Rating: 
Summary: Ends: a definition
Review: Ends: Money.
1960: C.L. Cooper(Scene 62) His woman is making some ends for him.
1964: B. Jackson: Swim Like Me(106) My ends was pretty low.
1968: Andrews & Dickens: Big House(15) I'll get you a piece, on a short term lease/And you don't have to put up no ends.
1970: Horman & Fox: Drug Awareness(466) Ends--money.
1971: Goines: Dopefiend(143) If Porky can support that oilburner Smokey got, we should have no problem taking care of ours, plus making a few ends.
This is from Volume 1 of the Random House dictionary of American Slang by J.E. Lighter, a 3 volume set that was not completed due to Random House's decision to pull the plug on the project after the first two were released. Thus making this book a neccessity for anyone using that set (or wishing to avoid it altogther).
Rating:
Summary: very helpful to understand the odds of this foreign language
Review: hundreds of words that are commonly used in all media nowadays but can't be found in an ordinary dictionnary. Gives me the feeling to be one of theirs (Americans)
Rating: 
Summary: I doubt this dictionary
Review: I have a "New Dictionary of American Slang" written by this author in 1986. I didn't like the book from day one, but at the time I couldn't find a different one. No example in the dictionary is from the author himself. This is something I don't like at all. Moreover, many words are not included in the dictionary. I'm now looking for a better slang dictionary definitely NOT BY THIS AUTHOR.
Rating:
Summary: One Indispensible Reference
Review: If you're into words, slang, and idioms like I am, then you probably already own a reference book like this and realize that you need at least 2-3 similar books to find the real nuances of meaning that you want.This book definitely qualifies to be one of them. The definitions are thoughtful and precise, and there are significantly fewer 'disappointments' (at lousy or omitted definitions/terms) than with other books of it's kind.
Rating:
Summary: Probably the Best of Three Slang Dictionaries I Skimmed
Review: In the library, I did a side-by-side comparison of this book (Chapman: Dictionary of American Slang, 3rd ed., 1995) with: (a) Spears, Richard: NTC's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions, 3rd ed., 2000 and (b) Green, Jonathon: Cassell Dictionary of Slang, 1998. The advantages of this dictionary over the other two are: (1) some words and phrases are in this book but not the other two (e.g., "love bug," "love me, love my dog"); (2) it gives specific quotations and sources (e.g., "Had Feldstein deliberately low-balled the original numbers? - Newsweek"); (3) it indicates what sort of people originated or might use the word/phrase (e.g. "lot louse... [used in the] circus"); and (4) thorough cross-references are integrated into the body of the dictionary (e.g., "love, see CALF LOVE, FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, PUPPY LOVE"). It has 617 pages and claims to have 19,000 entries, which is between the other two books. On the other hand, the Cassell Dictionary contains a large percentage of the entries in this book as well as many more entries, and it's the oldest of the three dictionaries. Still, if you had to buy only one of the three, this is probably the one to get.
Rating:
Summary: Great reference and fun to read
Review: One of the best lexicons I have on slang. It lists uses of the word and the authors as well as the when. The best part of it is that it's fun just to read it as well as usefull. It's not all inclusive by any means, I've failed to find a few of the words that I've looked for in it. But for the listings are great. I can't wait to see the next edition and to see what's been added.
Rating: 
Summary: Chap!
Review: Robert L. Chapman is brilliant! Kudos for Chap!
Rating:
Summary: Great reference for non-native American speakers
Review: The book seems not as "eduactional" as other heritage or historical dictionaries proclaimed to be but it is really of great help to a non-native American speaker, like me, who from Taiwan to get indepth of American ways of life. Whenever I run across an expression in American movies or TV sit-coms, not very often I fail to get the satisfactory explanation with the detailed notes and usages. Therefore I picked up expressions such as: refrigerator mother, fag, net-sex, digital sex and so forth, that frequently used in American movie lines or even in real life but taken to be the "taboo words" in English-Chinese dictionary. Slangs have no any color of offensivenss but depends on how people use them. It is a pity for the international lanuages learners if they think the slang is not good enough to pick up. Once you have a command of slang, you will be really into lives of slang users
Rating:
Summary: Great reference for non-native American speakers
Review: The book seems not as "eduactional" as other heritage or historical dictionaries proclaimed to be but it is really of great help to a non-native American speaker, like me, who from Taiwan to get indepth of American ways of life. Whenever I run across an expression in American movies or TV sit-coms, not very often I fail to get the satisfactory explanation with the detailed notes and usages. Therefore I picked up expressions such as: refrigerator mother, fag, net-sex, digital sex and so forth, that frequently used in American movie lines or even in real life but taken to be the "taboo words" in English-Chinese dictionary. Slangs have no any color of offensivenss but depends on how people use them. It is a pity for the international lanuages learners if they think the slang is not good enough to pick up. Once you have a command of slang, you will be really into lives of slang users
Rating:
Summary: A true way to solidify your American heritage
Review: The regional and social diversity of American English presents a great many problems, if you ain't into something (say a subculture like surfing) you probably ain't know squat about it. The average American only knows "general slang." This book breaks down the barriers of subcultures allowing anyone, foreign or local to involve himself/herself in the subtlety of authentic American street lingo. Even if you think you know it all, get the book, you'll be surprised.
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