A course In Modern English Lexicology

§ 12. Setting of the Entry
their aim, in the information they provide, in their size, etc., they of necessity differ in the structure and content of the entry.
The most complicated type of entry is that found in explanatory dictionaries.
1 See ‘Word-Groups’, § 2, p. 66.
2 See ‘Semasiology’, § 26, p. 33.
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In explanatory dictionaries of the synchronic type the entry usually presents the following data: accepted spelling and pronunciation; grammatical characteristics including the indication of the part of speech of each entry word, the transitivity and intransitivity of verbs and irregular grammatical forms; definitions of meanings; modern currency; illustrative examples; derivatives; phraseology; etymology; sometimes also synonyms and antonyms.
By way of illustration we give the entry for the word arrive from COD. arrive’, v.i. Come to destination (lit. & fig.) or end of journey (at Bath, in Paris, upon scene, at conclusion); (as Gallicism) establish one’s repute or position; (of things) be brought; (of time) come; (of events) come about. (f. OF ariver f. L. L. arribare f. L. ADripare come to shore (ripa)).
The compilers of a dictionary of the same type may choose a different setting of a typical entry: they may omit some of the items or add some others, choose a different order of their arrangement or a different mode of presenting the same information.
Compare, e.g., the entry for the same word arrive from Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.
ar·rive /ă-riv'/, v.i. [O. F. ariver, deriv. of L. ad to + ripa shore, bank]. 1.
Obs. To come to the shore. 2. To reach a place; as, to arrive at home. 3. To gain an object; attain a state by effort, study, etc.; as, to arrive at a conclusion. 4. To come; — said of time. 5. To attain success or recognition.
Syn. Arrive, come. Arrive implies more definitely than come the attainment of a destination.
— v.t. Archaic. To reach; come to.
As we see in COD the pronunciation of the word is given without re-spelling, only with the help of the stress mark (which it is important for practical purposes to know is placed at the end of the stressed syllable); in WCD the word is transcribed in full in special phonetic notation; besides in this word-book syllabification is indicated both in the graphic- and soundforms of the word. Etymology is placed at the end of the entry in COD and at the beginning in WCD.
The two entries also differ in other respects. E.g., WCD provides synonymy, obsolete and archaic meanings, whereas COD gives more attention to the use of prepositions; the number of illustrative phrases is greater in COD than in WCD; in COD the meanings are separated with semi-colons, while in WCD they are all numbered.
A typical entry in diachronic explanatory dictionaries will have some specific features. Apart from the chronological arrangement of meanings and illustrative quotations to present the historical sense development, the etymology of the word is accorded an exhaustive treatment, besides a distinguishing feature of such reference books is the dates accompanying each word, word-meaning and quotation that indicate the time of its first registration or, if the word or one of its meanings is obsolete, the time of its last registration.
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See, for example, the presentation of two meanings of the verb arrive in SOD (the sign + =obsolete, the dash — before the date indicates the time of the last publication):
arrive ...+3. To bring, convey — 1667. 4. intr. To come to the end of a journey, to some definite place, upon the scene. Const. at, in, upon, + into, + to. ME. transf. Of things 1651.
It should be noted in passing that the dates that are often interpreted as the time of the word’s (or one of its meaning’s) appearance or disappearance in the language are in fact their earliest known occurrences, since the st i l l earlier records might not have been examined by the staff collecting the material for the dictionary and the word might be current in oral speech a long time before it came to occur in print.
In other types of dictionaries the content and structure of the entry will be altogether different. Compare, for instance, the four entries for arrive taken from a translation and a frequency dictionaries, from an etymological and pronouncing word-books:
The Dictionary edited by I. R. Galperin:
arrive [a'raiv] v 1. (at, in, upon) прибывать, приезжать; to~ in London прибыть в Лондон; the police ~d upon the scene на место про-исшествия прибыла полиция; to ~ punctually [tardily, in good time] прибыть точно [с опозданием, вовремя]; sold “to ~” ком.
к прибытию (условие сделки при продаже товара, находяще-гося в пути); 2. (at) 1) достигать (чего-л.), приходить (к чему-л.); to ~ at understanding достигнуть взаимопонимания; to ~ at a decision принять решение; to ~ at a conclusion прийти к заклю-чению. ..