This volume has been derived from the magisterial work of Eric Partridge and his collaborator and successor Paul Beale. Most of the entries have been adapted from material in the second edition (1985) of the classic A Dictionary of Catch Phrases, although articles have also been specially written for items that came into currency in the 1990s.

The focus throughout is on expressions that are in current daily use, and familiar throughout most parts of the English-speaking world. Items originating in Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are all to be found within these covers. We at Routledge are proud to publish this companion volume to the Shorter Dictionary of Slang (1993) as a tribute to Eric Partridge on the occasion of the centenary of his birth on 6 February 1894.