The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

A proverb is a common saying which offers advice or presents a moral in a short or pithy manner. In the past, proverbs had the status of universal truths and were used to prove an argument: the fact that new proverbs are still coming into being shows how these neat expressions are still valued and used. Modern proverbs have many different origins (for example 'garbage in, garbage out' comes from computing, while 'there's no such thing as free lunch' comes from economics), but people still look for a vivid and concrete image to make their point. Now available in paperback, this brand new edition is a valuable updating and revision of the well-loved classic, the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, with increased coverage of 1,100 proverbs. Presented in a thoroughly reader-friendly style yet staying true to the scholarly standards that have characterized earlier editions, it offers more detailed annotation and up-to-the-minute citations from around the English-speaking world. New additions include 'another day, another dollar', 'bad things come in threes', 'better to live one day as a tiger than a thousand years as a sheep', and 'there is more than one way to skin a cat', with new illustrative quotations putting proverbs in their historical context. This edition also contains a full thematic index.