Author: David Grambs
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393312652
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 420
Book Description
A dictionary of the observable world features definition-first organization; passages from the writings of James, Updike, and others; and words concerning shapes, textures, colors, terrain, and more.
The Describer's Dictionary
Author: David Grambs
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393312652
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 420
Book Description
A dictionary of the observable world features definition-first organization; passages from the writings of James, Updike, and others; and words concerning shapes, textures, colors, terrain, and more.
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393312652
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 420
Book Description
A dictionary of the observable world features definition-first organization; passages from the writings of James, Updike, and others; and words concerning shapes, textures, colors, terrain, and more.
Describer's Dictionary: A Treasury of Terms & Literary Quotations (Expanded Second Edition)
Author: David Grambs
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393351025
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 672
Book Description
The unmatched guide—and perfect gift—for stymied scribes and working wordsmiths everywhere, now expanded and updated. A singular and indispensable reference tool, The Describer's Dictionary—now expanded and updated—has served for over twenty years as the go-to resource for writers who are determined to capture the world in just the right words. The dictionary uses a unique reverse definition-to-term format that makes it easy to zero in on the term you're seeking. Turn to the new section on sensory impressions, for example, to find vivid terms for "loud or jarring," such as "grating," "harsh," "piercing," "blaring," "thunderous," "cacophonous," and "raucous." And at the end of each section dozens of illustrative passages by notable fiction and nonfiction authors—including Donna Tartt, Michael Lewis, Zadie Smith, Khaled Hosseini, and Paul Theroux—bring the terminology to life. New in this edition: • Hundreds of additional definitions, terms, and synonyms • Brand-new categories, including "Physical States and Symptoms," "Temperament and Behavior," "Rooms and Interior Spaces," "Weather and Forces of Nature," and "The Solar System" • Over 400 new quotations from books, periodicals, and digital media by established and rising literary stars • An index of the more than 600 authors quoted in the book
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393351025
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 672
Book Description
The unmatched guide—and perfect gift—for stymied scribes and working wordsmiths everywhere, now expanded and updated. A singular and indispensable reference tool, The Describer's Dictionary—now expanded and updated—has served for over twenty years as the go-to resource for writers who are determined to capture the world in just the right words. The dictionary uses a unique reverse definition-to-term format that makes it easy to zero in on the term you're seeking. Turn to the new section on sensory impressions, for example, to find vivid terms for "loud or jarring," such as "grating," "harsh," "piercing," "blaring," "thunderous," "cacophonous," and "raucous." And at the end of each section dozens of illustrative passages by notable fiction and nonfiction authors—including Donna Tartt, Michael Lewis, Zadie Smith, Khaled Hosseini, and Paul Theroux—bring the terminology to life. New in this edition: • Hundreds of additional definitions, terms, and synonyms • Brand-new categories, including "Physical States and Symptoms," "Temperament and Behavior," "Rooms and Interior Spaces," "Weather and Forces of Nature," and "The Solar System" • Over 400 new quotations from books, periodicals, and digital media by established and rising literary stars • An index of the more than 600 authors quoted in the book
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
Author: John Koenig
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1501153668
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “It’s undeniably thrilling to find words for our strangest feelings…Koenig casts light into lonely corners of human experience…An enchanting book. “ —The Washington Post A truly original book in every sense of the word, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows poetically defines emotions that we all feel but don’t have the words to express—until now. Have you ever wondered about the lives of each person you pass on the street, realizing that everyone is the main character in their own story, each living a life as vivid and complex as your own? That feeling has a name: “sonder.” Or maybe you’ve watched a thunderstorm roll in and felt a primal hunger for disaster, hoping it would shake up your life. That’s called “lachesism.” Or you were looking through old photos and felt a pang of nostalgia for a time you’ve never actually experienced. That’s “anemoia.” If you’ve never heard of these terms before, that’s because they didn’t exist until John Koenig set out to fill the gaps in our language of emotion. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows “creates beautiful new words that we need but do not yet have,” says John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars. By turns poignant, relatable, and mind-bending, the definitions include whimsical etymologies drawn from languages around the world, interspersed with otherworldly collages and lyrical essays that explore forgotten corners of the human condition—from “astrophe,” the longing to explore beyond the planet Earth, to “zenosyne,” the sense that time keeps getting faster. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is for anyone who enjoys a shift in perspective, pondering the ineffable feelings that make up our lives. With a gorgeous package and beautiful illustrations throughout, this is the perfect gift for creatives, word nerds, and human beings everywhere.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1501153668
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “It’s undeniably thrilling to find words for our strangest feelings…Koenig casts light into lonely corners of human experience…An enchanting book. “ —The Washington Post A truly original book in every sense of the word, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows poetically defines emotions that we all feel but don’t have the words to express—until now. Have you ever wondered about the lives of each person you pass on the street, realizing that everyone is the main character in their own story, each living a life as vivid and complex as your own? That feeling has a name: “sonder.” Or maybe you’ve watched a thunderstorm roll in and felt a primal hunger for disaster, hoping it would shake up your life. That’s called “lachesism.” Or you were looking through old photos and felt a pang of nostalgia for a time you’ve never actually experienced. That’s “anemoia.” If you’ve never heard of these terms before, that’s because they didn’t exist until John Koenig set out to fill the gaps in our language of emotion. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows “creates beautiful new words that we need but do not yet have,” says John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars. By turns poignant, relatable, and mind-bending, the definitions include whimsical etymologies drawn from languages around the world, interspersed with otherworldly collages and lyrical essays that explore forgotten corners of the human condition—from “astrophe,” the longing to explore beyond the planet Earth, to “zenosyne,” the sense that time keeps getting faster. The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is for anyone who enjoys a shift in perspective, pondering the ineffable feelings that make up our lives. With a gorgeous package and beautiful illustrations throughout, this is the perfect gift for creatives, word nerds, and human beings everywhere.
