Description
The new edition, with a new introductory essay by language expert David Crystal on the History of English, includes 2,500 new words and senses, plus thousands of antedatings of existing words, drawing on the huge ongoing research project for the Oxford English Dictionary and the wealth of information on language in use provided by the Oxford English Corpus. In addition, the work includes many new quotations from recent authors, a refreshed design, and a complete review of spelling forms and defining vocabulary, making it the most authoritative reference work available for both modern and historical English.
Key Features
- Contains more than 600,000 words, phrases, and definitions, with coverage of language from the entire English-speaking world, from North America and the UK to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and the Caribbean
- Fully updated with 2,500 new words and meanings based on the ongoing research programme of Oxford Languages and the Oxford English Corpus
- Contains all the vocabulary current in general English from 1700 to the present day, as well as earlier major literary works, including Shakespeare, Milton’s poetry, the Authorized Version of the Bible, and Spenser’s Faerie Queene
- Excellent coverage of all types of English encompassing slang, dialect words, technical, historical, and literary terms, and rare and obsolete words
- Contains over 80,000 quotations illustrating words in use throughout the centuries and thousands of newly discovered antedatings based on the ongoing research for the OED
- A never-before-published, introductory essay by the eminent language commentator David Crystal on the History of English provides a stimulating insight into the development of the English language
- Completely refreshed design and layout highlights the links between meanings and quotations for ease of use and aesthetic appeal
