n. An A-B-C book; a primer. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

A book in which accounts are kept. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

A book kept by a depositor, in which an officer of a bank enters the debits and credits of the depositor's account with the bank. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Com.) A book in which a person keeps an account of his notes, bills, bills of exchange, etc., thus showing all that he issues and receives. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. One of several books of a political character, published at different times and for different purposes; -- so called either from the color of the binding, or from the character of the contents. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A book compiled in the twelfth century, containing a description of the court of exchequer of England, an official statement of the revenues of the crown, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A book containing details of the enormities practiced in the English monasteries and religious houses, compiled by order of their visitors under Henry VIII., to hasten their dissolution. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A book of admiralty law, of the highest authority, compiled in the reign of Edw. III. Bouvier. Wharton. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A book kept for the purpose of registering the names of persons liable to censure or punishment, as in the English universities, or the English armies. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Any book which treats of necromancy. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A book containing a black list. [ PJC ]

8. A book kept by a single man, containing a list of women whom he calls occasionally for a social date; -- usually used in the phrase little black book. [ jocose ] [ PJC ]

A book printed from engraved wooden blocks instead of movable types. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A parliamentary publication, so called from its blue paper covers. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The United States official “Biennial Register.” [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ AS. bōcland; bōc book + land land. ] (O. Eng. Law) Charter land held by deed under certain rents and free services, which differed in nothing from free socage lands. This species of tenure has given rise to the modern freeholds. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. book, bok, AS. bōc; akin to Goth. bōka a letter, in pl. book, writing, Icel. bōk, Sw. bok, Dan. bog, OS. bōk, D. boek, OHG. puoh, G. buch; and fr. AS. bōc, bēce, beech; because the ancient Saxons and Germans in general wrote runes on pieces of beechen board. Cf. Beech. ] 1. A collection of sheets of paper, or similar material, blank, written, or printed, bound together; commonly, many folded and bound sheets containing continuous printing or writing. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ When blank, it is called a blank book. When printed, the term often distinguishes a bound volume, or a volume of some size, from a pamphlet. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ It has been held that, under the copyright law, a book is not necessarily a volume made of many sheets bound together; it may be printed on a single sheet, as music or a diagram of patterns. Abbott. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A composition, written or printed; a treatise. [ 1913 Webster ]

A good book is the precious life blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A part or subdivision of a treatise or literary work; as, the tenth book of “Paradise Lost.” [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A volume or collection of sheets in which accounts are kept; a register of debts and credits, receipts and expenditures, etc.; -- often used in the plural; as, they got a subpoena to examine our books.
Syn. -- ledger, leger, account book, book of account. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

5. Six tricks taken by one side, in the game of bridge or whist, being the minimum number of tricks that must be taken before any additional tricks are counted as part of the score for that hand; in certain other games, two or more corresponding cards, forming a set. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

6. (Drama) a written version of a play or other dramatic composition; -- used in preparing for a performance. Syn. -- script, playscript. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

7. a set of paper objects (tickets, stamps, matches, checks etc.) bound together by one edge, like a book; as, he bought a book of stamps. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

8. a book or list, actual or hypothetical, containing records of the best performances in some endeavor; a recordbook; -- used in the phrase
one for the book or
one for the books. Syn. -- record, recordbook. [ PJC ]

9. (Sport) the set of facts about an athlete's performance, such as typical performance or playing habits or methods, that are accumulated by potential opponents as an aid in deciding how best to compete against that athlete; as, the book on Ted Williams suggests pitching to him low and outside. [ PJC ]

10. (Finance) same as book value. [ PJC ]

11. (Stock market) the list of current buy and sell orders maintained by a stock market specialist. [ PJC ]

12. (Commerce) the purchase orders still outstanding and unfilled on a company's ledger; as, book to bill ratio. [ PJC ]

☞ Book is used adjectively or as a part of many compounds; as, book buyer, bookrack, book club, book lore, book sale, book trade, memorandum book, cashbook. [ 1913 Webster ]

Book account, an account or register of debt or credit in a book. --
Book debt, a debt for items charged to the debtor by the creditor in his book of accounts. --
Book learning, learning acquired from books, as distinguished from practical knowledge. “Neither does it so much require book learning and scholarship, as good natural sense, to distinguish true and false.” Burnet. --
Book louse (Zool.), one of several species of minute, wingless insects injurious to books and papers. They belong to the Pseudoneuroptera. --
Book moth (Zool.), the name of several species of moths, the larvæ of which eat books. --
Book oath, an oath made on The Book, or Bible. --
The Book of Books, the Bible. --
Book post, a system under which books, bulky manuscripts, etc., may be transmitted by mail. --
Book scorpion (Zool.), one of the false scorpions (Chelifer cancroides) found among books and papers. It can run sidewise and backward, and feeds on small insects. --
Book stall, a stand or stall, often in the open air, for retailing books. --
Canonical books. See Canonical. --
In one's books, in one's favor. “I was so much in his books, that at his decease he left me his lamp.” Addison. --
To bring to book. (a) To compel to give an account. (b) To compare with an admitted authority. “To bring it manifestly to book is impossible.” M. Arnold. --
by the book, according to standard procedures; using the correct or usual methods. --
cook the books, make fallacious entries in or otherwise manipulate a financial record book for fraudulent purposes. --
To curse by bell, book, and candle. See under Bell. --
To make book (Horse Racing), to conduct a business of accepting or placing bets from others on horse races. --
To make a book (Horse Racing), to lay bets (recorded in a pocket book) against the success of every horse, so that the bookmaker wins on all the unsuccessful horses and loses only on the winning horse or horses. --
off the books, not recorded in the official financial records of a business; -- usually used of payments made in cash to fraudulently avoid payment of taxes or of employment benefits. --
one for the book,
one for the books, something extraordinary, such as a record-breaking performance or a remarkable accomplishment. --
To speak by the book, to speak with minute exactness. --
to throw the book at, to impose the maximum fine or penalty for an offense; -- usually used of judges imposing penalties for criminal acts. --
Without book. (a) By memory. (b) Without authority. --
to write the book, to be the leading authority in a field; -- usually used in the past tense; as, he's not just an average expert, he wrote the book. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Booked p. pr. & vb. n. Booking. ] 1. To enter, write, or register in a book or list. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let it be booked with the rest of this day's deeds. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To enter the name of (any one) in a book for the purpose of securing a passage, conveyance, or seat; to reserve{ 2 }; also, to make an arrangement for a reservation; as, to be booked for Southampton; to book a seat in a theater; to book a reservation at a restaurant. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

