The Oxford dictionary of phrase and fable

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

What is a ham-and-egger?What are Anglo-Saxon attitudes?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. This authoritative dictionary draws on Oxford's unrivalled bank of reference and language online resources to cover 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.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?

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

This revised and updated resource maintains the 2000 original edition's chief strengths: the coverage of a huge variety of terms and Oxford's deep etymological scholarship. Editor and historical lexicographer Knowles (publishing manager, Oxford Quotations Dictionaries) and his staff incorporate two main changes: first, new entries such as "9/11," "Sunni Triangle," and "elephant in the room," as well as entries emphasizing figurative language from literary sources, e.g., "price of admiralty," and second, a streamlined presentation through the removal of usage quotations, 50 boxed, and some biographical entries. These changes keep this A-to-Z resource in a unique place between traditional etymology dictionary and one-volume encyclopedia. The entry for "Basque," for example, adds the French background for the name. Similarly, the definition for "Camp David" identifies "David" as President Eisenhower's grandson. Most definitions are a few sentences long and include no pronunciation guide, grammatical discussion, or suggestions for further reading. Despite the title, nonliterary phrases like the nicknames for each U.S. state, many theological terms, and some scientific terms are also included. Bottom Line Oxford's broad scope reflects its competition with publishers of the well-known Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, last published in the United Kingdom in its 17th edition by Orion in 2005. The strength of Oxford's resource remains the etymology incorporated into the entries. Recommended for public and academic libraries, particularly those that did not purchase the first edition.-Marianne Orme, Des Plaines P.L., IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

This new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable0 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 Aragon0 and Zurich.0 The first edition also had numerous single-word entries, such as fault0 , faience0 , and zucchetto,0 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 the0 ory, elephant in the room0 , glass ceiling0 , ground zero0 , Sunni Triangle0 ,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 Fable0 , the seventeenth edition of which was published in Great Britain last year. Brewer's0 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 Fable0 . Without seeing the new Brewer's,0 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 Fable0 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's0 since its focus is more classical and it includes phrases that are not found in Oxford.0 --Merle Jacob Copyright 2006 Booklist