Freshly abridged from the 2nd edition of the "Oxford English Dictionary", this two-volume reference incorporates a wealth of newly researched material. Both current and historical English are covered in its 220,000 entries. Its 500,000 definitions are illustrated with 87,000 quotations from 10,000 authors, each showing precisely how a word has been used over the centuries. New contributors range from Stephen King to Keri Hulme, Doris Lessing to Seamus Heaney. Each entry provides a wealth of information, including history and meaning, pronunciation, entymology, definitions, varient spellings and irregular inflections.