Cassell's dictionary of slang

Jonathan Green

Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2005 - Reference - 1565 pages

With its unparalleled coverage of English slang of all types (from 18th-century cant to contemporary gay slang), and its uncluttered editorial apparatus, Cassell's Dictionary of Slang was warmly received when its first edition appeared in 1998. 'Brilliant.' said Mark Lawson on BBC2's The Late Review; 'This is a terrific piece of work - learned, entertaining, funny, stimulating' said Jonathan Meades in The Evening Standard. But now the world's best single-volume dictionary of English slang is about to get even better. Jonathon Green has spent the last seven years on a vast project: to research in depth the English slang vocabulary and to hunt down and record written instances of the use of as many slang words as possible. This has entailed trawling through more than 4000 books - plus song lyrics, TV and movie scripts, and many newspapers and magazines - for relevant material. The research has thrown up some fascinating results - not least the revelation that much of the slang lexicon is far older than scholars have been hitherto aware. The full fruits of this research will appear in due course in a vast multi-volume publication; but its first fruits can be seen in Cassell's Dictionary of Slang: 2nd edition (CDS2). Jonathon's research has not only uncovered many thousands of new slang words and expressions (12,000 of which will appear in CDS2), but has also enabled him to make a myriad improvements to the existing dictionary text. Thus, while the core of entries have been kept in place, new research has ensured that many aspects, whether dating, definitions or etymologies, have been notably improved.

What people are saying

Review: Cassell's Dictionary of Slang

User Review  - Todd Cox - Goodreads

Interesting overall, but useful to me in particular right now because of the novel I'm currently writing. One of the characters, an odd-duck for sure, lapses into ancient slang now and then.

Review: Cassell's Dictionary Of Slang

User Review  - Laini - Goodreads

I write historical fiction, and when I'm hard at it, this book never leaves my side. It is utterly perfect in every way. And if you aren't using it, it makes a helluva doorstop.

About the author

Green is a writer, lexicographer and broadcaster, specializing in dictionaries of languages and quotations.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Cassell's dictionary of slang
• Author: Jonathan Green
• Edition: 2, revised
• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2005
• ISBN: 0304366366, 9780304366361
• Length: 1565 pages
• Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Reference; Reference / Dictionaries