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How many words did Samuel Johnson include in A Dictionary of the English Language?

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Painting of Samuel Johnson showing Johnson seated at a desk with a quill in hand and papers before him, wearing a brown coat and white wig. — Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson, oil on canvas by Sir Joshua Reynolds, c. 1756; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Samuel Johnson included approximately 43,500 words in his monumental work, A Dictionary of the English Language, which was first published in 1755.1

While this total was only slightly higher than the number of words found in the dictionary by Nathan Bailey, Johnson’s selection was noted for its superior quality and the keen judgment he applied as a man of letters. The dictionary is also celebrated for its 118,000 illustrative quotations, which Johnson used to support his definitions and demonstrate the various shades of meaning for the words included.12