Apr 19, '06 06:56:00AM • Contributed by: MBHockey
We all know that you can look up a word in any Cocoa application on Mac OS X 10.4 by hitting the (slightly awkward) key combination of Control-Command-D when the cursor is hovered over the word you'd like to define.
However, sometimes the dictionary results are less-than-useful. For example, in a Cocoa browser (ie, Safari, Shiira, etc.) take your mouse and hover it over the word pedantic, then hit the keyboard combo. What you'll see is this definition: Of or like a pedant. Since you wanted the definition of the word, the result is not so useful.
But seeing that you'd probably want to look up pedant next, here's a timesaver. Just highlight that part of the word pedantic, hover the cursor over the highlighted portion of the word, and then enter the key combination. OS X will only look up the part of the word you highlighted, returning this much more useful definition:
A person who is excessively concerned with minor details and rules or with displaying academic learning.[robg adds: This earlier hint explains how to make the 'browse dictionary' keyboard shortcut a more-useful on/off toggle -- and one that's easier to type.]
