Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Collins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary was first published in 1987 by HarperCollins under the title Collins COBUILD English Language Dictionary. It has since been issued in ten editions, with the most recent appearing in 2023.
The Collins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary provides definitions written as full sentences rather than abbreviated phrases. Example sentences for nearly every word meaning are drawn from a text corpus called COBUILD, reflecting actual language use rather than invented examples.
COBUILD is a text corpus of actual English usage that underpins the example sentences in the Collins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary. Every example in the dictionary is drawn from this corpus rather than constructed by editors.
Ten editions have been published between 1987 and 2023. Each edition appeared under a slightly different title, from Collins COBUILD English Language Dictionary in 1987 to Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's Dictionary in 2023.
Yes. The Collins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary of American English was first published in 2006. A second edition followed in 2016, and a third edition appeared in 2023 under the title Collins COBUILD Advanced American English Dictionary with ISBN 978-0-00-860778-4.
Some editions of the Collins COBUILD Advanced Dictionary were packaged with a digital version on CD-ROM alongside the printed book.