The Highly Selective Dictionary for the Extraordinarily Literate
Author: Eugene Ehrlich
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061746797
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
Between TV talk shows, radio call-in programs, email and the Internet, spontaneous-talk media has skyrocketed in the '90s. People are interacting more frequently and more fervently than ever before, turning the English language into an indecipherable mess. Now, this unique and concise compendium presents the most confused and misused words in the language today -- words misused by careless speakers and writers everywhere. It defines, discerns and distinguishes the finer points of sense and meaning. Was it fortuitous or only fortunate? Are you trying to remember, or more fully recollect? Is he uninterested or disinterested? Is it healthful or healthy, regretful or regrettable, notorious or infamous? The answers to these and many more fascinating etymological questions can be found within the pages of this invaluable (or is it valuable?) reference.
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061746797
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
Between TV talk shows, radio call-in programs, email and the Internet, spontaneous-talk media has skyrocketed in the '90s. People are interacting more frequently and more fervently than ever before, turning the English language into an indecipherable mess. Now, this unique and concise compendium presents the most confused and misused words in the language today -- words misused by careless speakers and writers everywhere. It defines, discerns and distinguishes the finer points of sense and meaning. Was it fortuitous or only fortunate? Are you trying to remember, or more fully recollect? Is he uninterested or disinterested? Is it healthful or healthy, regretful or regrettable, notorious or infamous? The answers to these and many more fascinating etymological questions can be found within the pages of this invaluable (or is it valuable?) reference.
The Devil's Dictionary
Author: Steven Kotler
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250202108
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
New York Times bestselling author Steven Kotler's follow up to Last Tango in Cyberspace, a near-future thriller about the evolution of empathy in the tradition of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson. Hard to say exactly when the human species fractured. Harder to say when this new talent arrived. But Lion Zorn, protagonist of Last Tango in Cyberspace, is the first of his kind—an empathy tracker, an emotional forecaster, with a felt sense for how culture evolves and the future arrives. It’s also a useful skill in today’s competitive business market. In The Devil’s Dictionary, when a routine em-tracking job goes sideways and em-trackers themselves start disappearing, Lion finds himself not knowing who to trust in a life and death race to uncover the truth. And when the trail leads to the world’s first mega-linkage, a continent-wide national park advertised as the best way to stave off environmental collapse, and exotic animals unlike any on Earth start showing up—Lion’s quest for truth becomes a fight for the survival of the species. Packed with intrigue and heart-pounding action, marked by unforgettable characters and vivid storytelling, filled with science-based brilliance and cult comic touches, The Devil’s Dictionary is Steven Kotler at his thrilling science fiction best.
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250202108
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
New York Times bestselling author Steven Kotler's follow up to Last Tango in Cyberspace, a near-future thriller about the evolution of empathy in the tradition of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson. Hard to say exactly when the human species fractured. Harder to say when this new talent arrived. But Lion Zorn, protagonist of Last Tango in Cyberspace, is the first of his kind—an empathy tracker, an emotional forecaster, with a felt sense for how culture evolves and the future arrives. It’s also a useful skill in today’s competitive business market. In The Devil’s Dictionary, when a routine em-tracking job goes sideways and em-trackers themselves start disappearing, Lion finds himself not knowing who to trust in a life and death race to uncover the truth. And when the trail leads to the world’s first mega-linkage, a continent-wide national park advertised as the best way to stave off environmental collapse, and exotic animals unlike any on Earth start showing up—Lion’s quest for truth becomes a fight for the survival of the species. Packed with intrigue and heart-pounding action, marked by unforgettable characters and vivid storytelling, filled with science-based brilliance and cult comic touches, The Devil’s Dictionary is Steven Kotler at his thrilling science fiction best.
