Shorter Oxford English Dictionary
Price:
$175.00 (02)Description
The sixth edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary is updated, enlarged and enlivened with new words, new definitions, revised illustrative quotations--and a fully customizable CD-ROM.If the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary is the mother of all dictionaries, the Shorter is its most accomplished offspring. At a fraction of the price, the Shorter offers much of the same content, and provides the same quality of lexical excellence as its parent dictionary.
No other dictionary comes close to the Shorter's range and depth. It offers over 500,000 definitions covering virtually every word or phrase in use in the English language--worldwide--since 1700. Each entry identifies a word's various meanings, origins, part of speech, pronunciation, and presents combinations in which the word is often found as well as cross-references to related words. The Shorter offers a historical and literary approach made famous by the OED, which no competitor can match.
Now with 2,500 new words and meanings based on the ongoing research program of Oxford Dictionaries and the Oxford English Corpus, the Shorter is fresher than ever. Some of the new words included in this edition are; Afrobeat, carbon-neutral, darknet, heaviosity, impactful, knuckle-dragger, nanomaterial, retro-futurist, smoosh, testosteronic, webinar, and thousands more. Also new to this edition is a never-before-published, introductory essay by language commentator David Crystal on the History of English providing stimulating insight into the development of the English language.
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 Dictionaries 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
- 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
- CD-ROM included, featuring a fully customizable interface, powerful search capabilities, crossword and anagram solver, and automatic look-up from other applications by double-clicking on a word in a document or web page
- CD-ROM supports screen reader software and can be controlled solely from the keyboard
- Supported operated systems: MicrosoftRG WindowsRG Vista, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, MacOSX v.10.1, 10.2.x, 10.3.x, 10.4.x (PowerPC), 10.4.x.(Intel) Requires IntelRG PentiumRG II 450MHz or faster processor or equivalent (Windows), or PowerPCRG G3 500MHz, Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz, or faster processor (Mac), and 128MB of RAM
Reviews
"This latest (sixth edition) version of the Shorter (the full Oxford is 20 volumes) features 2,500 new words, including blogroll, cremains and crapola, but its real value is in its explanation of word origins and the distinguished examples of usage ."--Seattle Times
"The big language book of the year."--William Safire, New York Times Magazine
"The one dictionary you ought to have."--Philadelphia Inquirer
"A browser's paradise....The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary remains the most reliable and certainly the most capacious of abridged dictionaries. Now with the CD-ROM thrown in, it is also the most convenient."--Edward Short, The American Spectator
"The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary is an affordable and highly useful resource and continues to deliver the high quality one expects. The addition of the CD-ROM makes it very portable and convenient to use."--American Reference Books Annual
"Academic and public libraries that do not own the second edition of the OED or the fifth edition of the Shorter should purchase the sixth edition since it contains a significant portion of the OED 's content. Libraries with comprehensive collections will want the Shorter even if they have the other works."--Booklist , starred review
"The Shorter OED continues to be a superb source of information for information on English words from 1700 forward, plus Shakespearean and biblical vocabulary....Recommended. All levels."--CHOICE
