Christine Ammer: 8 books

An A-to-Z guide to thousands of stock phrases and common expressions—with definitions, origins, and more. The largest, most comprehensive, and most entertaining reference of its kind, The Dictionary of Clichés features more than four thousand clichés and common expressions. Author Christine...

Some 600 words and phrases from the world of sports that are now part of the vernacular. Terms from baseball, boxing, football, basketball, hockey, cricket and rugby pepper the English language, whether the subject is war (a maneuver in the Gulf War was called a "hail Mary play") to love (she's on...

This updates and expanded edition of the classic text in the field describes hundreds of women musicians -- composers, instrumentalists, orchestra and opera managers, music educators, and music patrons, and their activity from the 18th to 21st centuries. It includes their most important compositions...

12 chapters cover 750 color terms in every color family, both familiar and unusual. This crayola box of expressions gives the origin of black sheep, how musicians came to sing the blues, purple prose, green thumb and greenback, orange blossoms, the black hole of Calcutta, and, of course, seeing red and tickled pink.

This book consists of more than 1,000 animal expressions in everyday language and where they came from. Do you have "an eagle eye" for a bargain? Have you ever been "hounded" by a "loan shark" or hustled by a "pool shark?" Here you can get the lowdown on the fox trot, puppy love, monkeyshines, cowlicks,...

From “all systems go” to “senior moment”—a comprehensive reference to idiomatic English.   The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms explores the meanings and origins of idioms that may not make literal sense but play an important role in the language—including phrasal verbs such as...

1,000 food-related terms and expressions, ranging from old chestnut to red herring to fruitcake to couch potato. What has "ham" to do with overacting? why does "nut" stand for a man's head and his gonads? Why do we say "Holy mackerel?" Quotations abound, from 4000 B.C. to the present. This book is addressed to foodies and word lovers.

Fighting Words from War, Rebellion, and Other Combative Capers explains the origins and usage of some 1,200 words and phrases from warfare. Arranged alphabetically, they range from ancient, such as Pyrrhic victory (279 B.C,) to modern (drone, I.E.D.) The reader will be surprised to learn that some of...