The Merriam-Webster Dictionary API is made up of several API endpoints with almost identical syntax. Examples of the API calls are:

• http://www.dictionaryapi.com/api/v1/references/sd4/xml/baseball?key=YOUR-KEY-GOES-HERE
• http://www.dictionaryapi.com/api/v1/references/collegiate/xml/hypocrite?key=YOUR-KEY-GOES-HERE

This YQL table makes accessing the different dictionaries more straight forward by moving them into one API, with different dictionaries. YQL calls look like this:

SELECT * FROM dictionaryapi WHERE dictionary='collegiate' AND word='hypocrite' AND api_key='YOUR-KEY-GOES-HERE';	
SELECT * FROM dictionaryapi WHERE dictionary='medical' AND word='doctor' AND api_key='YOUR-KEY-GOES-HERE';

The dictionaries that can be accessed via YQL are:

• collegiate => Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary with Audio
• thesaurus => Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Thesaurus
• spanish => Merriam-Webster's Spanish-English Dictionary with Audio
• medical => Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary with Audio
• learners => Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary with Audio
• sd2 => Merriam-Webster's Elementary Dictionary with Audio (Grades 3-5)
• sd3 => Merriam-Webster's Intermediate Dictionary with Audio (Grades 6-8)
• sd4 => Merriam-Webster's School Dictionary with Audio (Grades 9-11)

USE "https://raw.github.com/spier/yql-tables/dictionaryapi/dictionaryapi/dictionaryapi.xml" AS dictionaryapi;
SELECT * FROM dictionaryapi WHERE dictionary='collegiate' AND word='hypocrite' AND api_key='YOUR-KEY-GOES-HERE';