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Product DescriptionThe New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary is the most significant dictionary of the decade. Freshly abridged from the acclaimed Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, it represents the ultimate authority on contemporary and historical English, next to the OED itself. Incorporating a wealth of newly researched material, it includes all the key features of the OED in just two volumes, making it the top-of-the-range Oxford dictionary for eveyday use. Both current and historical English are covered in its 220,000 entries, including such neologisms as dweeb, sellathon, masculist, and winterim. 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, irregular inflections, quotations, idiomatic phrases and combinations, and a precise record of a word's use. No other general dictionary can provide access to such a comprehensive account of the English language. * All the key features of the OED in just two volumes * Covers English from 1700 to today * 220,000 entries and over 500,000 definitions * 87,000 illustrative quotations from 10,000 authors * Four million words of text * Thousands of rare words, as well as the very latest vocabulary * Up-to-date pronunciation systems * Generous coverage of English around the worldReview"A writer for print must spell it. A writer for broadcast must pronounce it. As one who writes for both, I have used the 13-volume OED for 25 years and it has always been helpful with both. It is a pleasure now to have the Shorter OED. It is equally helpful and it has an additional virtue -- you canlift it."--David Brinkley, ABC News Broadcaster"American writers need to stay alert to the subtle differences, as