trate meaning, not to prove the earliest date of print or broadcast
dissemination.
Guide to the Use of the Dictionary
- Entries are alphabetized according to an absolute alphabetical order
that ignores all punctuation. The hyphen is treated the same as a
space. Entries beginning with numerals precede the alphabetic
entries.- The first step in finding an expression is to try looking it up in the
body of the dictionary. Entries that consist of two or more words
are entered in their normal order, such as chill someone’s action.
Phrases are never inverted or reordered like action, chill someone’s
or track, off the.- If you do not find the expression you want or if you cannot decide
on the exact form of the expression, look up any major word in the
expression in the “Phrase-Finder Index,” which begins on page 485.
There you will find all the multiword expressions that contain the
word you have looked up. Pick out the expression you want, and look
it up in the body of the dictionary.- Entry expressions appear in boldface type. When words or expres-
sions that are not entries in this dictionary are cited, they appear in
italics. Function codes and examples appear in italics.- A main entry may have one or more alternative forms. The alter-
natives are printed in boldface typeand are preceded by “and.”
- Definitions are in roman type. Alternative or closely related defin-
itions are separated by semicolons.
- Some definitions contain restrictive comments in parentheses that
help to make the definition clearer. These comments limit the con-
text in which the expression can be used.- Comments in parentheses after a definition give additional infor-
mation about the expression, including any cautions, comments on
origins, or indications of cross-referencing. Each numbered sense
can have its own comments.- Every expression is followed by a function code that indicates the
grammatical or syntactic function of the expression. These codes are
NTC’s Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
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