It’s that time of year—when dictionaries harvest their new words.

Merriam-Webster, for instance, reaped a few doozies last week, including “F-bomb” and “sexting.” Now it’s time for the Oxford Online Dictionaries (which unveils a fresh batch of words every quarter). Among its inductees: “mwahahaha,” “lolz,” and “ridic.”

Why are those “words” in the dictionary? Because of research, apparently.

A press release from Online Dictionaries stated that research teams identified these terms as having become part of modern usage.

“The rich variety of new words from all manner of sources and levels of formality— popular culture, science, technology, politics, etc.—is striking in this update,” said Online Dictionaries chief Glynnis Keir in the press release. “All [of the words are] carefully researched from evidence of the part these words, phrases, and acronyms currently play in our language.”

Last June, Oxford Dictionaries Online—which is the Web-based companion to the Oxford English Dictionary—added “NSFW,” “infographic,” the heart symbol, and more.

Here’s a sampling of the entries this time around, plus their definitions:

• douche, n. [new sense]: an obnoxious or contemptible person. Also douchey, adj.

• e-cigarette, n.: another term for electronic cigarette.

• manage expectations, phr.: seek to prevent disappointment by establishing in advance what can realistically be achieved or delivered by a project, undertaking, course of action, etc.

• group hug, n.: a number of people gathering together to hug each other, typically to provide support or express solidarity.

• hat tip, n.: (in online contexts) used as an acknowledgement that someone has brought a piece of information to the writer’s attention, or provided the inspiration for a piece of writing.

• ridic, adj.: ridiculous (abbrev.).

• takeaway, n. [new sense]: a key fact, point, or idea to be remembered, typically one emerging from a discussion or meeting.

• tweeps, pl. n.: a person’s followers on the social networking site Twitter.

• vajazzle, v.: adorn the pubic area (of a woman) with crystals, glitter, or other decoration.

• Wikipedian, n.: a person who contributes to the collaboratively written online encyclopedia Wikipedia, esp. on a regular basis.

To see the full list, click here.

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