uy_.

_a, o_;--_a, æ, e, ea_;--_e, eo, ie_;--_o, u, ou_;
--(all originally short).

_a, æ, ea, e, ee_;--_e, ee, eo, ie_;--_o, oo, oa_;--
_u, ou, ui_;--(all long). */

These are the most usual interchanges of symbols, and will commonly
suffice for practical purposes, in cases where the cross-references
fail. If the word be not found after such substitutions have been
allowed for, it may be taken for granted that the Dictionary does not
contain it. As a fact, the Dictionary only contains a considerable
number of such words as are most common, or (for some special reason)
deserve notice; and it is at once conceded that it is but a small
hand-book, which does not pretend to exhibit in all its fulness the
extraordinarily copious vocabulary of our language at an important
period of its history. The student wishing for complete information
will find (in course of time) that the New English Dictionary which is
being brought out by the Clarendon Press will contain all words found
in our literature since the year 1100.

Of course variations in the vowel-sounds are also introduced, in the
case of strong verbs, by the usual 'gradation' due to their method of
conjugation. To meet this difficulty in some measure, numerous (but
not exhaustive) cross-references have been introduced, as when, e.g.
'~Bar~, bare' is given, with a cross-reference to
~Beren~. Further help in this respect is to be had from the table
of 183 strong verbs given at pp. lxix-lxxxi of the Preface to Part I
of the Specimens of English (2nd edition); see, in particular, the