A Browser's Dictionary: A Compendium of Curious Expressions & Intriguing Facts

by John Ciardi

Esteemed poet, translator, critic, and author of children's books, John Ciardi devoted a good part of his later literary career to the "word rambles" that, collected in his Browser's Dictionaries, take us on a wonderfully winding path through the landscape of language. His three compendiums of curious expressions and intriguing facts are enlivened by a reader's inquisitiveness and a writer's ingenuity. In these pages you'll discover the bitter herb at the root of sardonic, the Biblical fly in the ointment, what provides the pleasure in happy as a clam, and hundreds of other insights into our linguistic heritage. Also available in Common Reader Editions : A Second Browser's Dictionary and A Third Browser's Dictionary.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction, Language, Dictionaries

429 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1980

About the author

John Anthony Ciardi was an American poet, translator, editor, writer and etymologist.

Reviews

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not at all encyclopedic, but the words and phrases that it does cover it covers well.

[Thannasset · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love words, Ciardi loves words, so there you go.