Discussion on:

Geek Trivia: Early word gets the worm

Webster's what? "Webster's" is no more descriptive of which dictionary you're talking about than "Ford" is to what kind of car you're driving. The Webster name is a generic one that is affixed to practically any standard dictionary (Webster's New World, Merriam-Webster, etc.) to give the buyer a sense that it is a "real" dictionary. For all the word is worth, I could call my collection of stupid definitions ( http://www.geocities.com/lmc2124/definitions.html ) "Webster's Dictionary of Funny Definitions" without worrying about stepping on someone's trademark. The story behind why that is long and obscure, which obviously means there's a whole page about it on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webster%27s .