A proper name, most famously associated with the Merriam-Webster dictionary company. It can refer to the publishing house or dictionary itself.
From the surname Merriam, derived from the Welsh personal name Meirion or Middle English 'mery' meaning pleasant. The Merriam Company was founded by George and Charles Merriam in 1831 in Massachusetts.
The Merriam brothers revolutionized dictionary publishing by purchasing the rights to Noah Webster's dictionary after his death and continuously updating it. Their commitment to descriptive rather than prescriptive language documentation helped establish American English as distinct from British English in lexicography.
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