A Dictionary of American Idioms

by Adam Makkai

More than 8,000 idiomatic words and phrases that are standard in American English are listed with definitions and sample sentences to clarify their meanings. Earlier editions of this A-to-Z dictionary have proved especially helpful to TOEFL and TOEIC test takers, as well as to other students in North America for whom English is their second language. Idioms undergo constant change in every living language, some falling out of use while new words and phrases become part of the standard vocabulary. This new edition takes account of the latest idiomatic changes and presents a solid background to informal American English.

Genres: Reference, Language, Dictionaries, Nonfiction

448 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Alejandro · Rating 5 out of 5]

High-flier indeed!


IN THE BAG!

I've been a great fan of dictionaries, especially in the era before that thing that you may heard around called "internet".

So, when I was learning about English language, I was always looking for different kind of dictionaries, beyond the regular ones of merely translation, searching for specialized dictionaries like this one that it's about American idioms, that I think it was quite useful since when you're just learning another language and you meet expressions that sometimes aren't so clear what they are trying to tell you, and in years pre-2000s where internet wasn't so common and we onluy accessed when we'd go to those so popular then "Internet cafes", certainly it was handy to have around at home dictionaries like this one.

Since internet wasn't one click away from us in our mobiles.

So, yes, I liked a lot to buy this dictionary back then (1995) and certainly I hit the jackpot at the time!

[Morgan Summerfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have found this invaluable in helping people who have English as their second language understand things people say that seem 'bizarre' to them. I even recommend this from the perspective that people from different eras and even different parts of the country sometimes stumble across odd phrases or verbiage. I also use it as a reference when creating dialogue.

[Jaiden · Rating 4 out of 5]

More boring then I expected. I already knew most of the words and phrases inside, but there were some novel expressions. Like hoisted by one’s own petard

[Ruth Bogan]

My second reference purchase for etegami. Strictly alphabetical arrangement based on first word of the phrase in question. No index. The book is written for non-English speakers. Assuming someone hears a phrase and wants a quick way to look it up, I suppose this works. As for me, well, serendipity. I might stumble on something pertinent. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the authors' valiant efforts to distinguish slang from informal usage from formal usage from literary, vulgar, substandard, nonstandard, archaic usage and dialect. Talk about the fine points of English.

Later--I do find myself consulting this more than I expected I would. In spite of its bibliographic shortcomings, it's got a LOT of words and phrases in it.

[Peter O'leary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is basically ridiculous. It lists idioms that are and/or were supposedly prevalent at some time in America. I've never heard many of them. However, they're pretty fun to try to slip in to conversation. If you like to attempt to introduce memes, this'll give you some good material. Ain't gonna turn your world turtle but it just might raise your rent.

[Alvis Yu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some slang is quite interesting, but I found some to be offensive without being attached with a disclaimer whatsoever. For example, "for a coon's age" meaning "for a long time" is covered among other slang expressions in the book. However, I was told by an African-American friend of mine that the word "coon" is offensive and is better avoided.

[itsumoAoi · Rating 4 out of 5]

baca buku ini jadi lebih ngerti bahasa-nya film2 Amerika, frase-frase di artikel resmi yang pake style Amerika...dilengkapi dengan fungsi n contoh kalimat untuk tiap entri idiom, misal : frase 'bad mouth' (verb) ~ to deliberately damage one's reputation e.g. It's not nice to bad mouth people

[Joy Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish it had the history of the idioms, but a handy ref.