A dictionary of euphemisms.
Edition: Rev. ed.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: [Oxford]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 470
Subjects: Euphemism.
Description: There's an art to not saying what you mean, and A Dictionary Of Euphemisms investigates our all too common tendency to prefer vague or roundabout expressions to words which are blunt, precise, and often disagreeably true. Whey else do we say 'bijou', 'house of ill repute', and 'corporate entertainment', when what we really mean is 'inconveniently small', 'brothel', and 'bribery'? Let A Dictionary of Euphemisms be your guide to the language of prudery, evasion, and deceit.

Filled with thousands of quotations, definitions, derivations, and historical explanations, this dictionary offers compulsive browsing combined with essential reference.
Notes: Previous ed., 1989: originally published in 1987 by Bath University Press as "A dictionary of American and British Euphemisms".

Includes bibliography: pxi-xix.