The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms
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"Bite the bullet", " get on the stick", "make no bones about it", " take the cake". The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of Idioms covers almost 10,000 expressions. Its main fare is, of course, idioms - groups of two or more words that together mean something different from the literal meaning of the individual words. In addition, this book discusses verb phrases such as " act up", "freeze out", and " get down", figures of speech such as "dark horse" and "blind as a bat", interjections and formulas like "says who" and " tough beans", common proverbs like a "bird in the hand", and slang terms such as "buy the farm" and "push up daisies". Each entry is defined and has an example sentence showing the expression in context. Most entries offer an explanation of the expression's literal meaning or origin and include information about its first appearance in English. School Library Journal Gr 7 UpThis excellent survey of almost 10,000 contemporary idioms has a clear format and large type, which should make it particularly appealing to young readers and non-native speakers. In addition to idioms, the dictionary includes common figures of speech, formula phrases such as "take care," emphatic redundancies whose word order cannot be reversed such as "cease and desist," common proverbs, colloquialisms, and slang phrases. Each expression is defined briefly and then illustrated by a short, simple sentence showing how it is used in context. Information regarding the expression's origin or background is given, along with its date of first appearance, if known. Although more detailed discussions of some words might be found in other classic works, the emphasis here is on understanding contemporary American usage. This resource is invaluable as a teaching tool.Mary H. Cole, Polytechnic Preparatory Country Day School, NY
