This hilarious collection of humorous"ations full of wisecracks & wit snappy comments & inspired fantasy has been specially compiled by the late broadcaster & raconteur Ned Sherrin with a foreword by leading British satirist Alistair Beaton. Now packed with even more"es & covering more subjects than before from Weddings to the Supernatural Headlines to Australia. Find the best lines from your favourite jokesters & wordsmiths add that extra something to a speech or presentation or just enjoy a good laugh. 'A chair is a piece of furniture. I am not a chair because no one has ever sat on me.' Ann Widdecombe on the announcement that Parliamentary language will now be gender-neutral ' No wonder Bob Geldof is such an expert on famine. He's been feeding off 'I don't like Mondays' for 30 years.' Russell Brand On deciding to run for governor of California: ' The most difficult decision I've ever made in my entire life except for the one in 1978 when I decided to get a bikini wax.' Arnold Schwarzenegger ' Wanting to know an author because you like his work is like wanting to know a duck because you like pate.' Margaret Atwood 'I am so sorry. We have to stop there. I have just come to the end of my personality.' Quentin Crisp closing down an interview ...

The best-selling Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (formerly the Concise dictionary) provides clear concise & often witty definitions of the most troublesome literary terms from abjection to zeugma. It is an essential reference tool for students of literature in any language. It is now available in a new & expanded edition &

Includes:: increased coverage of new terms from modern critical & theoretical movements such as feminism & schools of American poetry Spanish verse forms life writing & crime fiction. It

Includes:: extensive coverage of traditional drama versification rhetoric & literary history as well as updated & extended advice on recommended further reading & a pronunciation guide to more than 200 terms. New to this edition are recommended entry-level web links updated via the Dictionary of Literary Terms companion website.



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Printed music & writing about music involve the use of complex systems of notation & a wealth of technical terms in several languages. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Musical Terms provides clear succinct definitions of a comprehensive range of the musical terms in English & other European languages that are likely to be encountered in Western music. Over 2 500 A-Z entries range across a spectrum of subjects among them: rhythm metre forms genres pitch scales chords harmony & counterpoint notational systems composition & analysis performance practice tempo expression musical periods artistic movements computer applications acoustics & many more. Entries provide etymologies & are fully cross-referenced. Some are illustrated with music examples & tables. An appendix lists all composers mentioned in the Dictionary with their dates. It is an ideal book for students & teachers of music
- it covers all the terms required in the SMAB musical theory exams
- as well as for professional musicians those learning to play musical instruments & members of choirs & musical groups. It will also be a useful quick reference book for concert-goers CD-collectors & radio listeners.

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This best-selling dictionary is written by one of the most famous philosophers of our time & it is widely recognized as the best dictionary of its kind. Comprehensive & authoritative it covers every aspect of philosophy from Aristotle to Zen. With clear & concise definitions it provides lively & accessible coverage of not only Western philosophical traditions but also themes from Chinese Indian Islamic & Jewish philosophy. Entries include over 500 biographies of famous & influential philosophers in-depth analysis of philosophical terms & concepts & a chronology of philosophical events stretching from 10 000 BC to the present day. The first edition of this dictionary became a market-leader & a standard work of reference selling over 100 000 copies. Now the author Professor Simon Blackburn has revised it to include web links which provide up-to-date & valuable extra information via the Dictionary of Philosophy companion website. Fully cross-referenced & containing over 3 000 alphabetical entries it is the ideal introduction to philosophy for anyone with an interest in the subject & it is an indispensable work of reference for students & teachers. ...

The first edition of the Oxford Dictionary of"ations was published in 1941 & for 70 years this bestselling book has remained unrivalled in its coverage of"ations past & present. The seventh edition is a vast treasury of wit & wisdom spanning the centuries & providing the ultimate answer to the question ' Who said that?' Find that half-remembered line in a browser's paradise of over 20 000"ations comprehensively indexed for ready reference. Whether you lean towards the words of Jane Austen: ' Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure' or the advice of Paris Hilton: ' Dress cute wherever you go. Life is too short to blend in' the Oxford Dictionary of"ations provides a"e for every occasion. Plus to celebrate its 70th birthday the book now comes with a free booklet of misquotations & the fascinating stories behind them. Drawing on Oxford's unrivalled dictionary research programme & unique language monitoring almost 1 000 new"ations have been added to this seventh edition from over 500 authors from Mary Wollstonecraft & Sarah Palin to Herman Hesse & William Hazlitt. These include classic"ations from established names for which new evidence of current usage has been found such as ' The worth of a soul cannot be told' (the African writer & former slave Olaudah Equiano) & ' Work first
- love next' (American writer & feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman) as well as earlier"ations used by well-known literary authors from around the English-speaking world e.g. the maxim of Confucius for a ruler ' If you desire what is good the people will be good' (quoted by Thoreau) & the view of the Phrygian Stoic philosopher Epictetus that ' Not things but opinions about things trouble men' (cited by Laurence Sterne ) ' When a thing has been said & well said have no scruple: take it & copy it'
- Anatole France

