"Germany is the land of foreign word dictionaries," Peter von Polenz wrote in 1967, commenting on the German tendency to use borrowed expressions. While much research has focused on older and purist works, this investigation considers the foreign word dictionary in its entirety from 1800-2007. It addresses not only the structural and lexicographic diversity of this dictionary type, but also discusses relevant historical factors as well as the individual authors' definitions of what borrowed expressions are. A nuanced picture of foreign word dictionaries in Germany is thus provided.