Does Wordlist endpoint make searches only from ODE?
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Does Wordlist endpoint make searches only from ODE?

Hi @AmosDuveen
Hope u r well!
This time I wanted some clarity on whether wordlist endpoint made searches from ODE alone or if it used the data offered by NOAD as well.
As suggested by @annarita__amenduni in her post https://forum.oxforddictionaries.com/api/discussion/192/how-do-i-look-up-phrases-using-the-api#latest, I made a search for a list of all words having lexicalCategory=idiomatic using https://od-api.oxforddictionaries.com:443/api/v1/wordlist/en/lexicalCategory%3Didiomatic?word_length=%3E1%2C&exact=false
. It returned 8818 results but upon investigation, I figured it still misses out on many. The uniqueness in the missing results (at least the ones I checked) is that they all belong in NOAD only...hence my question. I can't say for sure, at least not now, but the number of missing results may be in thousands. Here are some examples:
a peg to hang a matter on
a prophet is not without honor, but (or save) in his own country
around (or round) the clock
as cold as ice (or stone or the grave, etc.)
as plain as the nose on one's face
at daggers drawn
a/the lesser evil (or the lesser of two evils)
at risk to oneself (or something)
a wrench (or monkey wrench) in the works
Eagerly looking forward to your reply! If what I'm inferring is correct and if no solution is offered anytime soon, I would have to go through a lot of manual exercise.
Best Answer
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AmosDuveen Member, Administrator, Moderator admin
Hi @shahood,
Remeber when I said that, for the sake of argument, is is easier to think of ODE and NOAD as being separate? I'm pretty sure that the same applies here. GB English (from ODE) is always the default, unless you apply the
regions=us
filter.
Answers
Oh dear, u saved me a lot of trouble. I was looking for a separate section to input the region. This region and regions thingy is not for me, I guess.
Thanks a lot!
Hi @AmosDuveen
Out of all the headwords declared as 'idiomatic' in both datasets, I found the under mentioned exceptions:
Following 6 phrases are declared as 'idiomatic' in ODE but not in NOAD:
all hands on deck
be off
break something open
gang agley
stop payment
too much of a good thing
Following 6 phrases are declared as 'idiomatic' in NOAD but not in ODE:
beg off
be thrown back on
be wrapped up in
bum someone out
lay over
walk all over
I pretty sure it is done on purpose but still wanted a confirmation on that so that data is displayed in an accurate way.
Hi @AmosDuveen
Waiting for your feedback please!
Hi @shahood,
Thanks for the reminder; I had actually forwarded the issue to our editorial team to have a look at but forgot to acknowledge you, so apologies.