Product Description

For the past sixty-five years, the massive Oxford English Dictionary has offered the last word on the English language. Now, Oxford University Press is pleased to announce a landmark new dictionary--The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary--that brings the authority of the Oxford Dictionary Department and the vast scholarship of the OED itself within the reach of individuals.

This completely new dictionary covers virtually every word or phrase in use in English--worldwide--since 1700. Not strictly an abridgment of the OED, the New Shorter draws on the OED's ongoing revision as well as its own independent research program. Each entry provides all the information you would expect from a leading unabridged dictionary: it identifies each word's various meanings, origins, part of speech, pronunciation (in the International Phonetic Alphabet), and combinations in which the word is often found, as well as cross-references to related words. The New Shorter, however, offers something that no competitor can match: the historical, literary approach made justly famous by the OED. Thousands upon thousands of changing meanings are followed through history, illustrated by more than 83,000 quotations, from Ben Franklin to Lord Byron, from Jane Austen to Kazuo Ishiguro. The changing emphasis in the meaning of fiend, for instance, is shown by quotes ranging from Milton ("The Gates...belching outrageous flame...since the Fiend pass'd through") to J.D. Salinger ("Old Brossard was a bridge fiend, and he started looking around the dorm for a game").

The historical approach of The New Shorter offers a true feel for our rich, subtly textured language. Words are a palimpsest: along with their current meanings, many words contain the shadows of their past definitions. Understanding a word's history can help writers and speakers charge their language with nuance as well as precision. The New Shorter offers a delightful introduction to the fruits of etymology, providing a fascinating guide to the evolution of language--for both scholars and those who need a practical aid to contemporary usage.

In addition, The New Shorter offers truly international--and up-to-date--coverage. Every year, the Oxford Dictionary Department receives more than 200,000 notices of new words and meanings. These notices come from the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India--everywhere English is spoken. As a result, this two-volume work boasts an unprecedented range of headwords and meanings, drawn from the arts and humanities as well as the sciences and technology. From molecular biology to computer software, from human anthropology to theoretical physics, the subjects covered in this dictionary make it a useful resource for scientific professionals--and for the unscientific struggling with technical terms.

The result is the world's most comprehensive, thorough, up-to-date dictionary of English. A fascinating and endlessly browsable reference, The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary provides the definitive resource for scholars, professionals, general readers--for anyone, in fact, who wants the wealth of language available only in an unabridged dictionary. FEATURES:

* The immense scholarship of the Oxford English Dictionary--brought within reach of everyone:

* : : : : : : :2 Volumes

* :500,000 definitions

* : : : : :7.5 million words

* : : :4,000 pages

* : :97,600 headwords

* : :25,250 variant spellings

* : :87,400 illustrative quotations

* : : :7,333 sources of quotations (including 5,519 individual authors)

* Combines information from the OED with the work of a massive research project, offering thousands of fresh entries and new definitions

* Up-to-the-minute coverage of English--reaching back to 1700--with thousands of new words from a worldwide monitoring program

* Thorough, completely current scientific coverage

* Traces the etymology and evolution of thousands of worlds (candidate, for instance, stems from a Latin word meaning "clothed in white," as Roman candidates for public office dressed in white togas)

* A two convenient volumes, with full-size type

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #417095 in Books
• Published on: 1993-10-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 2
• Binding: Hardcover
• 3840 pages

