" ... this treasury of 'words that have a tale to tell' has established itself as one of the great reference classics -- the first port of call for tens of thousands of terms, phrases, and proper names and a fund of fascinating, unusual and out-of-the-way information ... For the 16th edition of 'Brewer's' the entire existing text has been revised and updated and over 1000 new articles added. These include: recent expressions (the full monty, couch potato, hit the ground running, Montezuma's revenge); recent events and organizations (Black Wednesday, Taliban); famous nicknames (Fab Four); historical and fictional characters (Attila the Hun, Anne Frank). Brand-new articles on hurricane names, celebrated place-names in literature, and frequently mispronounced words continue the century-old 'Brewer's' practice of recording unexpected and fascinating information that is not available in other general reference books." " ... Gives the meanings of a broad range of terms, expressions, and names of real, fictitious and mythical characters from world history, science, the arts and literature." NY Public Libr. Ref Books for Child Collect. 2d ed.

From the preface to the 1st edition of 1870 -- Preface to the millennium edition -- Guide to the use of the dictionary -- Dictionary.