handy way to look up thousands of American Sign Language signs on video. You'll also gain additional information about each sign.

Bartleby.com
This premier site filled with great online reference sources is even better now. Bartleby.com added the fourth edition of the "American Heritage Dictionary" for free access. With 10,000 new words, the edition now boasts 200,000 words with more than 900 illustrations and 70,000 audio pronunciations. The dictionary is available at http://www.bartleby.com/61/. The search feature is excellent and very flexible. A terrific new resource on the Internet. Visit soon. Also at the site is the Cambridge History of English & American Literature at http://www.bartleby.com/cambridge/. It provides literary history and criticism on writings in the English language with over 303 chapters and 11,000 pages. Essay topics range from poetry, fiction, drama and essays to history, theology and political writing.

Cambridge Dictionaries Online
You can search four Cambridge publications at this site, including "Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms" and the Cambridge International Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs".

Dictionary.com
Ask Dr. Dictionary about words, grammar, and language if you can't find the answer at the site.

Food and Agriculture Organization Term
Our global community is aided by databases like these with specialized terminology.

HandSpeak
Christopher Bartone of the Britannica.com "site of the day" newsletter alerted me to this word-rich site which features the online sign language dictionary "HandSpeak." Signing is a very expressive language and this site offers what it calls "fun learning" rather than "official instruction." Discover new ways to express words with the animated tutorials. The "Sign of the Day" features individual words.

Hyperdictionary
Originally called the Exploding Dictionary, Hyperdictionary is a dictionary in hyperdrive. Search for a definition and you get two or more for the price of one. The first definition offers a standard definition from one of several "publicly available" dictionaries. Then, the definition "explodes" into a hyperlink for every word in the definition. An interesting way to spend a few minutes, hours, days or weeks if you enjoy browsing dictionaries.

Jane's Defence Glossary
This site requires registration for access, but its free registration for most of the site, including this glossary. The database contains more than "20,000 defense-related acronyms and abbreviations."

Little Explorers Picture Dictionary With Links
For the younger set who are just beginning the journey through the word maze.

Real Life Dictionary of the Law
A comprehensive dictionary of legal terms.

RhymeZone
Have some fun at the RhymeZone rhyming dictionary and thesaurus by finding rhymes, homophones or words that are spelled or spoken in a similar fashion - and "much more."

The Invisible Web
For all those "hidden from usual search engines" sites, you can find a huge amount of information at this companion site to the book "The Invisible Web" by Chris Sherman and Gary Price.

Verbix
Conjugating verbs doesn't usually conjure up visions of fun, but this online "verb conjugator" adds some verve. You can conjugate verbs online here in more than 50 languages, including those fading from existence.

Web of Online Dictionaries
Well done!

Whatis.com
Comprehensive.

BUBL LINK - Dictionary section
Dictionaries, dictionaries, and more dictionaries. See it to believe it.

Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing
If you come across a word dealing with computing and can't find it anywhere, try this site.

International Telecommunications Union Terminology Database
Another specialized tool for international linguists needing help with unique terminology.

Investor Words
Big online investing glossary as well as a collection of Internet, Technology and Communications words.

Beliefnet Dictionary
This site offers a searchable dictionary.

A word with you
Something new and different in the web-world of etymology

Ask Oxford
Ask Oxford, sponsored by Oxford Dictionaries, lives up to its teaser headline, "Passionate about Language." This site offers sections called Ask the Experts, World of Words, Word Games, Global English and Better Writers. Check out the "jargon busters" service at http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/jargonbuster/ This service helps "you cut through the technical terms and grab hold of grammar, literary terms, and other such bamboozlement."

Focusing on Words
Focus on the Latin & Greek elements used in English

Keeping Our Word: Preserving Information Across the Ages
This University of Iowa Libraries virtual exhibit shows the development of preserving words, from cave paintings to clay to the digital media and demonstrates the role of archivists and librarians in "keeping the word."

Take Our Word For It
This weekly webzine spotlights the origins and etymological theories of a word as well as features a question and answer column and curmudgeons' corner.

The Human-Languages Page
A comprehensive catalog of language-related Internet resources.

The Word Detective
Delightful!

The Wordwizard Portal
You'll never want for a word here. This web site is brimming with information about words and it also has links to interesting new writers.

Verbivore
Words, glorious words! Close encounters with words of the first kind. Richard Lederer's love of words is indeed contagious.

Wilton's Word and Phrase Origins
Comprehensive and well-documented site. If your interest in words motivates you to read more, don't miss the Source page at this site. It offers a great listing of general and specialty dictionaries, historical sources, general language references, etc.

Word Play
Wonderful site to learn all or more than you need to know about words and the English language

Word Safari
Ruth Pettis' megalist of links to sites covering words, language, etc. This is a "megalist!!!" and it keeps growing. Visit often.

Words@Random
You can spend quality time on a regular basis at Random House's "Words@Random." It is packed with information and is visually arresting. Departments include "Sensitive Language," "How to Choose a Dictionary," "Power Vocabulary Quiz," "Beat the Dictionary Game," and "The Mavens' Word of the Day." Also at the site is a terrific feature called "New Words" - new words coined in each decade from 1940 on.

GoodWords.com
Home of AmeriSpeak and Ye Olde English Sayings

Martha Barnette's funwords.com
Site from author of Ladyfingers and Nun's Tummies. Features wacky word of the week.

Origin of Phrases
A place to look when you want to know how a string of words got its start.

Vocabulary University
Work-out with words and increase your vocabulary.

Mudcat Cafe Digital Tradition Folksong Database
This searchable database contains lyrics for more than 8,000 folk songs and more are added every week.

Glossary of Poetic Terms
Complete, cross referenced and cunning. A terrific contribution from Robert G. Shubinski.

Poems that Go
Editors Megan Sapnar and Ingrid Ankerson explore a new form of poetry at this site. They showcase writers and artists who combine words, music, motion and the latest Internet technology to present ideas, thoughts and emotions in a new way. If you computer can handle the technology, I think you will enjoy your time at poems that go.com

BUBL Link Catalogue of Internet Resources
Fantastic gateway to your research needs; covers all academic areas. The BUBL Link catalogue holds over 11,000 resources.

International Federation of Library Associations and Institution
When you're in need of insider's information about information and library science, go to the experts.

xrefer
"xrefer contains encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, and books of quotations from the world's leading publishers. All cross-referenced, all in one place-providing you with a single source for reliable factual information."

University of Iowa Communications Dept. Studies Resource Links
Good links to resources for communication research.

Free Speech Movement Oral History Project
The University of California, Berkeley puts us in the middle of the Free Speech Movement with the words of its participants. Fascinating stuff!

History and Politics Out Loud
What a treasure this is. History and Politics Out Loud offers a timeless collection of audio materials including speeches to private telephone conversations from the White House marking "significant political and historical events and personalities of the 20th Century."

Suffragists Oral History Project
From the University of California, Berkeley (library.berkeley.edu), this 20th Century suffragist history is presented in the spoken words of seven major figures in the California region.

Big Dog's Grammar
"The bare bones of grammar." Maybe it's Doc Scott, the dog at the site, but his photo made me smile and that's already a plus for a grammar site. It wouldn't hurt for us to lighten up a bit in the grammar area. Everyone makes mistakes. Our goal is to not make the same one twice or more. The site boasts of providing enough info to "bluff your way through Freshman comp or any general writing task."