# Slang dictionary > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Slang_dictionary > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Slang_dictionary.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slang_dictionary > Source revision: 1335439494 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) A **slang dictionary** is a [reference book](/source/Reference_book) containing an [alphabetical](/source/Alphabetical_order) list of [slang](/source/Slang), which is [vernacular](/source/Vernacular) [vocabulary](/source/Vocabulary) not generally acceptable in formal usage, usually including information given for each word, including meaning, pronunciation, and [etymology](/source/Etymology). It can provide definitions on a range of slang from more mundane terms (like "[rain check](/source/Glossary_of_English_language_idioms_derived_from_baseball#rain_check)" or "[bob and weave](/source/Bob_and_weave)") to obscure sexual practices. Such works also can include words and phrases arising from different [dialects](/source/Dialect) and [argots](/source/Argot), which may or may not have passed into more common usage. They can also track the changing meaning of the terms over time and space, as they migrate and mutate. ## Famous slang dictionaries ### 17th and 18th centuries Slang dictionaries have been around for hundreds of years. *The Canting Academy, or Devil's Cabinet Opened* was a 17th-century slang dictionary, written in 1673 by [Richard Head](/source/Richard_Head), that looked to define [thieves' cant](/source/Thieves'_cant).[1] *[A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew](/source/A_New_Dictionary_of_the_Terms_Ancient_and_Modern_of_the_Canting_Crew)*, was first published c. 1698. *A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue*, by [Francis Grose](/source/Francis_Grose) was first published in 1785.[2][3][4] Grose's work was arguably the most significant English-language slang dictionary until [John Camden Hotten](/source/John_Camden_Hotten)'s 1859 *[A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words](/source/A_Dictionary_of_Modern_Slang,_Cant,_and_Vulgar_Words)*.[5] ### Modern times In recent years, dictionaries with a more academic focus have tried to bring together etymological studies in an attempt to provide definitive guides to slang while avoiding problems arising from [folk etymology](/source/Folk_etymology) and [false etymology](/source/False_etymology). The study of slang is now taken seriously by academics, especially [lexicographers](/source/Lexicography) like the late [Eric Partridge](/source/Eric_Partridge), devoting their energies to the field and publishing on it, including producing slang dictionaries. ### Examples - *[Green's Dictionary of Slang](/source/Green's_Dictionary_of_Slang)* (by [Jonathon Green](/source/Jonathon_Green), Chambers, ISBN 978-0-550-10440-3), 2010 comprising three volumes: A–E; F–O; P–Z - *Chambers Slang Dictionary* (by [Jonathon Green](/source/Jonathon_Green), [Chambers Harrap Publishers](/source/Chambers_Harrap), ISBN 978-0-550-10439-7), 2008 previously *Cassell Dictionary of Slang* ([Cassell Reference](/source/Orion_Publishing_Group), 1998; last edition 2006, ISBN 978-0-304-36636-1) - *[Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English](/source/Dictionary_of_Slang_and_Unconventional_English)* (by [Eric Partridge](/source/Eric_Partridge) and Paul Beale, [Routledge](/source/Routledge), 2002, ISBN 0-415-29189-5) - *The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang* (by John Ayto and [John Simpson](/source/John_Simpson_(lexicographer)), [Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press), 2005, ISBN 0-19-861052-1) ### Vulgar slang There have also been a subsequent amount of [tongue-in-cheek](/source/Tongue-in-cheek) efforts which tend to focus on the more vulgar slang terms: - *[Roger's Profanisaurus](/source/Roger's_Profanisaurus) Rex: The Ultimate Swearing Dictionary* (third edition, *[Viz](/source/Viz_(comics))*, 2005, ISBN 0-7522-2812-9) - *Slang Defined* (by Aaron Peckham, [Andrews McMeel](/source/Andrews_McMeel_Publishing), 2006, ISBN 0-7407-5143-3) - *[Urban Dictionary](/source/Urban_Dictionary)* (By Aaron Peckham), 1999 ## See also - [Jargon](/source/Jargon) - [Thieves' cant](/source/Thieves'_cant) ## References 1. [British Library article on *The Canting Academy*](http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/dic/head/canting1673.html) 1. British Library *Texts in Context*: [1785 – Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue](http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/dic/grose/vulgar1785.html) 1. [fromoldbooks.org version of the Vulgar Tongue with one page per entry, links to examples and to another canting (thieving) dictionary](http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Grose-VulgarTongue/) 1. [Tony Thorne](/source/Tony_Thorne) (2000) "Slang and the Dictionary". ## External links - British Library *Texts in Context*: [1785 – Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue](http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/dic/grose/vulgar1785.html) - [fromoldbooks.org version of the Vulgar Tongue with one page per entry, links to examples and to another canting (thieving) dictionary](http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Grose-VulgarTongue/) - [A 1737 dictionary of canting slang produced by Nathan Bailey](https://web.archive.org/web/20070811012922/http://fromoldbooks.org/NathanBailey-CantingDictionary/transcription) - [Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhyme, edited by John Farmer (1896)](http://www.fromoldbooks.org/Farmer-MusaPedestris) - [British Library article on *The Canting Academy*](http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/dic/head/canting1673.html) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Slang dictionary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slang_dictionary) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slang_dictionary?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.