Containing more than 5,000 entries, this dictionary covers metaphorical phrases, similes, familiar sayings, and proverbs, providing illustrative quotations from sources as varied as the Bible, the Spectator, and Agatha Christie. It explains meanings and provides historical information for well-known idioms such as cost an arm and a leg, knocks spots off, once in a blue moon, the tip of the iceberg, and many more. Full of fascinating facts, this dictionary is ideal for anyone with interest in the origins of the colloquial, quirky byways of the English language.
Idioms are arranged alphabetically by key word for easy reference. Sayings in British English are supplemented by American English and other expressions.

Article structure The invariable components of the entry structure are the idiom itself with capitalized keyword and any common variants given in brackets, followed by the definition. In addition there may be a label or labels indicating register and/or geographical area, a sentence or short paragraph covering etymological, historical and usage points of interest, and an illustrative quotation. The marking of a quotation with an asterisk indicates it is the earliest example of the use of this idiom yet traced.

MSDict Viewer Features The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms is utilized by MSDict Viewer - an innovative dictionary reader specially designed to combine high data compression for memory restricted devices with a fast search algorithm, and user-friendly interface with amazing speed.

• Quick access to any word through the search function that starts on the first letter you type
• Transcriptions facilitating pronunciation
• Hyperlinks between different related articles
• Ability to install multiple dictionaries at a time
• Support for dictionaries installed on memory cards
• Ability to filter words that satisfy given criteria
• History lists of visited words

Updates:
1.10 (07/08/05) - Optimized to support the new Oxford Multilanguage Pack; bug fixes
2.00 (09/21/05) - New wireless version which allows you to save valuable space on the PDA by retrieving dictionary words from a remote server though Internet connection