Reference: Language

This work is the most authoritative and up-to-date dictionary of linguistics available. Written by Peter Matthews, Professor of Linguistics at Cambridge University, the book provides concise and informative entries across the whole field of linguistics from phonetics to formal semantics and includes world-wide coverage of languages and language families.

This dictionary features more than 7,000 sign entries, plus cross-references; more than 12,000 illustrations; 2,000 more signs than any other ASL dictionary, including dozens of signs that have only recently come into usage.
1) Arranged alphabetically to enhance the usability
2) Other features include a pronunciation guide for English language glosses and a foreword to the original edition by the late Mary E. Switzer, United States Commissioner of Vocational Rehabilitation.
3) American Sign Language (ASL) is the third most frequently used language in the United States after English and Spanish.
4) ASL has its own distinct grammar and syntax. The entries appearing herein represent signs, not words, and the illustrations of the hand, arm, and facial expressions will aid the reader in forming the signs.
5) This book is indispensable to deaf people and their relatives, friends, and associates. Social workers, otologists, hearing and speech therapists, audiologists, and rehabilitation workers have long considered this book a major addition to their libraries.

With over 30,000 entries, Chambers Dictionary of Etymology is a prestigious and scholarly dictionary that explains where English words come from. An important etymological resource for the expert, it is also a useful reference source for the general reader.

Have any idea where the word "nerd" came from, or "twerp"? This dictionary starts where ordinary references beg off. Discover that bad hair day was originated by California teenagers in the early 1990s. Learn that bikini comes from the name of a Pacific island used in the 1940s for atomic bomb tests. Learn why a flight data recorder is called a black box--even though it's orange.

This handy, practical, and browsable A-to-Z reference tells you all you need to know to understand, pronounce, and appreciate the nearly 2,000 foreign words and phrases commonly used by speakers and writers of English.
1) The Browser's Dictionary covers a wide variety of subject areas and includes loan-words from more than sixty languages around the world, such as Latin (desideratum) * the romance languages (rapprochement, macho, imbroglio) * German (gestalt) * Russian (gulag) * Hebrew (shibboleth) * Yiddish (shtick) * Persian (tambura) * Hindi (purdah) * Arabic (loofah) * Hawaiian (kanaka) * Creole French (zydeco) * and Japanese (netsuke).
2) In addition, each entry provides a guide to pronunciation using easy-to-understand transcriptions from ordinary English.
3) Comprehensive literal and idiomatic definitions.
4) The word's source language, as well as its literal meaning.

The definitive record of the English language. Provides authoritative and in-depth historical coverage of words.

As stated in the publisher's note, the intent is to combine the essential features of a dictionary and an encyclopedia, so that words and phrases would be defined but also shown with the things that they stand for.

This is an extraordinary intellectual effort by Messrs. Skeat and Mayhew. Provides assistance in understanding words used in works by Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Benjamin Jonson, and others.
1) Some citations to origins of words in Old English or Middle English.
2) The Bibliography runs 10 pages, single-spaced. A must-have reference book for any student of the literature of the Tudor or Stuart time periods.

Prepared by a distinguished staff of scholars who rely on a bank of close to 15 million citations documenting word usage, this invaluable resource is a treasury of essential information about English that includes 160,000 entries covering the most widely used words in the English vocabulary. "This remains the same great college-level desk dictionary that so many of us grew up with and continue to depend on." -- Reference & Research Book News.

Betty Kirkpatrick has compiled an exhaustive dictionary--a must for writers, crossword puzzle buffs, and anyone who is intrigued by language. 1) Sample entries from "Clichés" - "Let the cat out of the bag" is an idiom cliché 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 bag, by which time it was too late.
2) "Bite the bullet" is an idiom cliché meaning to steel oneself to accept something distressing. In origin, it probably refers to the days before anesthesia, when soldiers wounded in battle were given a lead bullet to bite on to brace themselves against the pain of surgery.
3) "Fly off the handle" is an idiom cliché meaning to lose one's temper. Originally American, the expression has its origin in an ax or hammer, the handle of which becomes loosened and flies off after it has struck a blow.

Designed to help advanced students master spoken and written English as it is actually used. The groundbreaking new dictionary provides in-depth and up-to-date coverage of basic English vocabulary, grammar, and usage.
1) Outstanding features include nearly 100,000 words and phrases, more than 160,000 usage examples, more than 22,000 idioms, verbal collocations, and commonly used phrases, and more than 1,000 original drawings-including 16 pages of full-color art.
2) Abundant supplemental information includes 25 pages of grammar.

