Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language (edition 1983)

A thorough, old treasure! ( )

A celebration of the English language that all will enjoy.

It really picked up in the "M's".

Full of depth but a little thin on plot, and kinda wordy.

Great if you need to flatten something overnight.

A bit dry, but a wonderful cure for insomnia.

More seriously: this old monster shows a parent's love: each of the six kids in my family received one of these as we got older and reached towards higher education. It's a symbol of the sacrifices they made, their desire to put us in the best possible position to succeed in life, and the fairness with which they tried to raise their kids. Surprising that a 2100+ page unabridged dictionary could be all that, eh? ( )

"Complete", in the sense that this work does not merely provide definitions, but etymology, pronunciation, antonyms and synonyms for words. Finally, the Appendix also provides maps, demographics, biography, various word lists, the US Constitution, a chronological history of Canada and the US, and WWI and WWII, the first Charter of the United Nations, an atlas of information, and summaries of the world's Great Books and the Plays of Shakespeare, among other things. ( )