English, Foreign Language Study & Reference 

Authoritative and up to date, this eleventh edition of the "Concise Oxford English Dictionary" contains over 240,000 words, phrases, and definitions, including 1,800 new words. It offers rich vocabulary coverage, with full treatment of World English, and scientific and technical vocabulary, as well as rare, historical, and archaic terms. In addition there are 500 helpful notes on grammar, punctuation, and usage, many of them new to this edition. Also new to this edition is a fascinating Word Histories feature, telling the often bizarre stories of the origins and development of 100s of words. For example, did you know that the word grammar is related to glamour, or that cockney used to mean a spoilt child? This dictionary contains full appendices including new sections on electronic English, and the registers of language, from formal to slang. This new edition replaces ISBN 0-19-860636-2. - from Amzon