LINKS FOR LINGUAPHILES
GENERAL REFERENCE:
Bartleby:
Extensive literature reference: includes American Heritage Dictionary,
thesaurus and many other resources.
Ref.desk:
enomously general reference; not just word-related
DICTIONARIES, thesauri:
General
American
Heritage Dictionary, + thesaurus, quotations, etc.
Mer.-Webster
dictionaries, with thesaurus
Oxford English Dictionary: requires subscription. Your
library card may allow access, if your local library subscribes.
Dictionary.com:
collects definitions from AHD, Websters, and a few others; includes thesaurus
Onelook:
collects 845 dictionaries, both general and specialized. Ideal to find an obscure word, or to compare
several definitions. (But
overkill for
a run-of-the-mill dictionary search.)
Allows pattern-searches, if you don't know the exact spelling.
Obscure-word dictionaries
Tiscali Dictionary of Difficult Words
Worthless
word for the day: Here lies fun obscuranta.
Grandiloquent Dictionary: fun for finding and defining
obscure words.
(Note: this
is not the same as Russell
Rocke's 1972 book of the same name.)
Forthright's Phrontistery:
obscure words – over 14,000 of them!
Luciferous Logolepsy: dragging obscure words into the light of day
Specialty dictionaries
Slang: Dictionary
of Slang (large, and on whole accurate); and Online
Slang Dictionary (more attuned to US slang)
Drug: Drug
Related Street Terms/Slang Words; and Street Terms: Drugs and the Drug Trade
Rhetoric terms: On-line rhetoric:
comprehensive and throrough on terms of classical and renaissance rhetoric.
Food
terms dictionary (with link to wine terms)
Lingo2word: the acronyms and emoticons used in the internet
world.
Phrase Finder: Meanings and Origins of Phrases
Cliches: Cliches
and Expressions Origins and Idiom Site. (former is bit easier to browse)
Glossary comparing British vs. US terms. Not comprehensive by any means, but decent.
ETYMOLOGY:
Etymology On-line: extensive: about 17,000 words.
significantly better than the etymologies in the standard dictionaries.