This fascinating work is a dictionary of unusual, obscure, and preposterous words. It contains thousands of the weirdest words in the English language, but the definition of each each word has been written clearly and directly. And, incredible as it may seem, every entry in this book, even the most ludicrous, has been accepted as a formal or legitimate English word by at least one major dictionary.
Although Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary has enough humor in it to reward casual browsers, it is intended to serve as a supplement to a desk dictionary. Such words as heredipety (legacy hunting), nikin (a very soft creature), noctuary (a diary of nighttime activities), pantophobia (fear of everything, cowardice), and saginate (to fatten, pamper) may soon be given general conversational currency.
Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary is the most helpful reference for students, writers, or anyone unable to locate just the right expressive word in a standard dictionary.
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Is this anything like ripleys odd weird and freaky?
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds great for finding cool new words to use. Do you own it?
ReplyDeleteHave you ever tried to read a normal dictionary? I got through C on one of our BIG dictionary's and gave up. However, This probably has far more humor, making it an easier read.
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