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Books > Language & Literature > Literary & linguistic reference works > Dictionaries > General
Biology is an extensive subject that has undergone a vast expansion
and so comprises not only such conventional aspects as taxonomy,
morphology, biochemistry, functional physiology, and ecology, but
also the rapidly expanding new fields of cell biology and molecular
biology. This dictionary attempts to provide a comprehensive
coverage of biological terms, recognising also that the interface
between biology and other sciences, such as chemistry and physics
as well as medicine, is becoming less distinct and includes terms
from these other areas.
This book is intended especially for teachers and students of
biology and other natural sciences, environmental sciences and
medicine. College students, amateur biologists, journalists,
translators and civil service officers will also find this a useful
tool.
This companion volume to the Dictionary of American Regional
English vastly enhances readers' use of the five volumes of DARE
text. Those who want to investigate the regional synonyms for a
rustic, or a submarine sandwich, or that strip of grass between the
sidewalk and the street can search through the five volumes and
compare the distributional maps. Or, with this volume, they can
open to a page with all those maps displayed side by side. Not only
is it an extraordinary teaching tool, it is also a browser's
delight. The user who wants to know what words characterize a given
state or region is also in luck. The Index to the five volumes not
only answers that question but also satisfies the reader's
curiosity about words that have come into English from other
languages, and words that vary with the speakers' age, sex, race,
education, and community type. And those who simply love to explore
the variety and ingenuity of American expression will be seduced by
the lists of answers to the DARE fieldwork questions. Dust balls
under the bed? Americans have at least 176 names for them. Names
for a heavy rainstorm? There are more than 200, including the
fanciful frog-strangler, goose-drownder, lightwood-knot floater,
and trash-mover. More than 400 questions and all of their answers
are included in this treasure trove of American linguistic
creativity.
There is no single Asian language. But plenty of vogue words from
this booming continent are entering English. Did you know there is
a flower named after former dictator Kim Jong-il? The Chinese have
a word shengnu, literally leftover for the new phenomenon of
unmarried women over thirty. Can you tell your jeepney from your
jilbab, or yakuza from the yellowshirts? These are just some of the
hundreds of words that illuminate little corners of life and
culture in a pan-Asian selection of keywords from the zeitgeist."
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