I must beg to differ; having a good dictionary at your fingertips is
incredibly useful especially if, like me, you read a lot of 19th century novels. There are lots of words which have fallen out of everyday usage and, although one can generally guess their approximate meaning by context, for me personally it makes the reading experience richer to be able to find out exactly what they actually do mean.
For example, one example I encountered in my recent reading, from the book "Barchester Towers, by Anthony Trollope:
Quote:
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Thus clad, she peered out into the tent, went to the ha-ha, and satisfied herself that at any rate the youngsters were amusing themselves, spoke a word to Mrs. Greenacre over the ditch, and took one look at the quintain.
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Without looking it up in the dictionary, could you tell me what a "ha-ha" is? What about a "quintain"?