Idioms are the expressions peculiar to any language, and English is about as peculiar as languages come! Why do people "argue the toss"?; and how do people "bring home the bacon"? This volume provides a full and thorough guide to both the most recent and more archaic turns of phrase.

The greatest name in foreign language dictionaries is Cassell, the preeminent publisher of dictionaries for over 120 years. For fast, easy reference and comprehensive coverage, Cassell's is unbeatable. With entries covering daily conversation as well as technical and professional terms, this handy pocket-sized dictionary is the only reference you need while traveling, studying, or working. Cassell's is portable, easy to read and full of helpful usage information that's simple to access. This invaluable volume, backed by the world's foremost language authority, is the best pocket guide available to the Spanish language.

Over fifty thousand entries provide French and English equivalents, and include technical, as well as, conversational words and phrases.

Cassell's Colloquial German is one of a newly revised series of handbooks which provide convenient and fascinating coverage of modern languages, and of the pitfalls and difficulties inherent in colloquial, colourful, or idiomatic usage.

Designed to help the user find the best word or phrase in Cantonese to express the meaning of an English word or expression. English words are listed in alphabetical order. Includes a brief introduction to Cantonese pronunciation, tones, a comparative chart of four romanisation systems, and grammatical notes. Suitable for self-study, and developing vocabulary.

"CARTOON-ILLUSTRATED METAPHORS: Idioms, Proverbs, Cliches and Slang" gives you accurate definitions, origins and usages of metaphors that you will easily understand and apply with clarity and precision. This book is intended to help people who want to "spice up" the way they talk. It is especially effective for people whose native languages are not English. Verbal metaphors used in appropriate contexts can serve business, social, psychological and cultural purposes. Each metaphor occupies one page which makes learning consistent and easy. Each page has a cartoon and a text portion that consists of four categories of information: meaning, alternative, origin and usage. People evaluate you by your conversational skill! Your conversational skill can be directly linked to your career advancement, income level and social standing. To move up, your conversational skill must surpass that of your co-workers. People perceive the level of your intelligence, education and capabilities by how you express yourself in conversion. Get the help from CARTOON-ILLUSTRATED METAPHORS: Idioms, Proverbs, Cliches and Slang. Clear your path to success! If you cannot express your ideas eloquently, you can appear as lack of competence and qualification. Impress your audience with "your metaphors" in the right context. Get "your metaphors" from CARTOON-ILLUSTRATED METAPHORS: Idioms, Proverbs, Cliches and Slang. Your conversational expressions will have pin-point accuracy! You will learn from CARTOON-ILLUSTRATED METAPHORS: Idioms, Proverbs, Cliches and Slang the accurate definitions, origins and usage of "your metaphors," and apply them with clarity and precision.

This dictionary is designed for non-native speakers of Japanese, perfect for business people and students. There are over 50,000 entries, including the most common meanings. Japanese terms are shown in romanized Japanese and standard Japanese characters. The romanized entries are listed in alphabetical order, so no knowledge of Japanese is required.

This work goes back to the sources of modern English words and studies the development of vocabulary over time. It examines what constitutes a word, with a discussion of words that look and sound the same, words that have several meanings, and "words" that are made up of more than one "word". As well as considering the borrowing of words from other languages throughout the history of English as a means of increasing the vocabulary, the book also outlines how English forms new words by exploiting the structure of existing words, through processes of derivation and compounding. The meaning of a word is composite of a number of relations: reference to external context, relations with other words of a similar or opposite meaning, collocational relations, and so on. The book grapples with the meaning problem, but then goes on to look at the contexts in which words are used and the purposes for which they are used, raising the question whether it is more sensible to talk about English "vocabularies" rather than English "vocabulary".