Mac OS X Tiger/Meet the Applications/Dictionary

Possibly the simplest application included with Tiger, Dictionary is the New Oxford American Dictionary’s digital counterpart. Not only can you open it from the Applications folder, but also from inside some other applications, like Safari.

Using it is amazingly easy. Use the search box to find words, or double click a word to look that word up. Use the flippy triangles in the result area to see the Dictionary and Thesaurus entries. Use the back and forward arrows to see words you’ve looked up before. Use the font size buttons (little “A” and big “A”) to adjust the size of the text in the result area.

TRICK: In most applications, you can look up a word in the Dictionary simply by selecting it and pressing ⌘⇧D to look it up immediately, without having to launch the Dictionary application.

TRICK: Dictionary Preferences contains an option that lets you choose what happens when you look up a word through a contextual menu. You can choose to open the full-blown Dictionary application or just a small panel contaning the definition.