book (bʊk)
n.

1. A set of written, printed, or blank pages fastened along one side and encased between protective covers.
2. 1. A printed or written literary work.
   2. A main division of a larger printed or written work: a book of the Old Testament.
3. 1. A volume in which financial or business transactions are recorded.
   2. books Financial or business records considered as a group: checked the expenditures on the books.
4. 1. A libretto.
   2. The script of a play.
5. Book
   1. The Bible.
   2. The Koran.
6. 1. A set of prescribed standards or rules on which decisions are based: runs the company by the book.
   2. Something regarded as a source of knowledge or understanding.
   3. The total amount of experience, knowledge, understanding, and skill that can be used in solving a problem or performing a task: We used every trick in the book to finish the project on schedule.
   4. Informal. Factual information, especially of a private nature: What's the book on him?
7. A packet of like or similar items bound together: a book of matches.
8. A record of bets placed on a race.
9. Games. The number of card tricks needed before any tricks can have scoring value, as the first six tricks taken by the declaring side in bridge.

v., booked, book·ing, books.

v.tr.

1. To list or register in or as if in a book.
2. 1. To record charges against (a person) on a police blotter.
   2. Sports. To record the flagrant fouls of (a player) for possible disciplinary action, as in soccer.
3. To arrange for (tickets or lodgings, for example) in advance; reserve.
4. To hire or engage: The manager booked a magic show for Saturday night.
5. To allocate time for.

v.intr.
To make a reservation: Book early if you want good seats.

adj.

1. Of or relating to knowledge learned from books rather than actual experience: has book smarts but not street smarts.
2. Appearing in a company's financial records: book profits.

idioms:

bring to book

1. To demand an explanation from; call to account.

in (one's) book

1. In one's opinion: In my book they both are wrong.

like a book

1. Thoroughly; completely: I know my child like a book.

one for the books

1. A noteworthy act or occurrence.

throw the book at

1. To make all possible charges against (a lawbreaker, for example).
2. To reprimand or punish severely.

[Middle English bok, from Old English bōc.]

booker book'er n.

SYNONYMS   book, bespeak, engage, reserve. These verbs mean to cause something to be set aside in advance, as for one's use or possession: will book a hotel room; made sure their selections were bespoken; engaged a box for the opera season; reserving a table at a restaurant.

WORD HISTORY   From an etymological perspective, book and beech are branches of the same tree. The Germanic root of both words is *bōk-, ultimately from an Indo-European root meaning "beech tree." The Old English form of book is bōc, from Germanic *bōk-ō, "written document, book." The Old English form of beech is bēce, from Germanic *bōk-jōn, "beech tree," because the early Germanic peoples used strips of beech wood to write on. A similar semantic development occurred in Latin. The Latin word for book is liber, whence library. Liber, however, originally meant "bark"-that is, the smooth inner bark of a tree, which the early Romans likewise used to write on.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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