Clara HD - can dictionary look-up hypenated words?

Suffolk Punch · 07-01-2019, 09:09 AM

I've got a Clara HD (firmware 4.12.12111 - 12/11/18). I really would like the stock English dictionary that comes with it to be able to look-up hyphenated words, such as

Quote:

well-bowsed cross-catharpings

from Master and Commander p. 73. However, a long-press which includes the hyphen pops-up the options 'Highlight' and 'Add-note'.

Is there a way to does this?

Martin

davidfor · 07-01-2019, 08:55 PM

The dictionary lookup will find hyphenated words, but, it needs the hyphenated word to be in the dictionary. It doesn't look up the separate words and show them. It looks for a close match (selecting "bowsed" by itself should find "bowse"). You can lookup a word manually from the dictionary entry in the menu at the bottom when reading, or from the search dialog at any time. But, it would be useful to have the dictionary search available from the popup so that it would use the selected word. Then, if there was a mispelling or something like this, you could more easily change the search argument.

And, I can't work out what "well-bowsed" means. The dictionary on the device has the meaning of "bowse" as "to haul by means of a tackle". "well hauled" doesn't make sense to me. Given the book you are reading, it's probably has some well defined, but reasonably obscure meaning. And the answer to you question might just be that the dictionary on the device isn't large enough to have words, or word combinations, like these. There is a thread about installing other dictionaries that might help.

Suffolk Punch · 07-02-2019, 05:05 AM

Thanks! I still find that Clara (now upgraded to software version 4.15.12920) fails to underline hyphenated words (e.g. thirth-ninth parallel) when I touch the hyphen and part of each word. Instead it underlines -ninth, and the dictionary (now changed to WordNet v 3) pops-up and I have to tap on it to extend the dictionary search to 'thirty-ninth' which is in WordNet.

I'm happy to settle for that!

07-01-2019, 08:55 PM	#2
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	The dictionary lookup will find hyphenated words, but, it needs the hyphenated word to be in the dictionary. It doesn't look up the separate words and show them. It looks for a close match (selecting "bowsed" by itself should find "bowse"). You can lookup a word manually from the dictionary entry in the menu at the bottom when reading, or from the search dialog at any time. But, it would be useful to have the dictionary search available from the popup so that it would use the selected word. Then, if there was a mispelling or something like this, you could more easily change the search argument. And, I can't work out what "well-bowsed" means. The dictionary on the device has the meaning of "bowse" as "to haul by means of a tackle". "well hauled" doesn't make sense to me. Given the book you are reading, it's probably has some well defined, but reasonably obscure meaning. And the answer to you question might just be that the dictionary on the device isn't large enough to have words, or word combinations, like these. There is a thread about installing other dictionaries that might help. Last edited by davidfor; 07-01-2019 at 09:00 PM.

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07-02-2019, 05:05 AM	#3
Suffolk Punch Connoisseur Posts: 71 Karma: 187210 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: UK Device: Sony PRS T1, Kindle 4 NT, Kobo Touch, Kobo Clara HD	Thanks! I still find that Clara (now upgraded to software version 4.15.12920) fails to underline hyphenated words (e.g. thirth-ninth parallel) when I touch the hyphen and part of each word. Instead it underlines -ninth, and the dictionary (now changed to WordNet v 3) pops-up and I have to tap on it to extend the dictionary search to 'thirty-ninth' which is in WordNet. I'm happy to settle for that!

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