Author: Elizabeth Knowles
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191578568
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 816
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Book Description
This Dictionary is part of the Oxford Reference Collection: using sustainable print-on-demand technology to make the acclaimed backlist of the Oxford Reference programme perennially available in hardback format. What is a ham-and-egger? What are Anglo-Saxon attitudes? Who or what is liable to jump the shark? Who first tried to nail jelly to the wall? The answers to these and many more questions are in this fascinating book. Here in one volume you can track down the stories behind the names and sayings you meet, whether in classic literature or today's news. Drawing on Oxford's unrivalled bank of reference and language online resources, this dictionary covers classical and other mythologies, history, religion, folk customs, superstitions, science and technology, philosophy, and popular culture. Extensive cross referencing makes it easy to trace specific information, while every page points to further paths to explore. A fascinating slice of cultural history, and a browser's delight from start to finish. What is the fog of war? Who first wanted to spend more time with one's family? When was the Dreamtime? How long since the first cry of Women and children first? Where might you find dark matter? Would you want the Midas touch? Should you worry about grey goo?
Author: Ebenezer Cobham Brewer
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions
ISBN: 9781840223101
Category : Allusions
Languages : en
Pages : 1166
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Book Description
This work explains the origins of the familiar and the unfamiliar in everyday speech and literature, including the colloquial and the proverbial. It embraces archaeology, history, religion, the arts, science, mythology and characters from fiction.
Author: Ebenezer Cobham Brewer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Allusions
Languages : en
Pages : 1175
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Book Description
Author: Adrian Room
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 9780304358731
Category : Allusions in literature
Languages : en
Pages : 1298
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Book Description
"Dr Brewer's classic work of reference, fully revised and updated for the millennium, now available in paperback"
Author: Ebenezer Cobham Brewer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Allusions
Languages : en
Pages : 1528
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Book Description
Author: Adrian Room
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 296
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Book Description
An etymological survey of astronomical names, including the better known stars, the constellations, the planets, and their satellites, and features on celestial bodies, such as craters on the moon. The author is a linquist, not an astronomer, and the book is for the generalist. No pronunciation. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).
Author: Seán McMahon
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 9780304363346
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 867
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Book Description
A brand-new 'Brewer's' dedicated to the 'phrase and fable' of the emerald isle.
Author: John Ayto
Publisher: Chambers Harrap Pub Limited
ISBN: 9780550105646
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 853
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Book Description
Completely updated for the twenty-first century, this reference presents definitions and origins of thousands of words, idioms, catchphrases, slogans, nicknames, and events from TV, literature, music, comic strips, and computer games.
Author: Elizabeth M. Knowles
Publisher: Oxford : Oxford University Press
ISBN:
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 728
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Book Description
Compiles over 10,000 quotations, proverbs, and phrases on over 350 themes, among them actors and acting, bores and boredom, elections, food and drink, kissing, madness, schools, taxes, the weather, and youth. Many are attributed, with reference to particular works, while others merely explain the meaning and sometimes the background. For example, a Carthaginian peace is a peace settlement that imposes very severe terms of the defeated side, and refers to the ultimate destruction of Carthage by Rome in the Punic Wars. A keyword index presents abbreviated versions to facilitate finding a particular, perhaps half remembered, quotation. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Author: Ian Crofton
Publisher: Birlinn
ISBN: 0857906372
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 908
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Book Description
This authoritative, entertaining and eminently browsable reference book, arranged in easily accessible A-Z format, is an absorbing and imaginative feast of Scottish lore, language, history and culture, from the mythical origins of the Scots in Scythia to the contemporary Scotland of the Holyrood parliament and Trainspotting. Here Tartan Tories rub shoulders with Torry girls, the Misery from the Manse exchanges a nod with Stalin's Granny, Thomas the Rhymer and the Wizard of Reay walk hand in hand with Bible John, and the reader is taken for a rollercoaster ride round Caledonia, from Furry Boots City to the Costa Clyde, via the Cold Shoulder of Scotland, the West Lothian Alps and the Reykjavik of the South. The result is a breathtaking and quirky celebration of Scotland, packed with fact and anecdote.
