referencebooks

Death Dictionary: Over 5,500 Clinical, Legal, Literary and Vernacular Terms

By Christine Quigley.

Published by McFarland, 1994.

This black clothbound book, measuring about 6" by 9" and running to 195 pages with the bibliography, is simply a dictionary of words and abbreviations having to do with death.

Entries are very brief. They show the spelling, the part of speech, and a concise definition. Since many of the terms are obscure, coming either from a field of technical practice or a different culture, some etymological notes would have been nice.

The book includes terms ranging from the technical to hard-boiled, "film noir" type slang. Here is a list of the the first twenty words and expressions defined on page 136:

• saint's day
  
• saline abortion
  
• salt away
  
• salt down
  
• salt poisoning
  
• samsara
  
• sanguinary or sanguineous
  
• sanitary embalmer
  
• S.A.N.S.
  
• Saosyant or Sosans
  
• sapon.
  
• saponification
  
• sarcophagus
  
• saulie
  
• save
  
• saved
  
• Savitri
  
• saw off
  
• say goodbye to this world
  
• S.B.M.E
  

It's difficult to say for what kind of research this book would be most useful, but it is certainly an interesting and unique compilation of words.