American Idioms & Verbs

From proverbial expressions such as “a stitch in time saves nine” to idioms such as “dead ringer” to such common phrases as “put out” and “take on”, idioms and phrasal verbs seem to serve no other purpose than to frustrate and confuse serious language learners like you. Don’t despair! Thanks to the efforts of noted lexicographer Richard A. Spears, mastering American English idioms has never been easier.

McGraw-Hill’s Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs covers the full breadth and scope of idiomatic American English, making it an invaluable resource for ESL students as well as writers, scholars, and public speakers. You will never be more confused by American English again thanks to:

 • More than 24,000 entries and 27,000 senses, with concise definitions and at least one example sentence for each phrase so you become comfortable using idiomatic phrases, proverbial expressions, and cliches
 • Guidance on the correct tone and social context so you know when and where not to use certain words and phrases
 • A comprehensive Phrase-Finder index of more than 60,000 entries that lets you locate phrases by key words, including common particles in two-part verbs

A SEARCH TOOL

featuring search autocomplete to help you find words quickly by displaying predictions similar to the terms you're typing. You also get enhanced search extras including:

 • A quick search of words while you type.
 • A 'fuzzy filter' for when you are not sure of the correct spelling of a word.
 • A 'keyword' search for finding key words within compound words.
 • A wild card search function ('*' or '?') which can replace a letter or entire parts of a word.
 • Download dictionary definitions locally for offline word lookup.

A LEARNING TOOL

including a number of features that help you further enhance your vocabulary:

 • A 'Favorites' feature to create custom folders with lists of words from the extensive library, including cross-curriculum words.
 • History list to help you easily review looked-up words.
 • Discover more using the included special language notes.
 • See words in context with example sentences.
 • 'Word-of-the-day' feature with dedicated homescreen widget.