Thesaurus On Steroids

I have a new toy: the "Phrase Finder", by J.I. Rodale. According to the first page, it is

"Three volumes in one comprising

Name-Word Finder
Metaphor Finder
Sophisticated Synonyms"

And it's from 1958.

The index alone accounts for the first 200 pages.

The Name-Word Finder contains entries like this:

LEMNIAN
Lemnian refers to the island of Lemnos in the north Aegean Sea. The proverbial phrase Lemnian deeds alludes to actions of unusual barbarity and cruelty, and arose from two horrible massacres perpetrated by an entry in a book that was this long and boring. In any event, Lemnos was an island that may or may not have sunk into the sea, but I'm sure that your eyes have glazed over at this point. The second was the slaughter of all children born of Athenian mothers and Lemnian fathers and was prompted by the men's suspicion that this entry is getting duller and duller and more and more useless as time goes on. Lemnos as also the center of the cult of Hephaestus (Bill Gates), because it was on that island that the god fell when Zeus kicked him out of Harvard.

atrocious Lemnian inhumanity"

That takes up 500 pages.

Then, there is the Metaphor Finder. This beauty has entries like this:

JUDGE (v.)
weigh in the balance; weigh each side of question; preside over a court of appeal; umpire a contest; weigh in the scales of one's judgment; hold the scales; set a question at rest; weigh with a glance; measure a matter; sit upon a decision; bring up for the count; appraise by rule of thumb; weigh the pros and cons; referee a match; sit at the broad green cloth; reflect the great eye of justice; call to stand before the higher court; enroll another in the Doomsday book; bring to book; hold the scales even; administer even-handed justice; give a square deal.
(see decide, determine, doom, law, condemn, legal, lawyer, official, rebuke)

Entries like "KILL" are even better. That section takes up 200 pages.

Finally, there is the Sophisticated Synonyms section, which has entries like this:

BUSY
As busy as a one-armed goalkeeper; as busy as a cat in a butcher shop; steeped to the eyebrow; tied up; busy as pipers; up to his neck; up to his neck; was so busy that he never read the Sunday papers before Monday or Tuesday; up to their eyes in plans for; I am so busy I do not know where I am afoot or ahorseback; (and my personal favorite:) busy as a one-armed obstetrician delivering quintuplets.

(See active, work.)

That takes up 200 pages.

Don't confuse it with Hugon's "Modern Word Finder", which is so pedantic it makes Strunck & White look like Sonny & Cher. Unless, of course, you have problems keeping "perdition", "sacrifice" and "forfeit" apart. If so, you are in the wrong business.