THE UNIVERSAL DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH. LANGUAGE Edited by Henry
Cecil Wyld A dictionary that is not either a .midget or a monster has
long been needed, to bridge the gulf between: the standard Oxford Dictionary and the more portable, but not wholly reliable, works whose most general funetion appears ,to`.1ie, in affording relief to addicts to the crossword puzzle. ' The
Universal Dictionary of the English Language.(Routledge; 42s.)
is therefore doubly welcome, both as filling a very obvious gap and as providing,- at a very moderate price, n work which will be acceptable everywhere from the office desk to the study shelves. The first requirement of a dictionary is to be up to date, so that the inclusion, among some 200,000 words, of a certain percentage of slang, though it may distress the pedants, is not only justified but necessary. Attention is paid to scientific and technical terms, to the change of meaning to which a word is liable in the development of its usage, and to the history of its inclusion in the language. Pronunciation is marked by precise phonetic notation, and by a system of simple spelling which should be intelligible to the least etymologically-minded. Among medium-sized 'works, this should become the standard dictionary.
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