Kid Dictionary
Author: Eric Ruhalter
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
ISBN: 1402264674
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
Wishjack: (WISH—jak) v: To blow out the candles on another child's birthday cake. Been a kid? Have a kid? Know a kid? Been left utterly speechless by the wit, wisdom, grossness, and hilarity that accompanies children wherever they go? The Kid Dictionary has the ingenious and hilarious words you need to describe the indescribable: life with kids. Humorous, insightful, and unique, it's perfect for anyone with kids even remotely in their life — from expectant parents to grandparents to aunts and uncles. Finally, the pitch-perfect "why didn't I think of that?" words you've always needed! Brofitti: (broh-FEE-tee) v: The act of scribbling with permanent marker on the face of a younger sibling. Clandesdine: (klan-DES-dyne) v: To hide from one's child while eating a cookie so he doesn't ask for one too.
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
ISBN: 1402264674
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
Wishjack: (WISH—jak) v: To blow out the candles on another child's birthday cake. Been a kid? Have a kid? Know a kid? Been left utterly speechless by the wit, wisdom, grossness, and hilarity that accompanies children wherever they go? The Kid Dictionary has the ingenious and hilarious words you need to describe the indescribable: life with kids. Humorous, insightful, and unique, it's perfect for anyone with kids even remotely in their life — from expectant parents to grandparents to aunts and uncles. Finally, the pitch-perfect "why didn't I think of that?" words you've always needed! Brofitti: (broh-FEE-tee) v: The act of scribbling with permanent marker on the face of a younger sibling. Clandesdine: (klan-DES-dyne) v: To hide from one's child while eating a cookie so he doesn't ask for one too.
The Dictionary of Lost Words
Author: Pip Williams
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 1984820737
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 417
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • “Delightful . . . [a] captivating and slyly subversive fictional paean to the real women whose work on the Oxford English Dictionary went largely unheralded.”—The New York Times Book Review “A marvelous fiction about the power of language to elevate or repress.”—Geraldine Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of People of the Book Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, an Oxford garden shed in which her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Young Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word bondmaid flutters beneath the table. She rescues the slip and, learning that the word means “slave girl,” begins to collect other words that have been discarded or neglected by the dictionary men. As she grows up, Esme realizes that words and meanings relating to women’s and common folks’ experiences often go unrecorded. And so she begins in earnest to search out words for her own dictionary: the Dictionary of Lost Words. To do so she must leave the sheltered world of the university and venture out to meet the people whose words will fill those pages. Set during the height of the women’s suffrage movement and with the Great War looming, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. Inspired by actual events, author Pip Williams has delved into the archives of the Oxford English Dictionary to tell this highly original story. The Dictionary of Lost Words is a delightful, lyrical, and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words and the power of language to shape the world. WINNER OF THE AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARD
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 1984820737
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 417
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK • “Delightful . . . [a] captivating and slyly subversive fictional paean to the real women whose work on the Oxford English Dictionary went largely unheralded.”—The New York Times Book Review “A marvelous fiction about the power of language to elevate or repress.”—Geraldine Brooks, New York Times bestselling author of People of the Book Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, an Oxford garden shed in which her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Young Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word bondmaid flutters beneath the table. She rescues the slip and, learning that the word means “slave girl,” begins to collect other words that have been discarded or neglected by the dictionary men. As she grows up, Esme realizes that words and meanings relating to women’s and common folks’ experiences often go unrecorded. And so she begins in earnest to search out words for her own dictionary: the Dictionary of Lost Words. To do so she must leave the sheltered world of the university and venture out to meet the people whose words will fill those pages. Set during the height of the women’s suffrage movement and with the Great War looming, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. Inspired by actual events, author Pip Williams has delved into the archives of the Oxford English Dictionary to tell this highly original story. The Dictionary of Lost Words is a delightful, lyrical, and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words and the power of language to shape the world. WINNER OF THE AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARD
The Cassell Dictionary of Appropriate Adjectives
Author: E. H. Mikhail
Publisher: Cassell PLC
ISBN: 9780304347315
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 342
Book Description
Lipsius (1547-1606) was a 16th century humanist, scholar errant, and prolific correspondent who sought to reclaim the concept of letter-writing that had died during the Dark and Middle Ages. Here, he describes the serious, the learned, and the familiar letter, as well as such topics as conversational style, clarity, two kinds of simplicity, elegance, and decorum. Translated and edited by R. V. Young and M. Thomas Hester (both English, N. Carolina State U.), this edition prints the original Latin facing the English translation on each page. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Publisher: Cassell PLC
ISBN: 9780304347315
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 342
Book Description
Lipsius (1547-1606) was a 16th century humanist, scholar errant, and prolific correspondent who sought to reclaim the concept of letter-writing that had died during the Dark and Middle Ages. Here, he describes the serious, the learned, and the familiar letter, as well as such topics as conversational style, clarity, two kinds of simplicity, elegance, and decorum. Translated and edited by R. V. Young and M. Thomas Hester (both English, N. Carolina State U.), this edition prints the original Latin facing the English translation on each page. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
The Endangered English Dictionary
Author: David Grambs
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393316063
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
Modern dictionaries are the result of a paring away of the glory of the English language, so that merely standard, functional, current words remain. The price paid for such convenience is the thousands of delightful words never used. This volume saves such words from obliteration. "Like animals, plants and book reviewers, words can become extinct, but Grambs is here to salvage the most missed of the lexical dinosaurs".--"San Francisco Chronicle".
