A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Quick Reference)

"Another day, another dollar," "There's no such thing as a free lunch," "Better to live one day as a tiger than a thousand years as a sheep," "There is more than one way to skin a cat"--readers will discover a wealth of pithy proverbs in this entertaining and informative collection. This unique dictionary contains more than 1,100 of the most widely used proverbs in English, based on research from the Oxford English Corpus, the world's largest language databank. This edition has been revised and fully updated and includes many new entries. With expanded coverage of foreign language proverbs currently in use in English and an emphasis on examples of actual usage, including the earliest evidence of each phrase, this dictionary is both wide-ranging and thorough. Arranged in A-Z format but with a valuable thematic index, this book is ideal for browsing and perfectly suited for quick reference. Find your old favorites or learn vivid and concrete new expressions to sum up thoughts, pass on advice, or to make a point.

Jennifer Speake is a freelance writer. She is the editor of the Oxford Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases (1997) and of the Oxford Dictionary of Idioms (1999). She lives in the UK.