[f. Gr. λεξικο- LEXICON + -γραφία -GRAPHY.] The writing or compilation of a lexicon or dictionary; ‘the art or practice of writing dictionaries’ (J.).
1680. Dalgarno, Deaf & Dumb Man’s Tutor, vii. 59. I shall therefore only make some few reflexions upon Etymology and Syntax, supposing Orthography to belong to Lexicography.
1755. Johnson, Dict., Pref. B ij. Such is the fate of hapless lexicography, that not only darkness, but light, impedes and distresses it; things may be not only too little, but too much known, to be happily illustrated.
1791. Boswell, Johnson (1848), 58/2. He … exerted his talents in occasional composition very different from Lexicography.
1878. N. Amer. Rev., CXXVII. 157. A master-work of lexicography.
1900. Expositor, Oct., 270. Hebrew grammar and lexicography flourish a little later than Arabic grammar and lexicography.
