From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An
idiom
dictionary explains idiosyncratic
stock phrases and
metaphors in language. Typical English idiom dictionaries,
e.g. that published by
Longmans, define about 4000 phrases, e.g. "buy the farm",
"hit the road", "canary in a coal mine". Of these, a tiny
subset, generally involving prepositions or action verbs, are
very basic to the language, and are closely related to
fundamental
conceptual metaphors. These include forms like out of
or turn into.
Idiom dictionaries, as well as dictionaries in general, may
or may not rely on a
defining vocabulary of terms (Longman's uses 2000) which are
used only in their simplest senses, to minimize the number of
such basic conceptual metaphors and polymorphic word uses, and
make definitions easier for someone unfamiliar with the language
to comprehend, such as children or students of
English as an additional language.
See also
-
Defining vocabulary
-
Wiktionary list of idioms
-
Stock phrase
