Shorter Oxford English Dictionary: Sixth Edition

$175.00 - 10%

Here is a new edition of the acclaimed Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, the first since 2002, updated, enlarged, and enlivened by new words, new definitions of old words, new illustrative quotations.

If the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary is the mother of all dictionaries, the Shorter is its most accomplished offspring. At one-tenth the size of OED–and a fraction of the price–the Shorter offers one-third the content and the same quality of lexical excellence of its parent dictionary.

Indeed, no other dictionary, apart from the OED itself, comes close to the Shorter’s range and depth, offering over 500,000 definitions that cover virtually every word or phrase in use in English–worldwide–since 1700. Each entry offers everything you would expect from a leading unabridged dictionary: it identifies each word’s various meanings, origins, part of speech, pronunciation, and combinations in which the word is often found, as well as cross-references to related words. The Shorter, however, offers something that no competitor can match: the historical, literary approach made justly famous by the OED. Thousand upon thousands of changing meanings are followed throughout history, illustrated by 85,000 quotations from 7,000 authors.

And now, with 2,500 new words and 500 new quotations, the Shorter is fresher than ever, fully responsive to ever-changing English language.

The Shorter Oxford Dictionary has opened its pages to the thousands of new words which have come into use since the previous edition and which have expanded the precision and expressive power of English. Here are such new words as Afrobeat, carbon-neutral, darknet, heaviosity, impactful, knuckle-dragger, nanomaterial, retro-futurist, smoosh, testosteronic, webinar, and thousands more. (To call someone a testosteronic, retro-futurist knuckle-dragger is no longer an incomprehensible insult).

OR

The Oxford English Dictionary (20 Vol. Set)

Hardcover, 20 Volume Set $999.00 - 10%

The Oxford English Dictionary has long been considered the ultimate reference work in English lexicography. Compiled by the legendary editor James Murray and a staff of brilliant philologists and lexicographers (not to mention one homicidal maniac), the OED was originally conceived in 1857 as a four-volume set, but by the time the last volume was published in 1928, it had swelled to 10 volumes containing over 400,000 entries. In the years since, the staff of the OED has continued to keep pace with our ever-evolving language, and today the dictionary weighs in at a whopping 20 volumes. The great joy of this dictionary lies in its extensive cross-references and word etymologies, which can run a full page or more. These features not only make the OED the most comprehensive and authoritative dictionary of the English language, but a delight to browse.

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