Books in the Wordsworth Reference series

A spelling dictionary, which gives concise meanings throughout. Easier to use than a conventional dictionary, it also includes additions to the English language (for instance, words such as helpline, karaoke, synergy and teleworking).

This work explains the origins of the familiar and the unfamiliar in everyday speech and literature, including the colloquial and the proverbial. It embraces archaeology, history, religion, the arts, science, mythology and characters from fiction.