I would like to set up a Drupal-website, that would have the same functions as many online dictionaries like, for instance, www.dictionary.com. I wonder is this module can be extended instead of giving a translation of the word to output on the same page 1) spelling, 2) description of the meanings, 3) links to synonyms, antonyms, 4) links to thesaurus, 5) explanation of the origin of the words, 6) famous quotations using the searched word, etc?

Example:

dic·tion·ar·y   
[dik-shuh-ner-ee] Show IPA
–noun, plural -ar·ies.
1.
a book containing a selection of the words of a language, usually arranged alphabetically, giving information about their meanings, pronunciations, etymologies, inflected forms, etc., expressed in either the same or another language; lexicon; glossary: a dictionary of English; a Japanese-English dictionary.
2.
a book giving information on particular subjects or on a particular class of words, names, or facts, usually arranged alphabetically: a biographical dictionary; a dictionary of mathematics.
3.
Computers .
a.
a list of codes, terms, keys, etc., and their meanings, used by a computer program or system.
b.
a list of words used by a word-processing program as the standard against which to check the spelling of text entered.

Origin:
1520–30; < ML dictiōnārium, dictiōnārius < LL dictiōn- word ( see diction) + -ārium, -ārius -ary

World English Dictionary
dictionary (ˈdɪkʃənərɪ, -ʃənrɪ)

— n , pl -aries
1. a. a reference resource, in printed or electronic form, that consists of an alphabetical list of words with their meanings and parts of speech, and often a guide to accepted pronunciation and syllabification, irregular inflections of words, derived words of different parts of speech, and etymologies
b. a similar reference work giving equivalent words in two or more languages. Such dictionaries often consist of two or more parts, in each of which the alphabetical list is given in a different language: a German-English dictionary
c. glossary lexicon See also thesaurus ( as modifier ): a dictionary definition
2. a reference publication listing words or terms of a particular subject or activity, giving information about their meanings and other attributes: a dictionary of gardening
3. a collection of information or examples with the entries alphabetically arranged: a dictionary of quotations

[C16: from Medieval Latin dictiōnārium collection of words, from Late Latin dictiō word; see diction ]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Word Origin & History

dictionary
1520s, from M.L. dictionarium "collection of words and phrases," from L. dictionarius "of words," from dictio "word." Probably first Eng. use in title of a book was in Sir Thomas Elyot's "Latin Dictionary" (1538) though L. Dictionarius was so used from early 13c.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary
dictionary definition

1. data dictionary.
2. associative array.
3. Free On-line Dictionary of Computing.
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © Denis Howe 2010 http://foldoc.org
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Famous Quotations
dictionary
"Now a Jew, in the dictionary, is one who is descended f..."
"A very simple and useful device is to have a memorandum..."
"A tattered copy of Johnson's large Dictionary was a gre..."
"The struggle of literature is in fact a struggle to esc..."
"And let a scholar all earth's volumes carry,
He wi..."

Comments

dsnopek’s picture

Hello,

There are several ways to implement what you are looking for:

  1. Just putting all that content into a node body in HTML format, you could use a WYSIWYG editor if necessary.
  2. CCK (or in Drupal 7, "fields") -- you can simply add the fields you describe above to a node.
  3. Also, I've been writing some modules (for >1 year now) for creating more advanced dictionary websites (like dictionary.com) which I intend to release to drupal.org soon. I sent a message to the maintainer of this module to see if she is interested in my code becoming part of this project. If not, it will land on another project.

I'll update here when #3 is ready. Otherwise, you can get really far with #2. You might need some custom code for the searching and definitely some custom theming, but if its ONLY English-English, you could probably do everything with that.

Regards,
David Snopek.

dsnopek’s picture

The code I mention in option #3 finally landed on Drupal.org:

http://drupal.org/project/lingwo