Of Dictionaries
Never indoctrinated with American dictionaries, so favor:
The Chambers Dictionary. If I only had one English dictionary, it would be this one. Plenty of eclectic words, reasonably portable, and without the mind numbing depth of the
Compact Oxford English Dictionary. Now a tall tome, rather than the old two volume set. Comes with half-sphere magnifying glass that must be slid across the pages, and thus hard to magnify definitions near gutter. Eight entries for grue, numerous pages dedicated to salt, and much, much more. :)
Dictionary of Imaginary Places. Simply fun to browse!
The Dictionary of Lanaguages includes very interesting coverage of world languages. Includes example words for comparison, shows geographic distribution of languages, and many interesting facts. Highly recommended.
The Highly Selective Dictionary For The Extraordinarily Literate - good starting point for dictionary searches. Most useful for its word use distinctions.
Use the DICT Development Group or the taxing-on-the-ad-blocker Dictionary.com for online lookups. An OED subscription would be great, though costly…