Oxford Dictionary May Tweak Definition of Marriage

Conservatives have been warning for years that gay couples were trying to "redefine" marriage—and now they may literally have. The Oxford English Dictionary has announced that it will be reviewing its definition of marriage, which currently refers to "a formal union of a man and a woman," the Oxford University Press tells the Gay Star News. The move comes as gay marriage is now legal in the OED's native Britain.

"We continually monitor the words in our dictionaries ... in order to consider what revisions and updates we may need to make ... paying particular [attention] to those words whose usage is shifting, so yes, this will happen with marriage," a press spokeswoman said. She also pointed out, however, that the OED preserves and includes all historical definitions of words, so the old man-and-woman meaning will, in some sense, live on. (More gay marriage stories.)