This unique and celebrated biography describes how a largely self-educated boy from a small village in Scotland entered the world of scholarship and became the

Examines the hidden history through which the Oxford English Dictionary came into being in a study that traces the personal battles involved in chronicling an e

An account of the life and scholarly career of the first editor of the Oxford English Dictionary and of the writing of the Dictionary itself

"I don't even help [my children] with their homework in the evening because I'm in the chat rooms, and I don't help put them to bed because I don't realize how

What is the meaning of a word? Most readers turn to the dictionary for authoritative meanings and correct usage. But what is the source of authority in dictiona