The Concise Oxford Dictionary - Hardcover

Pearsall, Judy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019860436X ISBN 13: 9780198604365

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2001

Synopsis

This dictionary comprehensively covers the vocabulary of the English-speaking world. It features hundreds of new words and meanings with a special focus on fast-changing areas of the language such as new technology, e-commerce, fashion, and youth culture. In addition there is a 40-page section including information on countries and nationalities, alphabets and accents, weights and measures, and a games and puzzles wordfinder. There is also a grammar guide and a section covering the language emerging through new technologies such as SMS.

About this title

Review

Dictionary [Oxford, Concise] n. a book that lists the words of a language in alphabetical order and gives their meaning, or their equivalent in a different language. Oxford n. a type of lace-up shoe with a low heel. Origin C19th: named after the city of Oxford. Concise adj. giving a lot of information clearly and in a few words.

Compiled from the world's biggest language research programme, Oxford lexicographers have rewritten all 220,000 entries in the latest and greatest edition of The Concise Oxford English Dictionary. The very first edition of this dictionary, published in 1911, drew on the content and method of Editor James Murray's revolutionary lifework, the Oxford English Dictionary, the vivid history of which is captured in Simon Winchester's bestselling linguistic detective story of words, murder and madness, The Surgeon of Crowthorne:

"Other dictionaries in other languages took longer to make; but none was greater, grander or had more authority than this. The greatest effort since the invention of printing. The longest sensational serial ever written."

As its name suggests, the Concise Oxford Dictionary provides a streamlined compendium of easily accessible edited highlights from its more cumbersome ancestor. Arduously edited from longhand submissions, a typewritten manuscript and handset on a letter press, the very first edition was a labour of love. Nearly a century later, this new tenth edition draws extensively on new technology--including the citation database of the Oxford World Reading Programme which houses approximately 50 million words--to present an inclusive reference guide to living, breathing English. In its own concise definition of its method:

"Each entry is built around the core sense or senses of the word in current English, as based on rigorous analysis of large amounts of real, modern evidence available in computerized form."

So no need to scrabble for other dictionaries, this is the last word in quick authoritative reference, and a lexical luxury for etymologists. --Rachel Holmes

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 019860436X
• ISBN 13: 9780198604365
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 1728