10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions

It has long been possible to pop up a definition of a word by pressing Control-Command-D, but in 10.6, a familiar behavior has been added.

After pressing Control-Command-D, you can release the D key. As long as you hold down Command and Control, the definition stays popped up, but goes away when you release those keys. This is consistent with the dashboard and other click-and-hold-to-display-temporarily features.

[robg adds: Sadly, the ability to customize the Control-Command-D shortcut has been lost in 10.6. It used to appear in the Keyboard Shortcuts tab of the Keyboard & Mouse System Preferences panel, but no longer. Yes, there's still a "Look up in Dictionary" entry there, but that's the one for the dictionary Service, not the pop-up dictionary. If anyone figures out how to change this shortcut, please let us know -- submit a hint, post a comment, etc. I've looked at the app itself, too, and there's no option there. In 10.5, I had it set to F7, which I found much simpler than using the Control-Command-D shortcut.]

<key>70</key> <dict> <key>enabled</key> <true/> <key>value</key> <dict> <key>parameters</key> <array> <integer>65535</integer> <integer>98</integer> <integer>0</integer> </array> <key>type</key> <string>standard</string> </dict> </dict>

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10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions
Authored by: phlops on Wed, Sep 9 2009 at 7:57AM PDT

This was the case in 10.4 and 10.5 as well.

---
/phil

10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions
Authored by: stephen.m on Thu, Sep 10 2009 at 7:39AM PDT

My old user-defined shortcut f5 still works, sort of—it works the first time and once only in Mail (then not again until I restart the app). Doesn't work at all in any other app I've tried, including Safari. Cntl-cmd-d doesn't work at all.

10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions
Authored by: fresler on Wed, Sep 9 2009 at 8:23AM PDT

I also discovered that if you keep the control-command keys held down and mouse over other words the dictionary pops up for each word. Pretty cool!

10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions
Authored by: vertigo on Wed, Sep 9 2009 at 8:55AM PDT

Hah! Now that is a neat trick.

10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions
Authored by: bnew on Wed, Sep 9 2009 at 8:33AM PDT

This behavior is not new to 10.6, it's existed at least since 10.4.

10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions
Authored by: asmeurer on Wed, Sep 9 2009 at 9:03AM PDT

Indeed, if you follow the link there, you will see the following:

Also, if you keep Command-Control pressed, the popup definition window will follow the mouse, showing a definition of any word the mouse visits.

10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions
Authored by: jcbeckman on Wed, Sep 9 2009 at 8:55AM PDT

I also programmed my Dictionary to F7 in the past, and that still works. But I can't find a way to change it.

10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions
Authored by: foomanchu99 on Wed, Sep 9 2009 at 9:45AM PDT

To map the F7 key to the pop-up word definition, add the following:

to your

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.symbolichotkeys.plist

You can remove the

<key>70</key>

dictionary to revert the pop-up word definition key bindings to its default, ctrl+command+d.

10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions
Authored by: foomanchu99 on Wed, Sep 9 2009 at 9:47AM PDT

And oh yeah, you'll need to restart for the changes to take affect.

10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions
Authored by: richiesmit on Wed, Sep 9 2009 at 3:48PM PDT

Thank you. Like many others, I'd like to say to Apple: "Hey! I was using that!"

10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions
Authored by: drmacnut on Thu, Sep 10 2009 at 2:15PM PDT

Thanks foomanchu99!

10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions
Authored by: S on Wed, Sep 9 2009 at 9:53AM PDT

Since upgrading my shortcut is stuck on what it was before: F6. (And F5, my Spaces shortcut, has been mapped to autocomplete. Grrr.)

10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions
Authored by: lari on Wed, Sep 9 2009 at 11:47AM PDT

If you relase Control-Comand-D before the Popup shows up it will stay visible until you click on the mouse.

10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions
Authored by: chengkai318 on Wed, Sep 9 2009 at 4:01PM PDT

To gain control-cmd-D back, one can take the following steps

1. From System Preference select Keyboard Preference
2. Select Keyboard Shortcuts tab
3. Scroll down to find Searching, and expand the tree
4. Check the Look Up Dictionary, and click the far right space, and it will allow you to enter key combination you want, in this case you can use control-cmd-D, which will get you back the good old shortcut key back.

This will actually work on all the applications

10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions
Authored by: stephen.m on Thu, Sep 10 2009 at 8:32AM PDT

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