Penguin Dict of English Idioms

Power nap, "the Oprah effect," "girl power"-these are just some of the recent figures of speech to have entered our language. This dictionary has been completely revised for its second edition and includes 2,000 new idioms. It provides clear and concise definitions and explains how the idioms should be used. At the same time, the dictionary's thematic arrangement makes it possible not only to study and compare all the idioms in a given subject area, but to match the right one to the right occasion. Author Biography: Daphne M. Gulland has been engaged in research into the origins of the most common idioms in the language, breaking new ground with her system of categorization. She is married with four children. Annotation Grouping expressions by key words in subject categories the book defines and explains the origins of more than 4000 idioms.

DAPHNE GULLAND is the daughter of David Hinds-Howell and has been researching idioms and their origins for a number of years. She lives in Alfter, Germany.　

DAVID HINDS-HOWELL was born in 1916 and educated at Marlborough College and Oxford University. He had a long and distinguished career as a teacher of English and director of the Hillcrest School of English. He died recently.