The Century Dictionary and Cyclopaedia edited by William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E Smith comprises twelve volumes including over 500 000 defined terms and two volumes of concise encyclopedic entries The Century Dictionary contains full accurate and clear definitions and its many supporting quotations are chosen to illustrate where helpful the typical uses of a word or its specific sense Whitney who is still regarded as the greatest American linguist of his time gathered together a remarkable staff of general and specialist editors that included many luminaries of American scholarship to compile this beautiful dictionary