Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Book?

\Book\ (b[oo^]k), n. [OE. book, bok, AS. b[=o]c; akin to Goth. b[=o]ka a letter, in pl. book, writing, Icel. b[=o]k, Sw. bok, Dan. bog, OS. b[=o]k, D. boek, OHG. puoh, G. buch; and fr. AS. b[=o]c, b[=e]ce, 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. Note: 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. Note: 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. 2. A composition, written or printed; a treatise. A good book is the precious life blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life. --Milton. 3. A part or subdivision of a treatise or literary work; as, the tenth book of ``Paradise Lost.'' 4. A volume or collection of sheets in which accounts are kept; a register of debts and credits, receipts and expenditures, etc. 5. Six tricks taken by one side, in the game of whist; in certain other games, two or more corresponding cards, forming a set. Note: 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. {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} (Zo["o]l.), one of several species of minute, wingless insects injurious to books and papers. They belong to the {Pseudoneuroptera}. {Book moth} (Zo["o]l.), the name of several species of moths, the larv[ae] 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} (Zo["o]l.), 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. {To curse by bell, book, and candle}. See under {Bell}. {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. {To speak by the book}, to speak with minute exactness. {Without book}. (a) By memory. (b) Without authority.
\Book\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Booked}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Booking}.] 1. To enter, write, or register in a book or list. Let it be booked with the rest of this day's deeds. --Shak. 2. To enter the name of (any one) in a book for the purpose of securing a passage, conveyance, or seat; as, to be booked for Southampton; to book a seat in a theater. 3. To mark out for; to destine or assign for; as, he is booked for the valedictory. [Colloq.] Here I am booked for three days more in Paris. --Charles Reade.