vimdict

a shell script for reading definition of words and phrases, and looking up dictionaries, using dict.

it requires dict and vim (or nvim, or any other vim-compatible editor).

install vimdict

archlinux users can use the AUR package (vimdict-git)[https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/opener-git]:

$ paru -S vimdict-git

otherwise:

$ git clone https://github.com/soystemd/vimdict
$ cd vimdict
$ sudo make install

while viewing definitions in vim, you can press shift+k on any word to look up the definition of that word in a new vim buffer (making use of vim's keyword lookup feature).

see vimdict -h for more info.

install dict

1. install dictd from your distro's package manager.
2. add server dict.org at the top of /etc/dict/dict.conf.

now you can get word/phrase definitions by running:

$ dict <word-or-phrase>

provided you have an internet connection.

offline dictionaries

with the above config, dict gets definitions from dict.org, which of course requires an internet connection. but if you want to have offline dictionaries:

1. install dict-gcide and dict-wn (or any dictionary package you like).
2. add your dictionaries to /etc/dict/dictd.conf.

example entry for dict-gcide:

database gcide {
	data /usr/share/dictd/gcide.dict.dz
	index /usr/share/dictd/gcide.index
}

3. start dictd:

$ sudo systemctl start dictd.service

4. add server localhost at the top of /etc/dict/dict.conf.

now dict will get definitions from the locally running dictd server.