Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@jsomers
Last active April 20, 2024 01:15
Show Gist options
  • Star 22 You must be signed in to star a gist
  • Fork 4 You must be signed in to fork a gist
  • Save jsomers/9dd78c8dc7fab071993c to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save jsomers/9dd78c8dc7fab071993c to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Instructions for using Webster's 1913 on Android

To use Webster's 1913 dictionary on Android, install Colordict 3, an app that accepts this StarDict format. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.socialnmobile.colordict

Next download James's S3 archive. https://s3.amazonaws.com/jsomers/dictionary.zip

You will need to extract the .dict file from inside three containers - .dz, .tar, .bz2 from innermost to outermost. 7zip handles all of these formats.

Place the .dict, .idx and .ifo files in the dictdata directory on your sdcard or local storage root. This is where colordict looks for dictionaries.

When the files are in the right place, you can run Colordict and tap the folder icon in the top right to see the dictionaries installed and set the dictionary priority. I put the 1913 dictionary above the defaults "Wordnet" and "Wikipedia." When you look up a word, ColorDict shows the definition, if available, from these multiple sources.

Finally if you want to use this to define words in your ebooks I recommend the excellent app FBReader. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.geometerplus.zlibrary.ui.android

To configure FBReader to show definitions when you long press a word, open FBReader settings and go to Dictionary. Set Dictionary to ColorDict 3 and set Long Tapping Action to "Long tap selects single word, release opens dictionary."

@melissaboiko
Copy link

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment