Based on evidence from the Oxford English Corpus--the same database that informs the Oxford English Dictionary--the Color Oxford English Dictionary provides an up-to-date selection of 90,000 words, phrases, and definitions. Definitions are given in a clear, simple style, avoiding technical language, and are easier to understand than ever before, plus there are hundreds of notes on spelling and...

These are only a few of the questions language lovers, linguists, and lay readers will be able to answer with the Dictionary of Languages--an easy-to-navigate, authoritative guide to the world's languages and language groups at...

The use of computers to understand words continues to be an area of burgeoning research. Electric Words is the first general survey of and introduction to the entire range of work in lexical linguistics and corpora -- the study of such on-line resources as dictionaries and other texts -- in the broader fields of natural-language processing and artificial intelligence. The authors integrate and synthesize the goals and methods of computational lexicons in relation to AI's sister disciplines of philosophy, linguistics, and psychology. One of the underlying messages of the book is that...

Betty Kirkpatrick has complied and exhaustive dictionary--a must for writers, crossword puzzle buffs, and anyone who is intrigued by language.

Sample entries from Cliches

Let the cat out of the bag is an idiom cliche meaning to reveal a secret. In origin it refers allegedly to a fairground tick by which traders sold unwary buyers a cat in a bag, assuring them it was a pig. The buyers did not realize their mistake until they let the cat out of the back, by which time it was too late.

Bite the bullet is an idiom cliche meaning to steel oneself to accept...

How does a vicar differ from a rector? Is a marquis a lord? Where are the Home Counties? Is someone who is dead chuffed happy or angry? Americans reading British literature, come upon such unfamiliar terms and generally have to rely on contextual clues. For the legions of readers of Dickens and Trollope, of Agatha Christie, John LeCarre, and P.D. James, of Muriel Spark and Iris Murdoch, of Noel Coward and Tom Stoppard--to name a few--as well as viewers of British film and television imports, this helpful and entertaining guide defines the kinds of things that British authors thought needed...

Recent studies report that Japanese is the second most productive source of new loanwords to English. Such studies indicate that English-speaking countries are paying more attention to Japan than ever before. This dictionary lists and defines hundreds of terms borrowed from Japanese that are now used in English-language publications. Entries provide variant spellings, pronunciation, etymological information, definitions, and illustrative quotations. These quotations were collected from books, newspapers, magazines, novels, texts, advertisements, and databases published or distributed in...

No other nonhuman source has served as the basis for more metaphors than animals. Speaking of Animals is a dictionary of animal metaphors that are current in American English. It is comprehensive, historical, and metaphor-based. Each entry refers to the other dictionaries that catalog that same metaphor, and the dates of first appearance in writing are supplied, where possible, for both the metaphor and the name of the source. The main text is organized alphabetically by metaphor rather than by animal or animal behavior; all the metaphors are classified according to their animal...

Random House Webster's Dictionary is your one-stop reference book. Based on the...