The E. U. P. Concise French & English Dictionary [antikvár]

FOREWORD The object of this Dictionary is to provide a handy guide to the French and English languages in which the user will find the essentials needed for reading, writing, speaking and translating. It does not claim to be exhaustive ; indeed no dictionary can make that claim since, however up-to-date and comprehensive it may have been when compiled, new words have certainly come into being since it issued from the press. Language is constantly in flux both as regards grammar and vocabulary, and all the lexicographer can do is to include only such neologisms as seem to have real vitality. He is faced here with a grave difficulty, since neologisms—especially those born in wartime and those of a slangy nature—sometimes die rapidly and sometimes have a remarkably sturdy life. What is one to do with a word like décade which came to be used during the late war for " tobacco ration," i.e. the amount allowed for ten days? It has been omitted as it has probably disappeared. On the other hand such a word as démarreur, " self-starter," has evidently earned its place as a permanent acquisition of the language and it, together with similar modern words, has been included. The French-English section contains somé 15,000 words, the English-French over 20,000, and the Dictionary, since a proper selection has been made, covers a rangé of vocabulary wide enough to meet all one's needs for reading books and news-papers, for correspondence, for translating, and for the give-and-take of everyday life and conversation. But it is a dictionary and not an encyclopaedia, and you must not ask from it services which it cannot render. It contains a reasonable amount of familiar and even slang words, since French, like English, is largely spiced with slang; but it keeps its slang within proper bounds and, without being unduly prim, excludes words which might give offence. You have in this handy volume that slips so snugly into your pocket, not only a far-flung vocabulary in both French and English, but alsó a complete list of those headaches of schooldays, the Irregular Verbs, with lists of Christian and Geographical names, the French weights and measures, and a neat selection of French Idioms and Phrases well worth your leaning by heart. Space has been saved by excluding somé adverbs förmed by adding -ment to the feminine of the adjective and by not printing he feminine of nouns and adjectives if it is the same as the íasculine or merely adds -e. The various meanings of a word