Oxford Dictionary of English [Hardcover]

For many speakers and learners of English, the word "Oxford" spells authority about language. The second edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English is no exception. Any dictionary which comes from Oxford University Press (whose origins lie in the Middle Ages, the foundation of the university and the dawn of printing) tends to be in a different league from its competitors.

Based on the "Oxford English Corpus", language databases, which amount to "hundreds of millions of words of written and spoken English in machine-readable form", this hefty single-volume dictionary has four million words of text. That includes 355,000 words phrases and definitions, 12,000 encyclopaedic entries and 68,000 explanations. The statistics are mind blowing.

Like all good dictionaries it's bang up to date. "Greasy spoon", "data smog" and "WMD" are all here, scrupulously glossed. So, of course are wonderful, old, near-obsolete words like "editrice" and "bouffant". Plenty of proper names get in too. Did you know that a "Queensland blue" is a cattle dog with a dark speckled body as opposed to a "Queensland nut" which is another name for the macadamia nut?

Like other new dictionaries the Oxford Dictionary of English provides boxed usage notes which point up, say, the difference between "pedal" and "peddle" or discuss the vexed old question of whether infinitives may be split. More unusual are the 14 detailed appendices on, for example, English in electronic communications, collective nouns and proof-reading marks. Most useful of all is probably the "Guide to Good English" which manages to be both admirably concise and immaculately clear. --Susan Elkin

"For all its entries, the Oxford has good clear definitions, excellent descriptions of word origins, and plenty of usage boxes." (Richard Bell, Writing Magazine ) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

The New Oxford Dictionary of English was first published in 1998 and quickly established itself as the foremost single-volume authority on the English language. This is a major new edition, now without the New in the title, but with all the features that brought world-wide acclaim to the first publication. The Oxford Dictionary of English is at the forefront of language research, focusing on English as it is used today, informed by the most up-to-date evidence and the latest research from the Oxford English Corpus. The dictionary is unique in that it places the central and most frequent meanings of each word first, followed by secondary and technical senses, slang, idioms, and historical and archaic senses. There are over 500 boxed usage notes, giving guidance on all aspects of the language and backed up by extensive analysis of 100s of millions of words of real English. Featuring 355,000 words, phrases, and definitions, this dictionary offers the most comprehensive coverage of English as it is actually used in the twenty-first century. There is also a brand-new set of appendices, covering topics including countries, heads of state, and chemical elements.