From School Library Journal
YA-How will logophiles settle disputes until the revised OED comes out in 2005? Why, they'll look to this new two-volume revision of the SOED, of course. It is a pleasure to use with its sturdy opaque pages, print large enough to read without a magnifying glass, and ample space between the entries. The editors have included 978,600 headworks with more than 500,000 meanings, covering virtually every word or phrase in use in English since 1700. Quotes (87,000 in all) from a vast array of writers, such as Thomas Jefferson, Joan Didion, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Eudora Welty, add context and nuance to the definitions, and illustrate the incredible flexibility of our mother tongue.
Marya Andreen, R.E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This exceptional reference work is the first complete rewriting of the 60-year-old Shorter Oxford English Dictionary . Rather than revise and update that popular dictionary, the editors instead used the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (1989) as the basis for the text. A team of 16 lexicographers and numerous researchers and advisers led by Brown worked for more than ten years to revise, restructure, update, and abridge that most rich and comprehensive of all English-language dictionaries. The result is a superbly useful and afforable historical dictionary of modern English. It sets out the main meanings and development of words current between 1700 and the 1990s, including those in regular literary or colloquial use, slang and dialect words encountered in literature and the mass media, and scientific and technical terms in common use. Tracing every word back to its first known use, this wide-ranging dictionary contains 500,000 definitions and 87,400 illustrative quotations from such celebrated figures as Ben Franklin, Joan Didion, George Orwell, and Gertrude Stein. It is genuinely international in scope. Unique among abridged dictionaries is its consistent historical/literary approach in displaying the changing meanings of words. This work offers the huge scope and scholarship of its parent, the OED , without the difficulties of a 20-volume set or the nuisance of a magnifying glass and at an affordable price. Highly recommended.
- Paul D'Alessandro, Portland P.L., Me.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The New in the title of this hefty dictionary signifies that it replaces rather than revises the The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, the third edition of which was last reprinted with revised addenda in 1973. While much of this work abridges material that appeared in the second edition of The Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1989, a significant number of the words and meanings are new, and, in many instances, dates and etymologies have been revised or corrected. Although the editors of the New SOED used the OED as their foundation, they also drew on the extensive resources available in the Oxford Dictionary Department's paper files and computer databases. In addition, they consulted the files and unpublished portions of the Middle English Dictionary and A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue, studied other relevant historical dictionaries, and sought the advice of a variety of language specialists.

Intended to represent "the main meanings and semantic developments of words current at any time between 1700 and the present day," the New SOED also covers words that became obsolete before 1700 but that have etymological significance or that appear in major literary sources, such as the works of Shakespeare. In contrast to the OED2, which includes 291,600 main entries and approximately 2.4 million quotations, the New SOED contains 98,000 headwords and 83,000 illustrative quotations. Since thousands of phrases, compounds, and derivatives are treated within entries, the total number of words and collocations defined is difficult to ascertain. However, the dust jacket indicates that the work contains 500,000 definitions.

In keeping with the philosophy of the OED2, the New SOED attempts to reflect not just the English of Great Britain, but the entire English-speaking world, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, South Africa, India, and the Caribbean. Entries range from obsolete words, such as abraid, characterism, leighton, and surbate to terms so new that they did not appear in the OED2, for example, bungee jumping, couch potato, cyberpunk, mudwrestling, and rollerblade. Many of the new terms deal with medical and scientific advances (e.g., angioplasty, buckyball, ibuprofen, keyhole surgery, taxol). Unfortunately, users may miss the explanations for such contemporary terms as CD-ROM, HIV, LAN, and MRI since abbreviations and acronyms appear at the beginning of each letter.

For a dictionary of the English language, this compilation includes a remarkable number of foreign terms and phrases. Although some of these are familiar (e.g., joie de vivre, Sturm und Drang, terra incognita), others are more esoteric, for example, ao dai (Vietnamese), disinvoltura (Italian), faamafu (Samoan), washi (Japanese). The New SOED also provides good coverage of major trade names, as evidenced by such entries as Barbie doll, Kodak, Rolls-Royce, and Teflon.

For each headword, the entry provides pronunciation, part of speech, date range, etymology, and a definition section in which senses are arranged in a roughly chronological sequence with the oldest sense first. Entries also frequently include illustrative quotations; phrases, compounds, and other collocations; and cross-references to other entries. Reflecting the work's British origins, words are entered under their British spellings, followed by the U.S. spellings, which are identified with an asterisk. Since pronunciation, which is indicated in the International Phonetic Alphabet, represents only British Received Pronunciation, this feature will be of little assistance to the majority of American users. The approximate date when the word was first recorded is indicated by a symbol that generally represents one-third of a century. For example, M20 stands for mid-twentieth century (1930-69).

