Merriam-Webster's Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster [7]
When an italicized label follows a boldface numeral, the label applies only to that specific numbered sense. It does not apply to any other boldface numbered senses:
craft … noun … 3 plural usually craft
1fa·ther … noun … 2 cap … 5 often cap
dul·ci·mer … noun … 2 or dul·ci·more /-ˌmōr/
2lift noun … 5 chiefly Brit
At craft the plural label applies to sense 3 but to none of the other numbered senses. At father the cap label applies only to sense 2 and the often cap label only to sense 5. At dulcimer the variant spelling and pronunciation apply only to sense 2, and the chiefly Brit label at lift applies only to sense 5.
CROSS-REFERENCE
Four different kinds of cross-references are used in this dictionary: directional, synonymous, cognate, and inflectional. In each instance the cross-reference is readily recognized by the underlined small capitals in which it is displayed.
A cross-reference following a lightface dash and beginning with compare is a directional cross-reference. It directs the dictionary user to look elsewhere for further information:
ordinal number … noun … —compare CARDINAL NUMBER
A cross-reference following a boldface colon is a synonymous cross-reference. It may stand alone as the only definition for an entry or for a sense of an entry; it may follow an analytical definition; it may be one of two or more synonymous cross-references separated by commas:
fact … noun … 1 : DEED
2pa·per adjective … 3 : existing only in theory : NOMINAL
1fill … verb … 3 : FEED, SATIATE
A synonymous cross-reference indicates that an entry, a definition at the entry, or a specific sense at the entry cross-referred to can be substituted as a definition for the entry or the sense in which the cross-reference appears.
A cross-reference following an italic variant of is a cognate cross-reference:
pick·a·back … variant of PIGGYBACK
Occasionally a cognate cross-reference has a limiting label preceding variant of as an indication that the variant is not standard American English:
2vice … chiefly British variant of VISE
A cross-reference following an italic label that identifies an entry as an inflected form (as of a noun or verb) is an inflectional cross-reference:
calves plural of CALF
woven past part of WEAVE
Inflectional cross-references appear only when the inflected form falls at least a column away from the entry cross-referred to.
COMBINING FORMS, PREFIXES, & SUFFIXES
An entry that begins or ends with a hyphen is a word element that forms part of an English compound:
-wise … adverb comb form … ⟨slantwise⟩
ex- … prefix … 2 … ⟨ex-president⟩
-let noun suffix 1 … ⟨booklet⟩
Combining forms, prefixes, and suffixes are entered in this dictionary for two reasons: to make understandable the meaning of many undefined run-ons and to make recognizable the meaningful elements of words that are not entered in the dictionary.
LISTS OF UNDEFINED WORDS
Many words that begin with the prefixes or combining forms anti-, in-, non-, over-, re-, self-, semi-, sub-, super-, and un- are self-explanatory combinations of the prefix or combining form and a word entered elsewhere in the dictionary, and they are listed undefined in the entry for the prefix or combining form from which they are formed.
Abbreviations Used in This Work
ab about
abl ablative
acc accusative
A.D. anno Domini
AF Anglo-French
alter alteration
Am, Amer American
AmerF American French
AmerInd American Indian
AmerSp American Spanish
Ar Arabic
Aram Aramaic
B.C. before Christ
Brit British
C Celsius
ca circa
Calif California
Canad Canadian
CanF Canadian French
cap capital, capitalized
Celt Celtic
cen central
cent century
Chin Chinese
comb combining
compar comparative
D Dutch
Dan Danish
dat dative
deriv derivative
dial dialect
dim