LibGuides: History: Dictionaries

General/Topic Specific Dictionaries

General dictionaries are resources that list words and provide their meaning or list words and give the equivalent word in a different language. This is an example of a regular English language dictionary. Click the link to see how it appears in the library's catalogue.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary

UofL Reference Collection

PE 1628 C68 2004

The University of Lethbridge also has access to the Oxford English Dictionary Online. This is an historical English Language dictionary that defines 6 000 000 words used today and in times gone by. Click the link to access this resource.

Oxford English Dictionary Online (OED)

Topic specific dictionaries are resources in the same format as general dictionaries, but they are for one specific topic only. They will help you determine appropriate search terms for research. For example:

The Hutchinson dictionary of world history

UofL Reference Collection

D 20 H87 1993

This dictionary of world history is 699 pages and is organized alphabetically. Its entries are about events, historical figures, geographical areas, and civilizations. Many entries have cross references that direct readers to other pages that relate to an entry. This dictionary includes maps.

Chat with Romany

chat loading...

Electronic Reference Sources

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Access background information on topics from all academic disciplines, including History.
Canadian Reference Centre This link opens in a new window
In addition to other content, access reference books on Canadian History.
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Offer your users a hassle-free eBook experience, anytime, anywhere, on any device. The Gale eBooks platform provides comprehensive support from many of today’s top publishers, optimized for search, discovery, and integration across your library’s educational programs.

Content: Books, General/Multidisciplinary
Oxford English Dictionary Online (OED) This link opens in a new window
An unsurpassed guide for researchers in any discipline to the meaning, history, and usage of over 500,000 words and phrases across the English-speaking world.

A selection of ebook dictionaries

Chambers Dictionary of World History Revised and updated to reflect recent world events, Chambers Dictionary of World History features more than 7,500 entries in a straightforward A-to-Z format. This impressive reference covers the key figures and events in world history, with an in-depth focus on the period from A.D. 1000 to 2000. From the Norman Conquest to the Normandy campaign, its comprehensive coverage includes wars, treaties, plots, and political movements as well as nations of the world, international organizations, and biographies of major figures. Entries include a clear and helpful system of cross-references that makes the book ideal for browsing and highlights connections among individuals, ideas, and events. More than 60 sidebars cover significant themes of ancient and modern history, and specially commissioned historical and thematic maps supplement the dictionary entries. For history buffs, classroom use, or any home reference collection, this comprehensive look at world history is an essential resource.
Call Number: D 9 L33 2012
Publication Date: 2005
An Illustrated Dictionary of the Third Reich by Jean-Denis G. G. Lepage This dictionary gives an enormous amount of basic information on the Third Reich era by listing, and often depicting, German terms connected to Nazism and the Germany of World War II. It includes ranks, badges, insignia, regalia, medals, flags and banners, weapons, uniforms, equipment, vehicles, fortifications, airplanes, battleships, main Nazi concepts and organizations, slogans, sayings, code names, nicknames, slang words, places of importance, events and battles, treaties and alliances, industry and economics, justice, art, religion, education, political parties, newspapers, laws, institutions, and short biographies of Nazi leaders. To make the rise of Nazism comprehensible, aspects of the Weimar Republic have also been considered. In all there are 1,650 entries and 234 illustrations.
Call Number: DD 256.47 L47 2014eb
Publication Date: 2013
Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History: From Antiquity to the Mid-Twentieth Century is a comprehensive and fascinating survey of the key figures in gay and lesbian history from classical times to the mid-twentieth century. Among those included are: * Classical heroes - Achilles; Aeneas; Ganymede * Literary giants - Sappho; Christopher Marlowe; Arthur Rimbaud; Oscar Wilde * Royalty and politicians - Edward II; King James I; Horace Walpole; Michel de Montaigne. Over the course of some 500 entries, expert contributors provide a complete and vivid picture of gay and lesbian life in the Western world throughout the ages.
Call Number: HQ 75.2 W47 2012
ISBN: 0415159830
Publication Date: 2012
The Cambridge Historical Dictionary of Disease The Cambridge World History of Human Disease (CWHHD) was first published by Cambridge in 1993. The basis of this Dictionary is Part VIII, the last section of the work, that comprises a history and description of the world's major diseases of yesterday and today in chapters organized alphabetically from "Acquired Immune Deficient Syndrome (AIDS)" to "Yellow Fever." The last section of CWHHD has been fully revised and the essays have been condensed into shorter entries, with up-to-date information on AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, Ebola, and Tuberculosis. The Dictionary also includes three chapters from other parts of the CWHHD on "Heart-Related Diseases," "Cancer," and Genetic Disease." Including contributions from over 100 medical and social scientists worldwide, the Dictionary is a truly interdisciplinary history of medicine and human disease. Kenneth Kiple is a distinguished professor of history at Bowling Green State University. His research and teaching interests include Latin America and the history of medicine, disease, and nutrition. His work has been supported by grants and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Philosophical Society, and the National Institutes of Health. He is the editor of The Cambridge History of World Disease (Cambridge, 1993) and with Kriemhild Coneé Ornelas, the award-winning Cambridge World History of Food (Cambridge, 2000).
Call Number: RC 41 C365 2012
Publication Date: 2003
Historical Dictionary of Postwar Japan Japan is a mix of the old and the new, traditional and modern, and old fashion and innovative. It has traveled the road to a modern destination without totally losing sight of its traditions and values. Although some in Japan lament the passing of old ways, Japan has held on to a reasonable amount of its traditions and values. This is easier to find in its arts and crafts and its literature and films as well as in its social habits. This book will introduce the broad sweep of people, events, and trends, including the successes and failures, of postwar Japan. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Postwar Japan contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Japan.
Call Number: DS 889 H66 2019eb
Publication Date: 2019

History: Dictionaries

General/Topic Specific Dictionaries

Chat with Romany

Electronic Reference Sources

A selection of ebook dictionaries

Related Links

Connect with Us

Campus

Library