Preface -- 1. THE ORIGINS OF ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY -- 1.1. Early word lists -- 1.2. The first English dictionaries: the 'hard words' tradition -- 1.3. The comprehensive English dictionary -- 1.4. Inductive method -- 1.5. The historical principle -- 2. THE AUTHORITARIAN TRADITION IN LANGUAGE: ENGLAND -- 2.1. Toward an academy of the English language -- 2.2. The need for an English dictionary -- 2.3. The dictionary as authority: Samuel Johnson -- 2.4. The reception of Johnson's Dictionary -- 3. THE AUTHORITARIAN TRADITION IN LANGUAGE: AMERICA -- 3.1. Proposals for an American academy -- 3.2. Authoritarian attitudes and Anglophilia -- 3.3. Noah Webster's linguistic patriotism -- 3.4. Spelling reform -- 3.5. Webster's influence on American spelling -- 3.6. Webster's American Dictionary -- 3.7. The 'war of the dictionaries' -- 3.8. Linguistic conservatism: renewed efforts for an American academy -- 4. THE SECOND DICTIONARY WAR: WEBSTER'S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY -- 4.1. The new authoritarianism -- 4.2. Three reviews -- 4.3. Rebuttal -- 5. LEXICOGRAPHY AND ENGLISH USAGE -- 5.1. Usage information in the early dictionaries -- 5.2. The authority of the dictionary -- 5.3. Usage orientation in modern dictionaries -- 5.4. The situational dimension -- 5.5. The situational and modal dimensions confused: the colloquial label -- 5.6. The usage note -- 5.7. The verbal illustration -- 5.8. The synonymy -- 5.9. Conclusions -- Bibliography.