num_pages: 994
description: A reference work of the broadest possible utility this dictionary contains not only conventional material--over 49000 vocabulary items with definitions pronunciation and etymology--but more than 6000 encyclopedic entries varying from fifty to 250 words on a wide range of subjectsincluding history literature music cinema theater languages myth and legends theology science and technology. Ninety pages of specially drawn illustrations and eight pages of maps enhance the text. Some twenty pages of appendices contain useful weights and measures chemicalelements U.S. presidents and much more.Thoroughly up to date the Dicionary features entries on specific inventions (e.g. the airplane computer traffic lights) an entry for each major language and a brief history of every independent country in the world. Among the general subjects are anesthetics astrology astronomyevolution Impressionism the Industrial Revolution linguistics and printing. Proper name entries cover capital cities and other major metropolises as well as rivers and mountains and significant figures ranging from Charlemagne to Charlie Chaplin from Darwin to Dickens.About the Author :Joyce M. Hawkins is a member of the Oxford dictionary staff in England. She was a compiler of the Oxford Paperback Dictionary as well as the Oxford American Dictionary  among other works.
language: English
title: The Oxford Reference Dictionary
publisher: Oxford University Press