The Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition (20 Volume Set)

Rating:
Summary: Treasure of treasures for anyone who loves words
Review: Yes you can get compact and computer versions of the Oxford English Dictionary and they will certainly take up less space in your house or apartment. This 20 volume set takes up almost four feet of shelf space and will make all but the sturdiest book cases sag. And yet, it's the sheer weight and size of the set that makes it so appealing. There is also a magic to books and the ability to pick up a volume at random and find a word you never knew or learn the origin of a familiar word is simply wonderful. Everything known about the meaning and origins of words used in the English language -- their linguistic derivation, the earliest known usage in English, the evolution of the word's meaning, interesting examples of their use -- all of that is here. I'm writing a novel set in the middle ages and this set has proved invaluable for helping me weed out anachronistic words while keeping words that I thought were modern but which turn out to have been used by the Venerable Bede all the way back in the eighth century! The book even tells you which words are primarily American, English, Scottish or Australian in their uses.

The primary weakness of the Oxford English Dictionary is that it is missing some modern usages of words that are not primarily slang. For instance, the dictionary lists many meanings for the word "crash," but nowhere suggests that the word can be used to mean a sudden loss of energy or coming down from a drug high. Still, this is the most comprehensive dictionary of the English language and you'll never have trouble finding words no one knows when you're playing word games with your friends. Medical and technical words, zoological words, naughty words -- they're all here. Where else could you learn that "retortive" once meant "in the nature of squeezing" but now means "turned backwards"? Even if you don't need to know the definition of lots of obscure words and compounds, If you love words, this book is worth every penny and every inch of shelf space. You'll never want to use another dictionary again.