definitions for a general audience

[Anne Marie Hamilton]

I'm a sociolinguist by trade, but as I'm a linguist, my boss expects that qualifies me as a lexicographer. HA! (I have tried to explain what I do, but I've only managed to convince her that I don't speak twenty languages.) Anyway, my assignment is to rewrite a very large number of definitions for art related subject headings, things such as: abstraction, aestheticism, allegory, classicism, etc. Can anyone out there suggest resources which might orient me to think in terms of what a general audience can comprehend?

Thanks!

Anne Marie Hamilton
University of Georgia