3. To mark out for; to destine or assign for; as, he is booked for the valedictory. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Here I am booked for three days more in Paris. Charles Reade. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To make an official record of a charge against (a suspect in a crime); -- performed by police. [ PJC ]

adj. subject to being reserved or booked. all seats bookable in advance
Syn. -- reservable. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. One whose occupation is to bind books. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A bookbinder's shop; a place or establishment for binding books. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The art, process, or business of binding books. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A case with shelves for holding books, esp. one with glazed doors. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Authorship; literary skill. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Registered. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. On the way; destined. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. reserved in advance; held for future use. See reserve{ 2 }. [ PJC ]

n. A support placed at the end of a row of books to keep them upright (on a shelf or table). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. One who enters accounts or names, etc., in a book; a bookkeeper. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. As much as will fill a book; a book full. Shak. -- a. Filled with book learning. [ R. ] “The bookful blockhead.” Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A prompter at a theater. [ Obs. ] Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A support for a book, holding it open, while one reads or copies from it. [ 1913 Webster ]

A clerk who registers passengers, baggage, etc., for conveyance, as by railway or steamship, or who sells passage tickets at a booking office. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. An office where passengers, baggage, etc., are registered for conveyance, as by railway or steamship. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An office where passage tickets are sold. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Given to reading; fond of study; better acquainted with books than with men; learned from books. “A bookish man.” Addison. “Bookish skill.” Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Characterized by a method of expression generally found in books; formal; labored; pedantic; as, a bookish way of talking; bookish sentences. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Book"ish*ly, adv. -- Book"ish*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who keeps accounts; one who has the charge of keeping the books and accounts in an office. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The art of recording pecuniary or business transactions in a regular and systematic manner, so as to show their relation to each other, and the state of the business in which they occur; the art of keeping accounts. The books commonly used are a daybook, cashbook, journal, and ledger. See Daybook, Cashbook, Journal, and Ledger. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bookkeeping by single entry, the method of keeping books by carrying the record of each transaction to the debit or credit of a single account. --
Bookkeeping by double entry, a mode of bookkeeping in which two entries of every transaction are carried to the ledger, one to the Dr., or left hand, side of one account, and the other to the Cr., or right hand, side of a corresponding account, in order tha&unr_; the one entry may check the other; -- sometimes called, from the place of its origin, the Italian method. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Versed in books; having knowledge derived from books. [ Often in a disparaging sense. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Whate'er these book-learned blockheads say,
Solon's the veriest fool in all the play. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without books; unlearned. Shenstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A little book. T. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) a minute wingless psocopterous insect (Liposcelis divinatorius) injurious to books and papers.
Syn. -- book louse, deathwatch. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. One who writes and publishes books; especially, one who gathers his materials from other books; a compiler. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Horse Racing) A betting man who “makes a book.” See To make a book, under Book, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Bookmen A studious man; a scholar. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Something placed in a book to guide in finding a particular page or passage; also, a label in a book to designate the owner; a bookplate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Book + mate. ] A schoolfellow; an associate in study. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A dealer in books. [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A kind of muslin used for the covers of books. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A kind of thin white muslin for ladies' dresses. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A label, placed upon or in a book, showing its ownership or its position in a library. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who sells books. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The employment of selling books. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Bookshelves A shelf to hold books. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A bookseller's shop. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A stall or stand where books are sold. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A place or stand for the sale of books in the streets; a bookstall. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A stand to hold books for reading or reference. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A store where books are kept for sale; -- called in England a bookseller's shop. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Work done upon a book or books (as in a printing office), in distinction from newspaper or job work. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Study; application to books. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Zool.) Any larva of a beetle or moth, which is injurious to books. Many species are known. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A student closely attached to books or addicted to study; a reader without appreciation. [ 1913 Webster ]

I wanted but a black gown and a salary to be as mere a bookworm as any there. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Bookish. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a book in which detailed written records of cases are kept and which are a source of information for subsequent work. Such books are often used as supplements to texts in law schools. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. (Bookkeeping) A book in which is kept a register of money received or paid out. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Chap to cheapen. ] Any small book carried about for sale by chapmen or hawkers. Hence, any small book; a toy book. [ 1913 Webster ]