The Oxford Handy Dictionary [antikvár]

PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITIONThis sixth edition of the Pocket Oxford Dictionary represents a thorough revision, based largely on the latest (1976) edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary and on the most recent materials available from the work still in progress on the new Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary. The typography has also been modified in the same way as in the new Concise, with the same aim of greater ease of use.American spellings are systematically included, and the symbol * now denotes 'chiefly American'; the symbol || is used for 'chiefly British'. The appendices of abbreviations and foreign-word pronunciations have been incorporated into the main text. The publication of the late Professor Grahame Johnston's Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary (1976) has made it unnecessary to retain the supplement of Australian and New Zealand words that appeared at the end of the previous edition.Many harids besides my own have helped towards the creation of the new edition. The lexicographical skill of F. G. Fowler laid the foundations, before his untimely death left his brother H. W. Fowler to finish the compilation of the original Pocket Oxford Dictionary (1924). The task of keeping abreast of the continually evolving English language was successively undertaken by H. G. Le Mesurier and E. Mcintosh before being entrusted to me. I could not have completed the revision so soon without the aid of valued colleagues. Mr. Robert W. Burchfield, C.B.E., Chief Editor of the Oxford English Dictionaries, has provided much helpful guidance. The initial revision of the entries has been largely done by three editorial assistants: Mr. Tony Augarde, Miss Jean Buchanan (Mrs. Harker), and Miss Julia Swannell; the late Dr. Rashid Ball, Miss Joyce Hawkins, and Mr. Lister Matheson also contributed. Mr. David Edmonds has read all the proofs, and Mr. Augarde many of them; substantial critical comments on the proofs have come from Mrs. W. K. Davin, Mr. M. W. Grose, Mr. T. F. Hoad, Mrs. E. J. Pusey, and Professor E. G. Stanley. Mrs. Anne Whear has given help with typing and in other ways. To all these, and to the many others who have drawn my attention in