They are graceful, long-necked, heavy-bodied, big-footed birds that glide majestically when swimming. They fly with slow wingbeats and with necks outstretched. No other waterfowl moves as fast as they do on the water or in the air. They mate for life. Their young are called cygnets and emerge short-necked and thickly downed. They mature at the age of three to four years and live for about 20 years in the wild and 50 years or more in captivity. They are so regal and majestic, and they seem to just glide over the water.
You can use it as a dictionary, of course, but it also has many other interesting features. There is a style guide that shows how to use punctuation marks, a medical dictionary, Spanish/English and French/English dictionaries, a thesaurus, an encyclopedia, and an atlas.
My husband has always been a "word' man. He literally reads the dictionary. He enjoys finding the meanings of words and their origins and comparing them to other words and seeing how different words have changed through history.
