----- Forwarded message from Donald Burrill -----
> Also, as another chance to display my ignorance, I couldn't find "a
> fortiori" in my dictionary.
Try RHD, between "aforetime" and "afoul", not between "a" and "AA".
It will surely be in OED as well.
----- End of forwarded message from Donald Burrill -----
There are entire dictionaries devoted to this sort of thing. I have
_Dictionary of Foreign Terms_, which I think was first published in
1934 and issued in paperback in 1961. I bought the latter (for
ninety-five cents) when I was an undergraduate. There is another such
reference currently on sale from OUP.
Now, does anyone know of a reference where one could look up phrases?
For example, "like a chicken with its head cut off". Very short
phrases are sometimes in dictionaries under the main word ("battle
fatigue" might be under either word) but longer phrases are generally
not. Certain ones are in collections of quotations, but probably not
this one. (I grew up in a rural setting and think most people would
want much detail on this example.)
_
| | Robert W. Hayden
| | Work: Department of Mathematics
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