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Far more than a dry hagiographical account of the lives of saints this entertaining & authoritative dictionary breathes life into its subjects & is as browsable as it is informative. First published in 1978 the Oxford Dictionary of Saints offers more than 1 700 fascinating & informative entries covering the lives cults & artistic associations of saints from around the world from the famous to the obscure the rich to the poor & the academic to the uneducated. From all walks of life & from all periods of history & from around the world the wide varieties of personalities & achievements of the canonized are reflected. An updated introduction explains the steps towards becoming a saint the processes of beatification & canonization. This revised fifth edition

Includes:: appendices containing five maps of pilgrimage sites a list of saints patronages & iconographical emblems & a calendar of principal feasts as well as a new appendix on pilgrimages.

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Authoritative accessible & completely up to date The Oxford Dictionary of Synonyms & Antonyms is an invaluable guide for anyone wanting to build their vocabulary & improve their writing skills. Over 140 000 alternative & opposite words are given with the closest most frequently used synonyms listed first; in addition thousands of real-life examples of usage from the Oxford English Corpus enable the reader to pinpoint the relevant word quickly & easily. Also included are some useful appendices designed to improve your knowledge of the language: a new Wordfinder section offers a selection of thematic lists
- from chemical elements & clothing to phobias & flowers
- & a Common Confusables supplement explains the crucial differences between similar words that are often mixed up.

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Authoritative wide-ranging & unrivalled in its accessibility The Oxford Dictionary of the Classical World is a concise & lucid survey of life in ancient Greece & Rome spanning 776 BC
- AD 180 from the first Olympic games to the death of Marcus Aurelius. An approachable user-friendly abridgement of the highly acclaimed Oxford Classical Dictionary this book offers over 2 500 A-Z entries on aspects of life in the classical world from politics medicine philosophy art & architecture to history myth & religion mathematics & literature with biographical entries on the important individuals
- both real & mythological
- of the period. Appendices include a clear & comprehensive account of money & its value in the classical world; a chronology of events across Greece & the east & Rome & the west; maps; & a two-way quick-reference gazetteer. This invaluable resource for students & teachers of classics & classical civilization is affordable & quick & easy to use as well as being a fascinating guide for anyone interested in learning more about the foundations of Western culture.


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This is an ideal dictionary for Urdu-speaking learners of English. It gives clear explanations throughout with detailed pronunciation guidance & thousands of illustrative phrases to show how words are used in context. An indispensable dictionary for home or school use. ...

The Oxford English Dictionary is the internationally recognized authority on the English Language defining more than 500 000 words & tracing their usage through 2.5 million"ations from a wide range of literary & other sources. The text on the CD-ROM comprises the full text of the OED 2nd Edition plus the three Additions volumes as well as 7 000 new entries from the OED's continuing research. Most importantly OED v 4.0 on CD-ROM boasts superb search-&-retrieval software designed specifically for the electronic version enabling you to investigate the Dictionary in ways not possible with the print edition. Questions which might have taken years of patient research can now be answered in seconds. Existing functionality retained from earlier versions
Includes:: BL Installation to the hard drive so the CD is not required during use of the Dictionary; BL Options to customize the entry display & show or hide pronunciations spellings etymology "ation text; BL Flexible full text search options with search filters & an option to rank entries & search results alphabetically or by date. New to this version: BL Now available to Mac users; BL Flash-base; BL Smoother & faster performance providing instantaneous search results; BL New word-wheel which supports incremental letter-by-letter browsing; BL 7 000 new words & meanings; Windows upgrades available to registered users of Versions 2.0 upwards. For further details contact: UK/ Rest of World Customer Service telephone: +44 (0)1865 353534 or email: ep.info@oup.com; United States only Customer Service telephone: 1-800-445-9714 fax: 1-919-677-1303 or email: custserv.us@oup.com System Requirements Windows: Intel (r) Pentium (r) 4 1.6 G Hz processor or equivalent (2 G Hz recommended); Microsoft (r) Windows (r) Vista Windows XP Windows Server 2003 Windows 2000. Macintosh: Power PC (r) G4 867 M Hz or faster processor; Intel Core Duo 2.13 G Hz or faster processor; Mac OS X v.10.4x or 10.5x. All platforms: 512MB of RAM; 1 Gb free hard disk space; minimum monitor capability: 1024 x 768 pixels & high colour (16 bits per pixel ie 65 536 colours); local CD-ROM/DVD drive (for installation); runs from hard drive only.
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