Mountweazel Dictionary

The Mountweazel Dictionary collects instances of invented words that have been inserted into reference books to detect unauthorized copying. It is a reference text for the creative ways we assuage our anxieties of being copied. Named after the fake entry for “Lillian Virginia Mountweazel,” editors of dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, and other reference books as far back as Samuel Johnson’s 1755 dictionary have placed fake entries in their volumes to catch anyone who might copy their entire text, fake words and all.