The terms "tweet", "dad dancing" and "geekery" are among more than 1,200 new or revised words that have made it into the latest version of the Oxford² English Dictionary (OED).

 

In a quarterly update on its website, the dictionary said it had expanded its entries for "follow" (verb), "follower" (noun), and "tweet" (noun and verb) to include social media terms that have become part of the everyday lexicon³（词典） in the past six years.

 

The word "tweet" is now defined as a posting on the social networking service Twitter as well as a brief high-pitched sound, its more traditional meaning.

 

John Simpson, the OED's chief editor, said: "This breaks at least one OED rule, namely that a new word needs to be current for 10 years before consideration for inclusion. But it seems to be catching⁴ on."

 

"Dad dancing," a staple⁵（主题） of many British weddings, is defined as "an awkward, unfashionable, or unrestrained style of dancing to pop music, as characteristically performed by middle-aged⁶ or older men,"

 

The terms "crowdsourcing" and "flash mob" have also earned a place in the OED, which now contains 823,000 entries, Reuters reported.

 

"Crowdsourcing" is defined as the practice of obtaining information or services by soliciting⁷ input⁸ from a large number of people, typically via the Internet and often without offering compensation.

 

A "flash mob" is a large group of people organized by means of the internet, or mobile phones or other wireless⁹ devices, who assemble in public to perform a prearranged action together and then quickly disperse¹⁰.

 

Viewers of The Big Bang Theory, the hit American television show, will recognize the word "geekery", meanwhile.

 

Its meaning has been updated from a rarely used term for bizarre circus acts in favor of an obsessive¹¹ devotion to or knowledge of a particular subject or pursuit and also the state of being a geek or "geekiness".

 

Other more topical terms, such as "fiscal¹² cliff", "e-reader" and "fracking" also make appearances in the updated dictionary.

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