1) the curly arrows question was to determine if they were aliases
you say none were to be seen, so I am assuming the Dictionary that you dragged to the Trash was not an alias
2) Your statement about the Trash alarms me. Do you have any automatic processes on your computer that may be creating updated files or duplicates?
3) Does Dictionary appear in your Dock? Does it now work? In what way was it not working before?
I ask this because: if it wasn't working before when you tried to click on a word in a document and get a definition, this may be because the previous time you used it you quit from it instead of closing. Dictionary is aberrant in this respect, always close windows instead of quitting. (Don't do this for anything else!)
But if Dictionary wasn't working before when you clicked on it in the Dock, it may have been because the alias link was broken. (The icons in the dock are essentially aliases.)
I suggest that you look at some file (or files) that appears multiple times in the trash in this manner:
- open a new Finder window on your desktop (click on an empty place on the desktop and press command-N)
- ignore the contents of the window, but type the exact name of the file in search bar at the top of the window
for example let's do this for Dictionary
- you should now have a Finder window filled with everything on your computer that has the word 'Dictionary' associated with it EXCEPT for the ones in the trash
- refine this by clicking on the buttons 'This Mac' and 'File Name' ... you should now only see the ones that actually have 'Dictionary' as part of their name
HOW MANY OF THEM DO YOU HAVE?
For Dictionary you should have one, identified as an Application under Kind. If you click once on it in the list, the path bar should show that it is in the Applications folder. (If you cannot see the path bar at the bottom of the finder window then go to the View menu and select Show Path Bar.)
If you do NOT have a Dictionary in the Applications folder, then drag the copy out of the Trash, make sure it is Kind=Application, and drag it into the Applications folder (open a new Finder window, click on Applications in the bar on the left of the window, now drag the Applications icon into this folder).
For other items in the Trash, in the Search results window if you have too many results you can refine your search by clicking on the + underneath the search bar and adding more search criteria. I suggest you do this for files that appear in the Trash but that you do not recall trashing and that are important to you. If you cannot find an up-to-date copy of them elsewhere on your computer, then you need to rescue them from the Trash.
