Moobs and YOLO among new words in Oxford English Dictionary

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Moobs and YOLO are among hundreds of new words to be added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Moobs earns its listing as a slang term for a man's prominent breasts, and YOLO is an acronym for "you only live once".

New words and phrases are usually added to the dictionary once editors have enough evidence to demonstrate continued historical use.

Other entries focus on the centenary of Roald Dahl's birth, with additions such as Oompa Loompa and witching hour.

Words related to food, speech, media and retail also feature.

The OED is a historical dictionary and a definitive guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of almost 830,000 past and present words, senses, and compounds from across the English-speaking world.

It differs from the online Oxford dictionary, which lists current definitions of English words, and has a lower threshold for accepting new entries to its list of words.

New additions

Some of the words and senses to be added or updated in the OED, along with the dictionary's definitions:

Dahlesque

There are also a number of new entries related to Roald Dahl which coincide with centenary celebrations and the publication of the Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary.

These include the words Oompa Loompa, scrumdiddlyumptious, witching hour, human bean and golden ticket.

"The inclusions reflect both his influence as an author and his vivid and distinctive style," said the chief editor of the OED, Michael Proffitt.

"For many children, Roald Dahl's work is not only one of their first experiences of reading, but also their earliest exposure to the creative power of language."