I'm always looking in this book!

Amazon.co.uk Review
Collins English Dictionary has evolved into a glorious great slab of a reference book since its relatively modest first appearance in 1979. The 2003 version, rooted in the Bank of English, a 524-million word database launched in 1991, is the sixth edition.
Strong on clear definitions, derivations, cross-referencing, acronyms, technical and scientific terms and geographical place names, Collins English Dictionary also includes occasional boxed "language notes". Thus, for example, after "mitigate" we are usefully reminded that "Mitigate is sometimes used where militate is meant: 'His behaviour militates (not mitigates) against his chances of promotion.'" Interestingly, users of English are evidently becoming more relaxed about their language. Seventy words previously deemed taboo, including "arse," "crap" and "wank" are now described merely as slang. Perhaps rows of asterisks will soon be a thing of the past. Language changes continually and so do attitudes to it. There is a distinct sense of celebration in the latest Collins English Dictionary because English is one of the richest and most diverse of the world's languages and it is rapidly becoming a global lingua franca.

Amazon Editorial Review:
Since the new edition of "Collins English Dictionary" (CED) two-and-a-half years ago, major revolutions have struck the countries we knew as the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia; new states, such as Eritrea have arisen; heads of state have come and gone. This edition has therefore been published with the aim of giving the user the latest encyclopaedic coverage. Over 1000 entries have been updated to reflect recent political change. In general language too, this edition includes many new words established since 1991: new terms from the media like "ethnic cleansing" and "Euro-sceptic" or for the media, "ratpack"; from music, "techno"; from film, "body double"; and from technology, "cache memory". The 200 special subject field areas are covered by Specialist Consultants.


Jeremy Butterfield and his colleagues have made a splendid job of recording exactly where English is now. We may need to know what a "sex text" or a "dead-cat bounce" is today but, perhaps, in the quite near future such terms will fall out of use. That's why dictionaries need to be continuously updated, leaving earlier editions as reference works for language historians to study. It's also what makes dictionaries in general and Collins English Dictionary in particular so fascinating and why word lovers need the latest version on their shelves. --Susan Elkin

Synopsis
This edition of the "Collins English Dictionary" has been fully revised to include thousands of the latest buzz and hi-tech words, as well as new meanings from the Bank of English. It includes a much wider and richer range of words than ever before, with regional and dialect words con tributed by hundreds of people from all over the UK, and generous coverage of World English, particularly from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and the USA. Its coverage of scientific and technical entries has also been fully revised and updated by a team of academic experts. Language notes give advice on using the right word in the right place, and thousands of word histories trace the roots of modern English.

I hope this book will be very useful to you, Noelle.