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The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms | 
 enlarge | Author: Christine Ammer
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 172576
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 480
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 1
ISBN: 0618249532
Dewey Decimal Number: 423.1
UPC: 046442249539
EAN: 9780618249534
ASIN: 0618249532
Publication Date: September 13, 2003
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Amazon.com
Nothing expresses the vitality, history, and character of a language quite like its idioms. Ask any non-native English speaker to make sense of a phrase such as "beg the question" or "keep your eyes peeled"; they can't do it. Idioms don't translate, which is what makes them such intriguing mirrors of how a culture evolves along with its speech. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms includes almost 10,000 of these figures of speech, slang phrases, cliches, colloquialisms, and proverbs, from "ace in the hole" to "zoom in on." Each entry defines an idiom, uses it in a sentence, then pinpoints its historical origins when possible. Some idioms, it turns out, preserve words or word uses that have otherwise fallen out of use ("one fell swoop"); others allude to long-forgotten catch phrases from movies or advertising ("more bounce for the ounce"). Consider, for instance the phrase "funny bone"--actually a pun on "humerus," the Latin name for the bone of the upper arm. Or the expression "moment of truth," a translation from the Spanish phrase originally referring to bullfighting--and first popularized, not surprisingly, by Ernest Hemingway. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms is like an archeological dig through the vernacular, and it unearths treasures such as these on every one of its pages. All those interested in language or its history should keep a copy on their library shelves.
Product Description
The cat will never get your tongue once you have The American HeritageA Dictionary of Idioms. This book defines nearly 10,000 idioms a expressions consisting of two or more words whose combined meaning is different from the literal meaning of the individual words. Each entry has both a definition and a sentence showing the idiom used in context. Most entries offer an explanation of the idiom's origin and indicate when the expression first appeared in English.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 idoims April 9, 2005
1 out of 7 found this review helpful
If english is your second language it will be usefull for you to have it .it also use most of idioms in sentence as a sample, cool
 unimpressive December 19, 2004
6 out of 14 found this review helpful
I rarely use this dictionary because I also own Cassell's Dictionary of Slang by Jonathon Green, which is decidedly superior. This Dictionary of Idioms at first seems a more scholarly approach to the subject, but soon falls short of expectations as its selection of words is relatively small and mostly consists of the most well known slang. For more unusual words, I have always had to refer elsewhere.
Excellent Study Aid August 31, 2004
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Really a wonderful reference. It goes to study with me every day now. Very clearly written and descriptive definitions including very good idiom history data.Some examples - I found more unexpected data on the idiom "by and large" here than in the biggest bulkiest dictionary in the courseroom. Also the idiomatic definition of "washed-out" was the best I've ever read. "Dead as a doornail" was another good one. This book is now indispensable to me. Bravo to the author! ARC, Simon
 Disappointing for native English speakers May 5, 2004
12 out of 21 found this review helpful
This is probably a great book for people learning English as a second language. But if English is your first language, it's very doubtful that you need it. I don't consider myself very knowledgeable about idioms, yet I could scarcely find more than a few that I didn't already know the meaning of. To an average American, 90 percent of this is useless. One thing I did learn was what "chickens come home to roost" means -- but that's surely not enough knowledge to justify the price of the book.
Perfect idiom resource! December 9, 2001
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
If you're looking for the ideal resource for idioms, this is it! Highly recommend!
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