Drawing on the expertise of scores of American scholars and advisors, The New Oxford American Dictionary sets the standard of excellence for lexicography in this country.
1) Oxford's American editors drew on our 200-million-word databank of contemporary North American English, plus the unrivaled citation files of the world-renowned Oxford English Dictionary.
2) Each entry plainly shows the major meaning or meanings of the word, plus any related senses, arranged in intuitive constellations of connected meanings.
3) Definitions are supplemented by illustrative, in-context examples of actual usage.
4) This major edition of The New Oxford American Dictionary includes a guide to the pronunciations on every page, a new etymology essay by Anatoly Liberman, completely updated and revised maps, and more than a thousand new entries, covering everything new in our language from low-carb to war blog and beyond.

Perhaps the first truly important book about the divergence of American English from its British roots, this survey of the language as it was spoken-and as it was changing-at the beginning of the 20th century comes via one of its most inveterate watchers, journalist, critic, and editor HENRY LOUIS MENCKEN (1880-1956).
1) Mencken turns his keen ear on: • the general character of American English • loan-words and non-English influences • expletives and forbidden words • American slang • the future of the language • and much, much more.
2) Anyone fascinated by words will find this a thoroughly enthralling look at the most changeable language on the face of the planet.

Pronunciation key; index of German names; German abbreviations; chemical elements; irregular verbs; weights and measures; English to German; English abbreviations; index of English names; strong and anomalous verbs. Note: The book may not contain the fetching dust jacket shown in the photo.

Dutch, like English, is one of the Germanic languages. It stands about midway between English and German and is the closest to English of any of the major Germanic languages. Includes a list of strong and irregular Dutch verbs, a list of strong and irregular English verbs, a Dutch-English dictionary, and an English-Dutch dictionary. Note: The book may not contain the dust jacket shown in this photo.

For students and travelers alike. Preface, introduction, text of French words alphabetized, with English words and meaning in the definition, and English words alphabetized, with French words and meaning in the definition. Note: Book may no longer contain the dust jacket shown in the photo.

Includes Italian alphabet, abbreviations, an outline of verbs, Italian-English, English-Italian, Appendix, and Irregular verbs. Note: Book may no longer contain dust jacket shown in the photo.

Providing the richest coverage of Spanish from around the world, this dictionary was compiled by an expert team of Spanish and English lexicographers working in their own language. The Oxford Spanish Dictionary is the result of over ten year's research and covers over 24 varieties of Spanish as it is written and spoken throughout the Spanish-speaking world.
1) New to this edition is a guide to life and culture in the Spanish- and English- speaking worlds.
2) This guide covers a wide range of topics: from the political and educational systems to key events in the calendar and how they are celebrated.
3) It is an ideal reference for University students, as well as translators and language professionals.

Includes extensive introduction, abbreviations used, then English to Russian words, alphabetized. Note: The book may not include the dust jacket shown in the photo.

Includes introduction, then an alphabetized list of Russian words, with their English meaning.

Contains a list of abbreviations, a preface, a contribution, a Coptic, Syriace, and Arabic Alphabet, Text, and Grammatical and analytical appendix.

The Hans Wehr Dictionary of modern written Arabic. Includes abbreviations, introduction, then text of a dictionary in Arabic word to English meaning.

The Oxford Essential Arabic Dictionary is a compact Arabic-English and English-Arabic dictionary that offers coverage of all the essential day-to-day vocabulary of both languages, with over 16,000 words, phrases, and translations.
1) This compact paperback is easy to use and authoritative, making it ideal for students, travelers, and anyone else who needs a portable and reliable resource in English and Arabic.
2) The vocabulary is completely up to date and includes high-profile words and phrases not found in most of the completing dictionaries of this size and larger, including such words as broadband, browser, cell phone, DVD recorder, and flight attendant.
3) Designed with both native English and Arabic speakers in mind, the Dictionary's supplementary sections offer guidance on Arabic verbs and irregular verbs.
4) The book provides phonetic transcriptions for each English entry as well as phonetic respelling for irregular Arabic pronunciations.
5) Arabic entries are also listed according to alphabetical order, not by root, in order to make word searches more user-friendly.
6) Additional supplements give help with tricky language areas such as numerals and expressions of time.

For both English speakers learning Mandarin Chinese and Mandarin Chinese speakers learning English. It has been produced using the latest lexicographic methods and the unique dictionary resources of Oxford University Press in Oxford and Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press in Beijing, together with an international body of expert advisors.
1) The Oxford Chinese Dictionary contains over 300,000 words and phrases and 370,000 translations, including tens of thousands of example phrases illustrating key points of construction and usage.
2) There are over 300 cultural notes giving essential information about many aspects of life and culture in the Chinese- and English-speaking worlds.
3) Extensive supplementary material and over 50 pages of lexical and usage notes contain helpful extra information about Chinese and English.
4) The organization and layout have been designed for maximum clarity and accessibility.
5) All Chinese headwords are given in Simplified Chinese characters, and headwords and compounds are shown with Pinyin transcriptions.
6) All the English headwords are also shown with phonetics so that the learner of English can pronounce each one correctly.