Karen Mitchell, ale 12, of Bellingham, Washington, for her question:

How do they get word meanings for a dictionary?

Dictionaries are compiled by lexicographers. No, these patient workers are not related to leprechauns, or to any other fairy folk. They are serious minded language experts, ~~rith a natural fondness for words and hocr they work. Hundreds of lexicographers work for years to compile a large topnotch dictionary. Some teams specialize in pronun¬ciations. Others specialize in the meanings of each listed, or itemized word.

A good dictionary serves well balanced meals of information with its listed words. The meaning provide the meat course. Often one word has several meanings and we select the one to use on this or that occasion. For example, a table may belong in the dining room, but a table of contents belongs in a book.

Code letters in small print often help to solve this problem. For example, when the word "plant" is used as a noun it may mean a factory or a species of the green plant world. When used as a verb, it may mean to plant a plant in the ground, or an idea in the head.

The information attached to each listed word also includes a helping, of vegetable type information and perhaps a choice of desserts. The key word for each item is listed in alphabetical order and its correct spelling is printed in heavy black type. Beside it, a code syster! is used to give its proper pronunciation. Then comes "n" for "noun," or "v" for "verb," etc. If the word item has more than one meaning;, they are listed 1, 2, 3, and so on.

A topnotch dictionary also hives a brief case history for each word. Its roots and origins tell about its past meanings and help us to see how it came to mean what it does now. Compiling all these word meanings for a dictionary is a noble study in patient research.

All our familiar everyday words have been defined many times. Researchers gather and compare all the definitions they can find in other dictionaries and in various reference books. They also study the past roots and origins. Then they draft concise meanings in words of their own. This takes care of basic meanings. But our living language constantly adds new words and people constantly change the meanings of old ones.

The brand new words include inventions and discoveries. Researchers ask those who, named them to explain what they mean. But this is not enough. They also find out how ordinary people are using them. For example, they list the word television and give its  technical meaning. Then they add a note that most Americans call it the TV.

For example, when your parents mere young, rock. came in chunks of hard minerals. An updated dictionary must add that rock also may mean a style of music. Researchers check with expert musicians and also with ordinary listeners to reach the meaning it has in everyday usage.