A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew

English slang dictionary, c. 1698

A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew

Author	B. E.
Country	England
Language	English
Subject	Cant and slang
Genre	Dictionary
Publisher	W. Hawes
Publication date	Circa 1698

A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew is a dictionary of English cant and slang by a compiler known only by the initials B. E., first published in London c. 1698. With over 4,000 entries, it was the most extensive dictionary of non-standard English in its time, until it was superseded in 1785 by Francis Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.^[1] B. E.'s New Dictionary was used as a source by many subsequent dictionaries.

Its full title is A new dictionary of the terms ancient and modern of the canting crew, in its several tribes, of gypsies, beggers, thieves, cheats, &c. with an addition of some proverbs, phrases, figurative speeches, &c.

Notes

^ Coleman (2004): pp. 41–42.

References

Coleman, Julie (2001). "Some of the sources of B.E.'s New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew". Notes and Queries. 48 (4): 400–401. doi:10.1093/nq/48.4.400.
Coleman, Julie (2004). "Cant and slang dictionaries: A statistical approach". In Christian Kay; Carole Hough; Irené Wotherspoon (eds.). New Perspectives on English Historical Linguistics: Selected Papers from 12 ICEHL, Glasgow, 21–26 August 2002. Vol. 2. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. pp. 41–47. ISBN 1-58811-515-1.