I am a nerd in that I love learning word origins or looking up new words for things that aren't used in today's everyday vernacular. I really liked this one as a cozy reference book. Not necessarily a page turner by any means but certainly a conversation starter or something to go to every once and while when curiosity is piqued. The one thing I really wish this book had that was missing was a phonetic spelling of the word so one not familiar with it could know how to pronounce it. Overall though, it was educational, ethereal, and very interesting!

Thank you NetGalley for an ebook version of this publication in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun collection of fun, beautiful, and fascinating words. I really enjoyed not only learning these words, but learning the history and etymology behind them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Elliott & Thompson for the ARC.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*

"A Winter Dictionary" is a wonderful collections of words connected to, as the title hints at, winter. I am fascinated by the linguistic variety (and also geographic specificity) and I enjoyed this book. You should not plan on reading it in one go, but to rather enjoy bits and pieces of it. Wonderful!

4 stars because I read it too fast and that was a bit exhausting. You need to give this book time. And early winter is the best time to read it, I believe.

My Bookish Thoughts 💬
A Winter Dictionary is the perfect companion for the season, blending linguistic charm with a wintry wonderland of words.

This collection has been a joy to dip into on frosty evenings, each page offering a little spark of magic to brighten the season. I couldn’t help but smile at some of my favourites:

✨ Prinkling – the tingling sensation felt in cold extremities as they warm up. (So relatable!)

✨ Newcastle hospitality – excessive, almost overbearing kindness in the form of food and drink. As a Geordie, this one gave me a good chuckle!

This little treasure, bursting with charming and unusual words, makes winter feel all the more magical – especially when paired with a decadent hot chocolate (a necessity for every word nerd, right?).

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying dipping in and out of this gem, savouring the beautiful language that perfectly encapsulates the winter months.

It would make a wonderful treat to yourself or a loved one. Prepare to fall in love with the language of winter.

The only thing I would love to see in future editions is some beautiful illustrations that would make it pure perfection.

A huge thank you to NetGalley Elliott and Thompson for gifting me this delightful ARC in return for an honest review!

I really found A Winter Dictionary so interesting. I’m a lover of words so always like to find some I don’t know and work them into my vocabulary and this dictionary allowed me to do that! The word origins are included and there is cross referencing which is helpful. Many of the words are unique and were new to me. I especially enjoyed the section on snow and ice and found some favorites such as pipkrake, meldrop, chibbly and flother. Some of the entries made me laugh out loud! I think anyone with an interest in learning about words or some new words to add into their own vocabulary will enjoy this!

This is a delightful treasure trove of a volume for someone such as myself who loves words and etymology. I also love winter - as an aesthetic experience, not a lived one, so reading a book like this gives me all the wintry vibes I crave without the frozen extremities! It is so pleasingly written, with warmth and wit and a wry sense of humour - not to mention impeccably researched and referenced. The selection of words featured within are a joy - some modern, some long-forgotten, some apt and obvious, some obscure and weird, but all uniquely fascinating. I also really enjoyed the examples of usage, especially for the more regional idioms, and the author's gently humorous observations. My enjoyment of the solstice period was greatly enhanced by this book as was my seasonal vocabulary!

Not all the words compiled into this thematic dictionary have made it into major reference books, but the author has done his etymological due diligence with various slang, folk terms, and little-used regionalisms. My favorites include "crump" ("to walk over crisp ground"), "foxing days" (on which the weather turns out better than expected), and "antifogmatic" ("a drink taken to counteract the effects of cold or damp weather"). Perhaps special to this volume is "Antarctic slang" that has developed from the research and science community on Antarctica. When you come in from a snowy day, you can "degomble" the snow from your hair and clothes.

Arc Review:
Overall Rating: 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Cover Rating: 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

‘A Winter Dictionary’ is a collection of some winter words that relate to the festive season. Each word gets a brief definition and placing in time and geographical area, then they give you a more in depth meaning of the word and how it was used. Most words are more dialect words that have stopped being used as often or at all, so there is a lot of new words to learn in this book. The words are divided into separate categories, the categories include changing season, ice and snow, keeping cosy, party season, and many others.

I thought this book was delightful and it’s the perfect gift for anyone you know who loves to learn new words.

Thank you NetGalley, the publishers and the author for an advanced readers copy of this book.

A beautiful book for people that love words. As a person who has a hard time getting through winter, I found this book to be a great help. Imagining all of the beautiful and sometimes hilarious words that are used to describe different events, experiences, and physical things that happen in and around winter and the holidays. I have written down some of the words so that I remember them for the future because it was so interesting to read about them.

I’m sure reading this any time of year would be excellent, but it was particularly special to read this during winter—and in December specifically. The entries about each word were informative without ever being boring. I noted down my favorites from each chapter to return to. If you want to be intentional about recognizing seasons, this is a great companion to read in little chunks as the season shifts from fall to winter to spring. But it’s especially nice to read during the slow festive period.

This book is exactly what it says, a winter dictionary. You learn all new words, exploring words of different time periods and different countries and cultures. This book is very cozy, at least to me as I love winter aesthetics.

This is a perfect winter reading companion and an ideal coffee table book that can be easily picked up and referred to. I learned so many new words from different dialects, and even revisited some old ones from my own dialect (Scots) that I haven’t heard in years.

I like how this book is so separated into sections relating to different parts of winter, i.e. the Christmas period and New Year, and describes words associated with each in an interesting way and with well researched descriptions.

