First published in 1926 by Courtenay H. Fenn, a Protestant missionary in Beijing before and during the Boxer Rebellion, the Five Thousand Dictionary gives 5000 headwords along with a small but representative list of examples of multisyllabic words wherein it is used.
Discussion:
To check on the pronunciation of a character, I still grab Fenn first. For me it's the fastest, thanks to its use of Wade-Giles romanization, a system that I can use without thinking, and its layout. To get a quick simple fix on the meaning of a character and see how it is used in well-known multisyllabic words, Fenn competes with the Kangorin, but has the advantage of being in English. I never fail to be impressed with the physical layout of this little jewel. Although they may have more up-to-date vocabulary examples, Pinyin transcription, and simplified characters, nothing in its class that I've seen from Chinese publishers compares favoriably with Fenn for durability and ease of use.
For a pronunciation check or when I need a little nudge regarding the meaning of a single character, if I want the least intrusion possible into the flow of my reading, I open Fenn.