Preface -- Pronunciation guide -- Dictionary -- Appendix of symbols. Alphabets -- Musical notation -- Monetary symbols -- Proof-correction symbols -- Hallmarks -- Meteorological symbols -- Mathematical symbols -- Graphical symbols used in electronics -- Greek letters used as symbols for physical quantities -- Miscellaneous symbols -- Accents, diacritical marks, and special letters -- International vehicle registration marks -- British vehicle registration marks -- British postcodes. Compiled from the resources of the Oxford English Dictionary and a wide range of newspapers and journals, the second edition is the most up-to-date and comprehensive guide to abbreviations available in paperback. Covering all the most important business, scientific, and technical abbreviations, as well as those in everyday use, the dictionary contains over 20,000 abbreviations and 36,000 definitions. Included here are acronyms (ROM, NATO), initialisms (OED, CFC), shortenings (Sun. for Sunday), symbols, and signs (K, HZ, and A4), as well as hybrid forms (A-bomb). Coverage is also international in scope, and graphic symbols such as proofreading marks, hallmarks, music, science, and weather symbols are all provided in a series of appendices. This new edition, containing 1,700 new headwords and senses, also provides the latest abbreviations for organizations, terms used in advertising, computers and the internet, medicine, and government.