List of Resources for American Words and Expressions
An ongoing list—check back for new additions. If you have a suggestion, e-mail me.
Early American:
A Dictionary of Americanisms, John Russell Bartlett.
A collection of early Americanisms, first published in 1848.
A New Dictionary of Americanisms, Sylva Clapin.
A 1902 glossary that includes Canadianisms.
Americanisms, Old and New, John S. Farmer.
Published in 1889, includes Canada and the British West Indies.
I Hear America Talking and Listening to America, Stuart Berg Flexner.
Two volumes of American word inventions, from colonial times to the late twentieth century, arranged by topic.
Colonial American English, Richard M. Lederer, Jr.
A dictionary of Colonial terms, including names for clothes, food, farm implements, and other items.
The Beginnings of American English, Mitford M. Mathews.
Short essays and collections on American English by various eighteenth- and nineteenth-century writers.
The American Language, H. L. Mencken.
First published in 1919, with the fourth and last edition appearing in 1936. A classic study of American English, including not only vocabulary but pronunciation, grammar, and place names.
A Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases which have been supposed to be peculiar to the United States of America, John Pickering.
Published in 1816.
Americanisms: The English of the New World, Maximilian Schele de Vere.
An 1872 collection of American slang and regionalisms.
Historical slang:
Flappers 2 Rappers, Tom Dalzell.
Twentieth-century youth slang, arranged by decade.
Juba to Jive, Clarence Major.
A collection of African-American slang, mostly from the twentieth century.
Slang Today and Yesterday, Eric Partridge.
Collections of American, British, and Australian slang, eighteenth through early twentieth centuries.
A Dictionary of the Underworld, British and American, Eric Partidge.
Nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.