Webster’s 1828 English Dictionary

In 1828 at the age of 70, Noah Webster published the American Dictionary of the English Language. His work spanned two volumes and contained 70,000 entries.

His dictionary is an invaluable resource for understanding how English words were understood at the time the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith’s early revelations were published. The scriptures come alive when we understand the meaning of archaic scriptural words like betimes and especial, along with words like quick and concourse whose meanings have changed since the early 1800s.

A photo reprint of both volumes is available on Archive.org. The links below will take you directly to major sections of the dictionary.

You can also search for words in Webster’s 1828 dictionary in this online edition.