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393316063
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
Modern dictionaries are the result of a paring away of the glory of the English language, so that merely standard, functional, current words remain. The price paid for such convenience is the thousands of delightful words never used. This volume saves such words from obliteration. "Like animals, plants and book reviewers, words can become extinct, but Grambs is here to salvage the most missed of the lexical dinosaurs".--"San Francisco Chronicle".
The Liar's Dictionary
Author: Eley Williams
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0385546785
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “You wouldn’t expect a comic novel about a dictionary to be a thriller too, but this one is. In fact, [it] is also a mystery, love story (two of them) and cliffhanging melodrama.” —The New York Times Book Review An award-winning novel that chronicles the charming misadventures of a lovelorn Victorian lexicographer and the young woman put on his trail a century later to root out his misdeeds while confronting questions of her own sexuality and place in the world. Mountweazel n. the phenomenon of false entries within dictionaries and works of reference. Often used as a safeguard against copyright infringement. In the final year of the nineteenth century, Peter Winceworth is toiling away at the letter S for Swansby’s multivolume Encyclopaedic Dictionary. But his disaffection with his colleagues compels him to assert some individual purpose and artistic freedom, and he begins inserting unauthorized, fictitious entries. In the present day, Mallory, the publisher’s young intern, starts to uncover these mountweazels in the process of digitization and through them senses their creator’s motivations, hopes, and desires. More pressingly, she’s also been contending with a threatening, anonymous caller who wants Swansby’s staff to “burn in hell.” As these two narratives coalesce, Winceworth and Mallory, separated by one hundred years, must discover how to negotiate the complexities of life’s often untrustworthy, hoax-strewn, and undefinable path. An exhilarating, laugh-out-loud debut, The Liar’s Dictionary celebrates the rigidity, fragility, absurdity, and joy of language while peering into questions of identity and finding one’s place in the world.
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0385546785
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “You wouldn’t expect a comic novel about a dictionary to be a thriller too, but this one is. In fact, [it] is also a mystery, love story (two of them) and cliffhanging melodrama.” —The New York Times Book Review An award-winning novel that chronicles the charming misadventures of a lovelorn Victorian lexicographer and the young woman put on his trail a century later to root out his misdeeds while confronting questions of her own sexuality and place in the world. Mountweazel n. the phenomenon of false entries within dictionaries and works of reference. Often used as a safeguard against copyright infringement. In the final year of the nineteenth century, Peter Winceworth is toiling away at the letter S for Swansby’s multivolume Encyclopaedic Dictionary. But his disaffection with his colleagues compels him to assert some individual purpose and artistic freedom, and he begins inserting unauthorized, fictitious entries. In the present day, Mallory, the publisher’s young intern, starts to uncover these mountweazels in the process of digitization and through them senses their creator’s motivations, hopes, and desires. More pressingly, she’s also been contending with a threatening, anonymous caller who wants Swansby’s staff to “burn in hell.” As these two narratives coalesce, Winceworth and Mallory, separated by one hundred years, must discover how to negotiate the complexities of life’s often untrustworthy, hoax-strewn, and undefinable path. An exhilarating, laugh-out-loud debut, The Liar’s Dictionary celebrates the rigidity, fragility, absurdity, and joy of language while peering into questions of identity and finding one’s place in the world.