This dictionary has been written by a distinguished team of academic and practising lawyers. It is intended primarily for those without a qualification in law who nevertheless require some legallmowledge in the course oftheir work: chartered surveyors and accountants, civil servants and local-government officers, social workers and probation officers, as well as businessmen and legal secretaries are typical examples of those whose work often calls for a knowledge of the precise meaning (and spelling) of a legal term.

The merit of Captain Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue has been long and universally acknowledged. But its circulation was confined almost exclusively to the lower orders of society: he was not aware, at the time of its compilation, that our young men of fashion would at no very distant period be as distinguished for the vulgarity of their jargon as the inhabitants of Newgate; and he therefore conceived it superfluous to incorporate with his work the few examples of fashionable slang that might occur to his observation.

For more than three decades, this internationally-known reference has been the easiest, fastest, and most reliable way for anyone to gain fluency in the language of science and technology. Containing more than 110,000 entries that span 100 fields ranging from acoustics to zoology, the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms features definitions written in language understandable to students and the general public, yet advanced enough for professionals.

With more than 3000 terms, the fields covered in the Dictionary of Pure and Applied Physics (DPAP) are acoustics, biophysics and medical physics, communication, electricity, electronics, geometrical optics, low temperature physics, magnetism, and physical optics. Like most other branches of science, physics has grown rapidly over the last decade. As such, many of the terms used in older books have become obsolete and new terms have appeared in scientific and technical literature. Care has been taken to ensure that old terms are not included in the DPAP and new terminologies are not missed. Some of the terms are related to other fields, e.g., engineering fields (mostly electrical and mechanical), mathematics, chemistry, biology.

The book reflects a departure from the previous one in scope and in format. This edition, containing some 28,500 terms, is not meant to be exhaustive in its coverage. It focuses on mining-related terms and excludes such related categories as ceramics, glass, metallurgy, petroleum, and other specialized disciplines. Geological terms which relate to mining are included, as are minerals which have a commercial value or which are associated with such minerals. Many chemicals and materials that are not usually connected with mining or minerals processing do not appear, nor do the chemical elements unless they are classified as minerals.

English is the language most frequently used in international military and peacekeeping operations. This dictionary aims to provide a basic vocabulary of British and American terms relating to the three services, and covers subjects such as rank, organization, training, operations in the field, logistics, radio communications, and some of the more common weapons and equipment currently in use. In addition, there are selected items of general vocabulary relating to geography, terrain, weather, medical treatment and other relevant matters. New terms used by the media in reporting on recent conflicts are also included, making this an ideal reference source for anyone involved in teaching English to the military or armed police forces.

In writing this new edition of the Dictionary we had several aims in mind. One of these was to provide clear and up-to-date definitions of the numerous terms and phrases which form the currency of communication in modern microbiology and molecular biology. In recent years the rapid advances in these disciplines have thrown up a plethora of new terms and designations which, although widely used in the literature, are seldom defined outside the book or paper in which they first appeared; moreover, ongoing advances in knowledge have frequently demanded changes in the definitions of older terms – a fact which is not always appreciated and which can therefore lead to misunderstanding.

This dictionary provides the user with the basic vocabulary currently being used in a wide range of healthcare situations. The areas covered include the technical language used in diagnosis, patient care, surgery, pathology, general practice, pharmacy, dentistry and other specialisations, as well as anatomical and physiological terms. Informal, everyday and sometimes euphemistic terms commonly used by people in discussing their condition with healthcare professionals are also included, as are common words used in reading or writing reports, articles or guidelines.

Some long-time users of the book may notice that the familiar Hanley & Belfus imprint has been replaced by Elsevier's Saunders imprint. No matter what the imprint, however, the same care as always has been taken in the selection of entries and the verification of their accuracy. The familiar format of boldface acronyms and abbreviations followed by run-in meanings has been retained, allowing the book to be kept to a convenient size. New terms have been drawn especially from the areas of virology, clinical trials, new technology, and medical informatics.

The design of the first volume was maintained, with entries arranged alphabetically and composed with an eye toward factual introduction and guidance in research. Contributors were asked to conduct their research with two principal goals in mind: first, to provide a concise summary of literary inf luences; and second, to provide clear direction for further research. Each entry includes three components: an introductory section provides basic biographical data; The body of each article is devoted to an assessment of specific literary works and authors known to have influenced the subject; A bibliography includes principal archival collections, standard biographical resources, and published materials relating specifically to the subject’s reading, etc.