Concise English Proverb and Idiom Dictionary

Author: Chen Wenbo (Compiler)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-01-20
Features: The term "concise" in the title refers to the number of entries. A relatively comprehensive English proverb dictionary should have thousands of entries, while this book includes only about 1,200 entries, making it smaller in scale. However, it has more entries than the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs compiled by British authors. Not only does it have more entries, but the content is also richer. Most entries in the Oxford version lack explanations, merely listing the historical order of the proverb's appearance in the book. In contrast, this book provides explanations for every entry and includes example sentences. The explanations and example sentences are all sourced from English and American dictionaries or publications, with references not limited to a single source, making the explanations more comprehensive than those in any single dictionary. The example sentences are drawn from the works of English and American authors, allowing readers to see how the proverbs are used. To facilitate reading and appreciation by a broad audience, all explanations and example sentences have been translated into Chinese, with the exception of a very small number, which were translated by the compiler. Due to the idiomatic nature of the entries, the translations often differ from the original text in meaning, and readers may refer to English-Chinese or English-English dictionaries for a deeper understanding. The arrangement of this book draws inspiration from dictionaries both within and outside China, adopting a retrieval term method. This method is novel and differs from conventional dictionaries, requiring readers to study and master it for effective use.