Orin Hargraves

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Orin Hargraves (born 1953) is an American lexicographer and writer. His language reference works include Mighty Fine Words and Smashing Expressions: Making Sense of Transatlantic English (Oxford University Press, 2002), Slang Rules!: A Practical Guide for English Learners (Merriam-Webster, 2008), and (with Willard Espy) Words to Rhyme With: A Rhyming Dictionary (2nd edition; Facts on File, 2006). In addition he has contributed definitions and other material to dictionaries and other language reference works issued by Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Longman, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Chambers Harrap, Langenscheidt, Berlitz, Scholastic Corporation, and Merriam-Webster, among others.

Biography[edit]

Orin Knight Hargraves was born on September 14, 1953, in Denver, Colorado. He spent most of his childhood in Creede, Colorado, and graduated with honors from the University of Chicago in 1977, concentrating in philosophy, language and literature. His nickname during this period was "Buz". He served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Morocco where he taught English in a government lycée. Later he worked in the publishing software industry in Chicago and London. He began his career in lexicography in 1991 in London. He joined the Dictionary Society of North America in 1993 and was elected its vice president/president elect in 2009. He now resides in Niwot, Colorado.

Bibliography[edit]

As author or editor[edit]

  • —— (2008). Slang Rules!: A Practical Guide for English Learners. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster. ISBN 978-0-87779-682-4.
  • —— (2007). The Big Book of Spelling Tests. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. ISBN 978-1-57912-696-4.
  • —— (2006–2008) Spell It! study guide for the Scripps National Spelling Bee
  • Espy, Willard; —— (2006). Words to Rhyme With: A Rhyming Dictionary. Facts On File. ISBN 978-0-8160-6304-8.
  • ——, ed. (2004). New Words. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-517282-9.
  • —— (October 2004). "Cucurbits". English Today. 20 (4): 50–54. doi:10.1017/S0266078404004092.
  • —— (2004). "Long Distance Lexicography: a View from the Field". Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America. 25: 137–147. doi:10.1353/dic.2004.0000. S2CID 145399102.
  • —— (June 2003). "Who Owns English?". The Vocabula Review. Archived from the original on 2010-11-09.
  • —— (2002). Mighty Fine Words and Smashing Expressions: Making Sense of Transatlantic English. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-515704-8.

As contributor[edit]

References[edit]

Other Writing[edit]

  • —— (2006). Culture Shock! London: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish Editions. ISBN 978-0-7614-2500-7.
  • —— (2007). Culture Shock! Morocco: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish Editions. ISBN 978-0-7614-2502-1.
  • —— (2007). Culture Shock!: Chicago at Your Door. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish Editions. ISBN 978-0-7614-5400-7.