How to Read a Word

One of the frustrations of working in a reference library is the wish of enquirers to know the exact meaning of a word or its proper use when such precision is not possible. As Elizabeth Knowles demonstrates clearly in this book, language is not fixed; it is an evolutionary process, with words constantly changing their meanings, associations, and other characteristics.

Knowles is a “historical lexicographer” having worked as a library researcher for the Oxford English Dictionary Supplement, a senior editor for the fourth edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (RR 2008/353), and editor of the seventh edition...