A Winter Dictionary, by Paul Anthony Jones, is truly a gem of a reference for any creative who communicates about the beauty of the natural world. Within these pages, you will find over 400 words with etymologies as unique as snowflakes. Representing formal literary and scientific terminology, as well as charming regional idioms, the usefulness of this dictionary is inexhaustible. I would also like to put forth that this is simply a delight to read, at least for this nature loving logophile! I love that it is separated into thematic chapters, beginning with autumn‘s transition into winter and ending as spring emerges. Its alphabetical nature and comprehensive index makes it very easy to navigate. If you have occasion to reference the splendor of the seasons as a writer, lyricist, teacher, or public speaker, I promise this will become an invaluable resource. Thank you, Elliott and Thompson Limited, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I love dictionaries. I love winter. This was the perfect book to start my December with.

Reading A Winter Dictionary, I was overwhelmed with how many words were either related to winter or with winter holidays, and I'm thrilled with the information found inside. I found potential writing prompts to use for writing exercises, I found words I want to use myself, and I found incredibly interesting etymological links to follow.

This is a gift for your writer friend who wants to use winter to write more. Give them this book and let them go wild. Encourage them to expand their vocabulary or just flick through it to find a word to write about!

Many of the words are of Old English, Scottish, Latin, and Greek etymological roots, so if your friend is also keen on those languages, or uses them as inspiration, they will love this, I promise.

I need the author and publisher to create A Spring Dictionary, A Summer Dictionary, and An Autumn Dictionary (a shame it breaks the mould) in the future too, please!

Some of these words had me giggling I'm not even gonna lie, I never thought I would be saying that l enjoyed reading a dictionary but l actually liked this one very much!! I had a hard time getting into the winter/Christmas spirit even while reading holiday books, but this helped a lot!

If you are an author, writer, or just need some inspiration for winter/ holiday writing, A Winter Dictionary would be a great resource. This book contains a collection of words that describe various aspects of the winter season. The words are ordered chronologically to how to seasons change with the transition from autumn, to winter, to the very beginning of spring.

There is a brief introduction before each category of words that sets the tone for the definitions. After each word there is a description of where the word originated from. The definition and description of each word and its usage was very well written.

Thank you very much to NetGalley, Elliott & Thompson, and the author Paul Anthony Jones for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!!

This book was a perfect read for this time of year. The collection of words really made the cozy reading vibe feel that much cozier. I learned lots of new words and some have already woven their way into my vocabulary.

The writing was really easy to understand and set out like a classic dictionary made it really easy to read. I also enjoyed gaining an understanding of where each word came from.

Overall, a perfect little start of winter read to get you into the mood for the festive season!

A treasure! This would make a great gift for language lovers, holiday and Christmas lovers, coffee table book fans, and nonfiction geeks in general. I absolutely loved reading through this book of wintery words and definitions, and I will reference it for many years to come. The love of folklore and historical research is evident in the author's writing, which is fluid and easy to read. Since it's a bit like a dictionary, you can open to any page at any time and enjoy learning about a few words. It stands out for being earnest and curious, instead of flashy or authoritative. I'll definitely order it for our store and display it - it's so pretty, too!

A fascinating collection of words from various dialects and iterations of English all relating to various parts of the winter season. A useful resource for those looking for a particular word or term but also an enjoyable book to dip into and read for pleasure.

As someone who is a real word geek and fascinated by etymology, I’ve read several of Paul Anthony Jones’ books before and am an avid follower of his Haggard Hawks alter-ego on social media. I’m also someone who loves winter and always hopes for snow. So his latest book, A Winter Dictionary, definitely appealed to me.

The book does follow the style of a dictionary with words in alphabetical order but the book is split into chapters roughly following the season’s progress from late Autumn into early Spring. At the beginning of each chapter, Jones explains the theme for that chapter. Every word has its definition, a little about its origins if known, which part of the world it is thought to come from and often includes an example of the word in its original context.

I found it so interesting that many of the words are so regional and would never have been known outside the local area. Certainly I recognised some of the Scots words but the vast majority of words and phrases in this book were new to me. Even though they are now seldom if ever used, they have all been considered important enough in the past to be recorded which thankfully means they haven’t disappeared entirely. I think we should have a campaign to bring some back into everyday use!

I’m going to share just a few of the words which particularly caught my fancy:

Cosmognosis – the instinctive force that tells an animal when and where to migrate. This is something I find fascinating.

Momijigari – the Japanese custom of visiting forests in Autumn to look at the changing foliage. This is a word that could have been invented for me. I am a huge lover of Autumn and always enjoy walking in woods in Autumn time admiring the beautiful colours.

Hogamadog – a ball of snow made larger by rolling it through a snowfield. You know, like when you make a snowman!

Old-fashioned – a winter bringing heavy snow. I found this particularly interesting given our current concerns with climate change as this is a word from the early 19th century when the people then were looking back at colder winters.

St Andrew’s blast – a period of late autumn frost and snow that tends to fall around St Andrew’s Day. This is very appropriate given St Andrew’s Day is approaching as I write this.

I’m very grateful to the publishers for allowing me to read an early digital copy through Netgalley. However, I do feel this is a book that you will want to have a physical copy of. Just look how beautiful the cover is! It’s absolutely an ideal Christmas gift for the logophile and chionophile* in your life. Let the snow fall outside, grab a blanket and snuggle up by the fire with this fascinating book.

*chionophile – Someone who loves snow and cold weather. The word comes from the Greek words khiōn, meaning snow, and phile, meaning lover of. The word also be used to refer to animals, plants, or fungi that have adapted to survive harsh winters.

I found the book to be quite interesting , the author has a way with words. I loved the cover as I found it very eye catching and made me think of a cold winter day when the sky is the bluest of blues and the air is so cold it feels like arctic air going into your lungs. I would recommend this book to my friends especially the ones like me who don't feel like hibernating when winter arrives. Thank you for giving me the advanced reading copy, You will find my review on www.goodreads.com/gamoo2024