The Endangered English Dictionary: Bodacious Words Your Dictionary Forgot

Lists unique, largely forgotten English words still highly useful in everyday life, such as "purlicue" (the space between thumb and forefinger) and "filipendulous" (hanging by a thread) along with their pronunciation, a sample phrase, and a reverse dictionary.

Grambs (The Describer's Dictionary, LJ 2/ 15/93) includes entries here not usually found in smaller paperback dictionaries- for example, "habile," which means able or skillful, and "uvid," which means moist or wet. His book is arranged in standard dictionary form with simplified meanings and usage illustrations, such as "dangerously esquillous lumber" (meaning splintery). The work also includes an easy pronunciation system and a reverse glossary that allows the user to look up words by definition. The entries have been largely compiled from the OED, the second and third editions of Webster's New International Dictionary, and Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary. Libraries that already own several of these dictionaries or at least one good one and a thesaurus will have little need for this title. Recommended only for libraries that collect heavily in this area.
Neal Wyatt, Mary Washington Coll. Lib., Fredericksburg, Va.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.