Author Description

Product DescriptionThe ultimate authority on the usage and meaning of English words and phrases, unparalleled in its accuracy and comprehensiveness, theOxford English Dictionary is the supreme reference work for anyone who loves the language. Now, this greatest of all dictionaries appears in a new Second Edition--the first up-to-date coverage of words and meanings in one alphabetical sequence since the original dictionary was published in 1928.The result of an enormously ambitious, on-going project to computerize the dictionary, the Second Edition integrates the originalOED with the four volumes of theSupplement. Published between 1972 and 1986, thisSupplement was produced to bring the Dictionary up to date, to extend its coverage to the language of the mid-20th century, and to reflect the ever-broadening international nature of the English. In addition to merging the originalOED and theSupplement, which greatly enhances the convenience of using the Dictionary, the Second Edition includes some 5,000 new words and meanings--fromperestroika toyuppification--which have entered the language quite recently. It has also been completely redesigned and reset to enhance its legibility: the typeface is more open, the headwords stand out more clearly, and the paper used is brighter, with greater opacity. Still another new feature is the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet to represent pronunciation, replacing the system devised by Sir James Murray, the first editor of theOED. By employing what is now the universally accepted standard guide to pronunciation, the Second Edition greatly extends the usefulness of this vital feature.The key feature of theOED, of course, remains intact: its unique historical focus. Accompanying each definition is a chronologically arranged group of quotations that illustrate the evolution of meaning from the word's first recorded usage and show the contexts in which it can be used. The quotations are drawn from a huge variety of sources--literary, scholarly, technical, popular--and represent authors as disparate as Geoffrey Chaucer and Erica Jong, William Shakespeare and Raymond Chandler, Charles Darwin and John Le Carre. In all, nearly 2.5 million quotations--illustrating over a half-million words--can be found in theOED. Other features distinguishing the entries in the dictionary are the most authoritative definitions, detailed information on pronunciation, variant spellings throughout each word's history, extensive treatment of etymology, and details of area of usage and of any regional characteristics (including geographical origins).A dictionary like no other in the world, theOED has been described as "among the wonders of the world of scholarship." With the publication of the Second Edition, that statement is today more apt that it ever has been.Review'It is, of course, the second edition of the greatest dictionary of all'William Russell, Glasgow Herald'The dimensions of the dictionary are awe-inspiring. A wonderfully versatile research tool'The Economist'The alpha, the omega, and some 464,000 more words besides. Incomparable.'The Sydney Morning Herald'a near miracle of data processing... a thorough-going revision of the greatest dictionary of the English language... OED2 is a work that no serious researcher can afford to ignore'Peter Baker, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, Notes and Queries, March 1991About the AuthorJ. A. Simpson worked on theSupplement to the Oxford English Dictionary and prepared theConcise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, which was published in 1982.E. S. C. Weiner also served on the editorial staff of theSupplement and compiled theOxford Guide to English Usage, which was published in 1983.