English Dictionaries

some types in the Lee Library Reference collection . . .

Fall 2009

English Dictionaries

“unabridged” dictionaries

large, supposedly exhaustive, complete, lacking/omitting nothing: including versions by Random House, and the “classic” (1958) Webster’s 3^rd ed. (“the cube”), etc.
 
historical dictionaries (dictionaries that show the changes in English)

• Samuel Johnson’s dictionary from 1755 (perhaps the first English dictionary)
• Webster’s 1828 ed. in facsimile (especially helpful for LDS Church history, US history, etc.)
• The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) – 2^nd ed. (1989), 20 vols. in print and online

 usage dictionaries

The Cambridge Guide to English Usage / Pam Peters. Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2004.   [Hum Ref. PE 1464 .P48 2004]
 
etymologies (word roots, origins)
The Word : The Dictionary that Reveals the Hebrew Source of English / Isaac E. Mozeson. New York, N.Y. : Shapolsky Publishers, c1989. [Hum. Ref. PE 1582 .H4 M69 1989]
 
dictionaries of eponyms (words coined from a proper name)
A New Dictionary of Eponyms / Morton S. Freeman. New York : Oxford University Press, 1997. [Hum. Ref. PE 1596 .F73 1997]
 
dictionaries of idioms (and clichés)

• Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms / Paul Heacock, editor in chief. Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2003. [Hum. Ref. PE 2839 .C36 2003]
• The Penguin Dictionary of Clichés / Julia Cresswell. London ; New York : Penguin Books, 2000. [Hum. Ref. PE 1689 .C747x 2000]

slang dictionaries
The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English / Tom Dalzell (senior editor) and Terry Victor (editor).  London ; New York : Routledge, 2006. [Hum. Ref. PE 3721 .P3 2006]
 
dictionaries of regional varieties (including slang, and geographic, ethnic, situational idiom)
Words of the Vietnam War : the Slang, Jargon, Abbreviations, Acronyms, Nomenclature, Nicknames, Pseudonyms, Slogans, Specs, Euphemisms, Double-talk, Chants, and Names and Places of the Era of United States Involvement in Vietnam / by Gregory R. Clark. Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland, c1990. [Hum. Ref. PE 3727 .S7 C57 1990]
 
“world English” (English words/usage around the world)
World English : From Aloha to Zed / Robert Hendrickson. New York : Wiley, 2001. [Hum. Ref. PE 2751 .H46 2001]
 
 
and (don’t forget) literary dictionaries (that define English words according to a literary context)

(shelved with “regular” dictionaries in Humanities Reference)

Metaphors Dictionary / Elyse Sommer, executive editor ; Dorrie Weiss, associate editor. Edition statement: 1st ed. New York : Gale Research, c1995  [Hum. Ref. PE 1689 .M47 1995]
 
(shelved with “general” reference works in Humanities Reference)
A Derrida Dictionary / Niall Lucy. Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub., 2004. [Hum. Ref. B 2430 .D483 Z865 2004]
 
(shelved with “literature” reference in Humanities Reference)
Encyclopedia of Feminist Literary Theory / editor, Elizabeth Kowaleski-Wallace. New York : Garland, 1997. [Hum. Ref. PN 98 .W64 E53 1997]