Intended to clarify semantic distinctions and to provide examples of grammatical constructions, the illustrative quotations are provided selectively and therefore do not accompany each word or sense. Sources of quotations range from the Bible, Shakespeare, Milton, and Thomas Jefferson to Adweek, Martin Luther King, Toni Morrison, and Margaret Thatcher. The majority are from nineteenth- and twentieth-century sources. Quotations are not dated as they are in the OED2, and titles of sources are provided only for Shakespeare, newspapers, and periodicals. A list of authors, periodicals, and newspapers cited appears at the end of volume 2, along with lists of books of the Bible and Shakespeare's plays.

Because the volumes are split at a logical point (volume 1 contains A-M, and volume 2, N-Z), the two-volume format does not detract from this work's usefulness. Keys to abbreviations, symbols, and pronunciation are reproduced at the front of both volumes, and abbreviated pronunciation keys appear at the bottom of each page.

The wealth of words represented in this work makes it a true treasure for historians and literary scholars as well as for general users. Readers looking for an explanation of a term in an eighteenth-century novel or for the definition of an unfamiliar word in a work by a contemporary British historian will not be disappointed. This dictionary is highly recommended for public and academic libraries that were unable to purchase the OED2 in either its print or CD-ROM versions. Due to its currency, ease of use, and reasonable price, it is also a desirable purchase for libraries that own the OED2.

Customer Reviews

The best dictionary for all
I'm a mature student of linguistics and English with seven English dictionaries, including two copies of this works earlier edition, a smaller Oxford, a large Webster's and a facsimile edition of Jonson's original dictionary. This dictionary is the one that gets used the most.

For many years I swore by the earlier edition and this new one improves it with a newer selection of words and the thumb indexes for each letter making it a little quicker to find the word you need.

For a student of lexicography this dictionary is unmistakably an Oxford while moving towards a more modern world. While the pronunciation is the good old southern received from the original OED they have moved to the International Phonetic Alphabet from the one developed for the first OED. The layout and typeface for entries are still the same; easily read and well laid out. They keep the same marvelous information regarding derivation of a word but replace a definitive date for earliest use with a symbol that places it in the first second or final third of a century, probably more honest anyway. Like the earlier Shorter Oxford most entries also have usage examples for the word, many offer a usage for each sense of the headword.

While the word choice among the 100,000 or so headwords in these two volumes has some holes they are not large at all and mostly confined to more particular areas that border on jargon or industry specific terms. Like some other reviewers I can bemoan the absence of words in my particular topics of interest but there is no point, almost all people will never notice their absence.

For most of the English speaking world this is the dictionary that all high school and university students should own, the perfect answer for most of us who cannot afford or house the definitive Oxford English Dictionary. OK, it may be fairly costly but a dictionary this good is purchased once a lifetime and one this large will not be lost at school or be left at the bus stop. My family has had an earlier edition for thirty years.

Argument can perhaps be made that within the US, with its more Elizabethan spelling, a home grown dictionary such as Webster's should perhaps be recommended, since the Shorter Oxford lists US spellings and notes where they are the prevalent US spelling I would disagree.

I would recommend this dictionary to everyone who speaks the English language. Every home deserves a copy of this dictionary.

Excellent reference
The best of the large dictionaries. Although I'll concede that the NSOED does not live up to its dust jacket claim for including all words since 1700, it is far more comprehensive than any of its desk top competitors. By breaking it into two volumes, Oxford has made each book manageable and one doesn't need to lift weights to look up a word. The use of the OED's approach to etymology makes this dictionary superior to any in its price range, including, specifically, the Random House and the American Heritage. It dwarfs the Collegiate dictionaries (Webster's and the New World) for number of words included. Easy to read, easy to browse, endlesslly rewarding. Own this, the 2nd OED, and Webster's Unabridged and you've got everything you need.

the second best english dictionary
despite the odd complaints of the 'websters' fetishist who reviewed this book in 1997, this dictionary is second only to the full oed. it suffers in comparison to its sire only from necessary abbreviations due to size.

i have not been disappointed with it so far, and suspect that scholars, except perhaps of modern animal husbandry and american vernacular, will not be disapointed either. this is an ideal reference for graduate students, and others who have need of a serious text at a reasonable price.

and anyone who claims not to know that 'cilantro' is merely a recent american name for the native european herb 'coriander' (p.511) is not fit, in my humble opinion, to act as a referee for this excellent book!