McGraw-Hill's dictionary of American idioms and phrasal verbs

Covers the full breadth and scope of idiomatic American English. A valuable resource for ESL students, as well as writers, scholars, and public speakers, this reference combines in one volume the two most perplexing aspects of American English phraseology, idioms and phrasal verbs, providing access to the complete meanings and varying usages of thousands of common terms and verb constructs. Features: More than 24,000 entries; concise definitions of each entry and sense, followed by one or two example sentences; Idiomatic phrases, proverbial expressions, and cliches; guidance on the tone appropriate for a select phrase as well as its origin; treatment of variation, of particular help to ESL learners; a comprehensive phrase-finder Index.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction, Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.