Remarks on the documentation in OED3: Cooking terms as a test case

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how the description of cooking terms in the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED3) can be improved with the massive dataset of Google Books. The paper, which can be treated as a case study, summarizes the research results offered to OED3’s lexicographers, explaining which fi ndings were taken into the dictionary and which were left behind. It also suggests additional evidence that is likely to update the treatment of the headwords.