Overview ==========================================================
This module allows you to access the Online Dictionary Database at
dict.org. To use it, type `M-x dict', which will prompt you for a
word or phrase to search for in the online dictionary (defaulting
to the word under the cursor). In the resulting *dict* buffer you
can press 'w' to make further calls to dict regarding the word
under the cursor, and 'l' to cycle back through the history of word
lookups (similar to Info mode). For words with multiple
definitions, 'n' and 'p' take you respectively to the next and
previous definition. SPC, DEL, < and > have standard scrolling
behaviour. 's' and 'r' allow isearch and reverse isearch.
If you wish definitions to be displayed in a dedicated frame, you
might use the following in your ~/.emacs.el:
(push "*dict*" special-display-buffer-names)
INSTALLATION =====================================================
dict-web.el requires w3 (the Emacs web browser) to be installed. If
you are a heavy user of this software you might consider using
Torsten Hilbrich's dictionary package at
, which
allows you to connect to a local dictd server.
Place this file somewhere in emacs' load-path, and byte-compile it
(by pressing `B' in dired mode, for example). Then place a line
such as
(autoload 'dict "dict-web"
"Lookup a word or phrase in the Online Dictionary Database." t)
in your ~/.emacs.el initialization file.
Thanks to Andrew Dlugan for the extended
face support, to Kai Grossjohan and Knut Wannheden for suggesting
improvements, and to Les Schaffer for reporting a bug. David
Masterson suggested adding a menu item.