The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (The Oxford Reference Collection) - Hardcover

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9780198800521: The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (The Oxford Reference Collection)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198800525 ISBN 13: 9780198800521

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2016

This specific ISBN edition is currently not available.

This Dictionary is part of the Oxford Reference Collection: using sustainable print-on-demand technology to make the acclaimed backlist of the Oxford Reference programme perennially available in hardback format.

What is a ham-and-egger?
What are Anglo-Saxon attitudes?
Who or what is liable to jump the shark?
Who first tried to nail jelly to the wall?

The answers to these and many more questions are in this fascinating book. Here in one volume you can track down the stories behind the names and sayings you meet, whether in classic literature or today's news. Drawing on Oxford's unrivalled bank of reference and language online resources, this dictionary covers classical and other mythologies, history, religion, folk customs, superstitions, science and technology, philosophy, and popular culture. Extensive cross referencing makes it easy to trace specific information, while every page points to further paths to explore. A fascinating slice of cultural history, and a browser's delight from start to finish.

What is the fog of war?
Who first wanted to spend more time with one's family?
When was the Dreamtime?
How long since the first cry of Women and children first?
Where might you find dark matter?
Would you want the Midas touch?
Should you worry about grey goo?

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About the Author

Elizabeth Knowles

Elizabeth Knowles, Editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, is a historical lexicographer who worked on the 4th edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Her other editorial credits include What They Didn't Say: a Book of Misquotations (2006) and How to Read a Word (2010). She contributed to The History of Oxford University Press, and is currently working on a study of quotations in the English language for Oxford University Press.

From Booklist

This new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable has been substantially updated and revised since it was first published, in 2000. Although the first edition was a hefty 1,200 pages, this new edition is 805 pages. The reduction in size is comes from trimming the number of biographical and geographical entries, such as Ferdinand of Aragon and Zurich. The first edition also had numerous single-word entries, such as fault, faience, and zucchetto, that could be found in a regular dictionary. These types of entries have been taken out and replaced by many more contemporary phrases. Gone, too, are the boxed entries for special categories. The second edition has also changed the formatting of its entries, listing all phrases using the same word under that word, with numerous cross-references to related phrases. The first edition listed all phrases separately.

What makes this new edition especially valuable are the many new entries from politics, popular culture, science, and contemporary language, such as axis of evil, chaos theory, elephant in the room, glass ceiling, ground zero, Sunni Triangle,and many more. All entries explain what the phrase means and where it was first used. The second edition has also expanded the number of phrases from classic literature, history, mythology, religion, and figurative language using Oxford's extensive word and language online resources.

The major competitor is Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, the seventeenth edition of which was published in Great Britain last year. Brewer's was first published in 1870 and has always been very classically oriented, with numerous entries for the names of mythological characters, persons from the Bible, and historical personages, which were deleted from the Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Without seeing the new Brewer's, it's probably safe to say that, although the two dictionaries have considerable overlap, each has a wide variety of entries that are unique.

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable is a highly useful tool to help understand what phrases mean and where they come from and should definitely be added to all reference collections. It is recommended that libraries keep the first edition since many entries in the first edition have been deleted from the second. Libraries should also have Brewer's since its focus is more classical and it includes phrases that are not found in Oxford.Merle Jacob
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