This is a trimmed down version of sdictviewer to be used as a library. I've made no modifications to it beyond ripping out files that weren't needed.
http://sdictviewer.sourceforge.net/
git clone git://github.com/jmhobbs/sdictviewer-lib.git
python setup.py install
import sys
import sdictviewer.formats.dct.sdict as sdict
import sdictviewer.dictutil
dictionary = sdict.SDictionary( 'webster_1913.dct' )
dictionary.load()
start_word = sys.argv[1]
found = False
for item in dictionary.get_word_list_iter( start_word ):
try:
if start_word == str( item ):
instance, definition = item.read_articles()[0]
print "%s: %s" % ( item, definition )
found = True
break
except:
continue
if not found:
print "No definition for '%s'." % start_word
dictionary.close()
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation version 3 of the License.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
Copyright (C) 2006-2008 Igor Tkach