Signing in

With user name and password

If you have your own subscription to OED Online, type your user name and password in the fields under Subscriber account.

Your password is case-sensitive.

If you have problems signing in, or have forgotten your password, please consult Subscriber services.

From a subscribing institution

If you are signing in to OED Online from an institution which has a subscription, or if your institution uses a referring URL system, you should enter the site automatically.

If you are returned to the home page, please consult your system administrator or librarian.

Via Athens

If your institution uses Eduserv's Athens service, follow the link to Sign in via your institution to reach your Athens sign in area.

Via Shibboleth

If your institution uses Shibboleth to access its resources, follow the link to Sign in via your institution, select your institution from the dropdown list, and then enter your details within your institution’s sign in area.

With your library card

Some libraries allow remote access to websites to which they subscribe. Your librarian can tell you if that option is available to you.

If your library does allow remote access, enter your library card number in the field under Library account. If you encounter difficulties entering the site using your library card number, please consult your librarian.

Problems

Personal subscriptions only allow one user per session, so the concurrency limit is 1. When you close your browser window without clicking “sign out”, the site will automatically prevent you from signing in again until your session clears, usually after about 20 minutes. When you attempt to sign in again before this happens, you will receive an error message stating that your concurrency limit (of 1) has been reached. To prevent this ensure that when you are finished with your session you sign out completely by clicking on your Access account name (at the top right hand side of the page) and select Sign out in the dropdown menu. Failure to do so may result in error messages and temporary loss of access until your session resets itself.

If you are not a subscriber and tried to follow a cross-reference from one of the Words of the Day, please use your browser's back button to return to what you were reading.

If you still have a problem, contact your system administrator or go to Subscriber services.

Timing out

Every time you sign in to OED Online you begin a session – a period during which the subscription system recognizes you as a user. If you sign out, close your browser, spend some time in the public pages of the site, or simply do nothing on the OED Online site for a while, your session will time out. If this happens, you will be asked to sign in again.

If you are using your own computer, you can minimize the inconvenience by setting your browser to remember your credentials, for example by accepting the offer to remember your username and password.