phrasebookn.adj.
/ˈfreɪzbʊk/, U.S. /ˈfreɪzˌbʊk/ A. n.
A small book containing useful or idiomatic expressions in a foreign language, local dialect, etc., with explanations or translations of their meaning; esp. a book of this type intended for use when visiting a foreign country.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > linguistic unit > lexicography > [noun] > phrasebook
phrasebook1594
phraseology1655
1594 T. Nashe Vnfortunate Traveller sig. F In emptying their phrase bookes, the ayre emptied his intrailes.
1660 G. Fox et al. Battle-door for Teachers Last section 24 If I should set down all these unsavoury, unwholesome, unchristian, undivine Expressions, contained in this thy Phrase-Book, I might have taken it all.
1681 W. Robertson (title) Phraseologia generalis... A full, large, and general phrase book; comprehending, whatsoever is necessary and most usefull, in all other phraseological books, (hitherto, here, published).
1723 S. Morland Specimen Lat. Dict. 5 There have..been some Phrase Books put out into the World, and esteemed as a Supplement to Dictionarys.
1841 E. Browne (title) The modern French phrase book.
1876 H. James Roderick Hudson ix. 294 Such acquaintance with the Italian tongue as she had culled from a phrase-book during the calmer hours of the voyage.
1905 G. Meredith Let. 7 May (1970) III. 1522 A pocket Italian-English phrase-book should be taken.
1968 Listener 27 June 827/3 Pack one of those old-fashioned and much-mocked phrase books.
1990 Independent 28 May 11/1 Whether Scots, Irish or Channel Islanders, they seem to have learnt tellyspeak from the same slim phrasebook.
B. adj. (attributive).
Of a person's knowledge of a language: such as might have been learned from a phrasebook; rudimentary.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > a language > using or speaking languages > [adjective] > skilled in a language or languages > of level of skill
working1837
phrasebook1898
tourist1938
1898 Westm. Gaz. 11 Oct. 2/1 You must have a phrase-book knowledge of the language.
1963 L. Deighton Horse under Water xiv. 60 He had used pompous phrase-book Portuguese.
2001 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 18 Aug. d2 I muster up my phrasebook Japanese and reply ‘Genki desu’—I'm fine.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.adj.1594