Centuries-old dictionary adds ‘amazeballs,’ ‘verbal diarrhea’

Every quarter, for example, Oxford dictionaries refreshes its database, while Merriam-Webster adds a new batch annually.

In July, the 200-year-old Collins Dictionary, an imprint of HarperCollins UK, got in on the action, unveiling a campaign in which it crowdsourced new words. Editors at Collins would vet the entries and select a batch for inclusion to its online and possibly print dictionary.

“We already have our system for logging new words,” Alex Brown, head of digital at Collins, told PR Daily in July. “The idea was wouldn’t it be interesting to open up the whole previously closed process.”

Two months and more than 4,400 submissions later, Collins has inducted 86 new terms, from “amazeballs” to “verbal diarrhea.” The fresh bath will appear in the online version of the dictionary with the name of the person who submitted it.

Here is a sampling of Collins’ new inductees, along with their definitions: