Vocabulary that may not be in your dictionary
Often slang words or words considered to be offensive or vulgar may not be in standard student dictionaries. However, this does not stop the words being used in films, books and songs and it doesn't stop students wanting to know what these words or phrases mean. These words can also change over time and can be different in different English speaking countries so it can be quite difficult keeping up. This is where online slang dictionaries can be helpful.
Below are a few of the better known dictionaries to keep you busy. However, be warned. Many of the entries in these online dictionaries of slang and vulgarity are likely to offend and they are not necessarily for the faint-hearted!
Green's dictionary of slang
500 years of the vulgar tongue
Green's dictionary of slang
This is a serious, prize winning piece of scholarly work and is a truly excellent resource. The text below is from the About section of the web site and tells you much about the dictionary.
Green’s Dictionary of Slang is the largest historical dictionary of English slang. Written by Jonathon Green over 17 years from 1993, it reached the printed page in 2010 in a three-volume set containing nearly 100,000 entries supported by over 400,000 citations from c. AD 1000 to the present day. The main focus of the dictionary is the coverage of over 500 years of slang from c. 1500 onwards.
The printed version of the dictionary received the Dartmouth Medal for outstanding works of reference from the American Library Association in 2012; fellow recipients include the Dictionary of American Regional English, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. It has been hailed by the American New York Times as ‘the pièce de résistance of English slang studies’ and by the British Sunday Times as ‘a stupendous achievement, in range, meticulous scholarship, and not least entertainment value’.
On this website the dictionary is now available in updated online form for the first time, complete with advanced search tools enabling search by definition and history, and an expanded bibliography of slang sources from the early modern period to the present day. Since the print edition, nearly 60,000 quotations have been added, supporting 5,000 new senses in 2,500 new entries and sub-entries, of which around half are new slang terms from the last five years.
On this website the dictionary is now available in updated online form for the first time, complete with advanced search tools enabling search by definition and history, and an expanded bibliography of slang sources from the early modern period to the present day. Since the print edition, nearly 60,000 quotations have been added, supporting 5,000 new senses in 2,500 new entries and sub-entries, of which around half are new slang terms from the last five years.
Green's dictionary of slang can be found at'
Urban
A US
based dictionary where users can look up and add new entries with definitions. A reminder, not for the squeamish and not especially scholarly in the way that Green's dictionary is.
 |
The Urban Dictionary can be found at:
Online Slang Dictionary
 |
The Online Slang Dictionary can be found at:
Peevish - the dictionary of UK slang and colloquialisms is also worth looking at. However, the search facility is offline at the moment.
No comments:
Post a Comment