The Australian National Dictionary (AND) is a dictionary of Australianisms. It includes words and meanings that have originated in Australia, that have a greater currency within Australia than elsewhere, or that have a special significance in Australian history.
Whereas the first edition of the dictionary, published in 1988, contained about 10,000 headwords, compounds, idioms, and derivatives, this second edition contains over 16,000. The AND differs from general dictionaries in being based on historical principles, in the manner of the comprehensive Oxford English Dictionary (OED). The aim of AND2 is to chart the historical development of Australian words the definitions begin with the oldest sense and move through to the most recent sense. As part of this history, it includes all obsolete words and all obsolete senses; because it is concerned with the complete history of a word, the historical dictionary places more emphasis on the etymology of a word than does the general dictionary. The dictionary features a striking cover design.
