The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles

by Lesley Brown

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 019861134X
• ISBN13: 9780198611349
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 2 Pages
• Weight: 6.65 lbs.

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.

Required for any serious professional

Much better than Webster's unabridged in both content and organization, and even type. Certainly, you would need both to have a complete library, because there are a lot of words that are not common to both, but this is the one to get if you can't have both.

Everything you could ask for in a dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary has always been the standard by which all other dictionaries have been judged. However, while the 20 volume set is quite thorough, to say the least, it isn't the sort of thing you'd want to keep on your desk at work. (Unless you're employed as an English professor.) This "Shorter" two volume set is an excellent and more compact version of the full dictionary. While it lacks many of the historical word usage references (try looking up "apprehend" in the 20 volume set and compare it to this one, and you'll see what I mean), it is more than adequate for almost anyone. The thumb index tabs are very useful, and the books are bound beautifully. Along with the Oxford Canadian Dictionary, Roget's Thesaurus, and Strunk and White's "Elements of Style", this dictionary is one of the core reference books I use on a daily basis. Certainly costlier than many dictionaries, but in this case you really do get what you pay for.

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!

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.