dicn.
/dɪk/, U.S. /dɪk/ Originally slang.
A dictionary; (hence) language characterized by the use of long or obscure words. Also in to swallow a (or the) dic: to use long or obscure words, esp. excessively or unnecessarily; = to have swallowed a (or the) dictionary at dictionary n. 4.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > ornateness > [noun] > wordmongering > instance of
dic1832
1832 Metropolitan Mar. 301 Why, you talks as large, and comes the Dick as fast an' as fine, as if, by Joe, you'd a-reglarly a-shipped the wig!
1860 Dublin Univ. Mag. Mar. 334/1 Ah, now you are talking ‘Dic',’ exclaimed Peabody, ‘and I can't follow you’.
1864 J. C. Hotten Slang Dict. (new ed.) 120 Dick, fine language, long words.
1891 J. S. Farmer Slang II. 281/1 To swallow the dick, to use long words without knowledge of their meaning.
2009 @jillmctag 7 Oct. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Flute playing by the lake... Sounds ethereal... God I swallowed a dic.
2010 @rioknuden 4 May in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) I still sing my ABCs when I need to remember which order a letter comes, when I have to look something up in the dic.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1832