Among the new words included in the dictionary, billed as the most important for 100 years and which took six years to compile, are:

• Alcopop - A ready-mixed soft drink containing alcohol.

• Applause line - (US) In a political speech, calculated to provoke a favourable audience response.

• Beard - (N Amer) A woman who accompanies a homosexual man as an escort to a social event in order to help conceal his homosexuality.

• Blairism - Ideas and policies of Tony Blair.

• Blairite - Follower of Blairism.

• Cancelbot - A programme that searches for and deletes specified Internet mailings.

• Domestic - Violent quarrel between family members.

• Death futures - (US) Life insurance policies of terminally ill people, bought cheaply by third parties as short-term investments.

• Downshift - Change a financially rewarding but stressful career for a less pressured and less highly paid but more fulfilling one.

• Eye candy - Visual images that are superficially attractive and entertaining but intellectually undemanding.

• Flatline - To die.

• Full monty - Full amount expected, desired, or possible.

• Golden goal - The first goal scored during extra time which ends the match and gives victory to the scoring side.

• Hippy-dippy - Rejecting conventional practices or behaviour in a way perceived to be vague, unconsidered or foolishly idealistic.

• Instants - Lottery tickets that may by scratched or opened to reveal immediately whether a prize has been won.

• Lunch box - (humorous) A man's genitals.

• Mockney - A form of speech perceived as an affected imitation of cockney in accent and vocabulary.

• Mouse potato - A person who spends large amounts of leisure or working time operating a computer.

• Off-message - (Of a politician) Departing from official party line.

• Personal shopper - An individual who is paid to assist another to purchase goods, either by accompanying them while shopping or by shopping on their behalf.

• Phwoah - Used to express desire, especially of a sexual nature.

• Road rage - A violent anger caused by the stress and frustration involved in driving a motor vehicle in difficult conditions.

• Rusty dusty - (Black English) A person's buttocks.

• Saddo - A person perceived as contemptible or pathetically inadequate.

• Safari supper - A social occasion at which the different courses of a meal are eaten at different people's houses.

• Sex tourism - The organisation of holidays with the purpose of taking advantage of the lack of restrictions imposed on sexual activity and prostitution in some foreign countries.

• Slacker - A person who avoids work or effort.

• Spin - Give a news story a favourable emphasis or slant.

• Stalk - Harass or persecute someone with unwanted, obsessive attention.

• Ta-da - (Exclamation) An imitation of a fanfare (typically used to indicate an impressive entrance or dramatic announcement).

• Tamagotchi - An electronic toy displaying a digital image of a creature, which has to be looked after and responded to by the "owner" as if it were a pet.

• Unplugged - (Of pop or rock music) Performed or recorded with acoustic rather than electrically amplified instruments.

• WLTM - Abbreviation for would like to meet (used in lonely hearts advertisements).