Containing more than 5,000 entries, this dictionary covers metaphorical phrases, similes, familiar sayings, and proverbs, providing illustrative quotations from sources as varied as the Bible, the Spectator, and Agatha Christie. It explains meanings and provides historical information for well-known idioms such as cost an arm and a leg, knocks spots off, once in a blue moon, the tip of the iceberg, and many more. Full of fascinating facts, this dictionary is ideal for anyone with interest in the origins of the colloquial, quirky byways of the English language.
Idioms are arranged alphabetically by key word for easy reference. Sayings in British English are supplemented by American English and other expressions. | Article structure |  | | The invariable components of the entry structure are the idiom itself with capitalized keyword and any common variants given in brackets, followed by the definition. In addition there may be a label or labels indicating register and/or geographical area, a sentence or short paragraph covering etymological, historical and usage points of interest, and an illustrative quotation. The marking of a quotation with an asterisk indicates it is the earliest example of the use of this idiom yet traced. | The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms is utilized by MSDict Viewer - an innovative dictionary reader specially designed to combine high data compression for memory restricted devices with a fast search algorithm, and user-friendly interface with amazing speed. The viewer supports multiple dictionaries installed at a time. - Transcriptions facilitating pronunciation
- Hyperlinks between different related articles
- Support for dictionaries installed on memory cards
- Searching that starts on first letter you enter
- Learning features - random word and word of the day
- History lists of visited word
Updates
2.20 (12/16/05) - Functionality improvements
2.30 (01/31/06)- Functionality improvements
3.00 (05/26/06) - Optimized to support the new Oxford Bible, Oxford Thesaurus and Concise Italian and Oxford Portuguese dictionaries
3.20 (11/06/06) - New wireless version availble
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