Berkeley CSUA MOTD:Entry 14699
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1998/9/29-30 [Computer/SW/Languages/Perl] UID:14699 Activity:kinda low
9/29    The other day when I was using "dict" it somehow searched a lot of
        different online dictionaries rather than just Webster, but I could
        not reproduce it.  What is the right command?
        \_ dict/webster queries a secondary source when EB Webster fails
           to return a definition.  there isn't a way for end-users to
           specify which source to use at run time right now.  but you
           can go to <DEAD>work.ucsd.edu:5141/cgi-bin/http_webster<DEAD>
           with any browser in the mean time.  -jwang
           \_ of course, since dict is a simple perl script, if you were
               an elite perl hacker, you could hack it to do that yourself.
                \_ Then someone must be changing the script when I ran
                dict the other day, because it queried about 4 or 5 different
                sources, with very nice quotations of actual usage and
                detailed notes on similar words.  Hope it can remain that way.
                \_ the second source (in the URL) is in fact a gateway to
                   about 4 or 5 other databases.  again, it's only used
                   when the primary Encylopedia Britannica Webster database
                   fails. -jwang