from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
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.
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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.
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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.
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2. A composition, written or printed; a treatise.
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A good book is the precious life blood of a master
spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a
life beyond life. --Milton.
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3. A part or subdivision of a treatise or literary work; as,
the tenth book of "Paradise Lost."
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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]
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.
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{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 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} (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]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
canonic \ca*non"ic\ (k[.a]*n[o^]n"[i^]k), canonical
\ca*non"ic*al\ (k[.a]*n[o^]n"[i^]*kal), a. [L. canonicus, LL.
canonicalis, fr. L. canon: cf. F. canonique. See {canon}.]
Of or pertaining to a canon; established by, or according to,
a canon or canons. "The oath of canonical obedience."
--Hallam.
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2. Appearing in a Biblical canon; as, a canonical book of the
Christian New Testament.
[PJC]
3. Accepted as authoritative; recognized.
[PJC]
4. (Math.) In its standard form, usually also the simplest
form; -- of an equation or coordinate.
[PJC]
5. (Linguistics) Reduced to the simplest and most significant
form possible without loss of generality; as, a canonical
syllable pattern. Opposite of {nonstandard}.
Syn: standard. [WordNet 1.5]
6. Pertaining to or resembling a musical canon.
[PJC]
{Canonical books}, or {Canonical Scriptures}, those books
which are declared by the canons of the church to be of
divine inspiration; -- called collectively {the canon}.
The Roman Catholic Church holds as canonical several books
which Protestants reject as apocryphal.
{Canonical epistles}, an appellation given to the epistles
called also general or catholic. See {Catholic epistles},
under {Canholic}.
{Canonical form} (Math.), the simples or most symmetrical
form to which all functions of the same class can be
reduced without lose of generality.
{Canonical hours}, certain stated times of the day, fixed by
ecclesiastical laws, and appropriated to the offices of
prayer and devotion; also, certain portions of the
Breviary, to be used at stated hours of the day. In
England, this name is also given to the hours from 8 a. m.
to 3 p. m. (formerly 8 a. m. to 12 m.) before and after
which marriage can not be legally performed in any parish
church.
{Canonical letters}, letters of several kinds, formerly given
by a bishop to traveling clergymen or laymen, to show that
they were entitled to receive the communion, and to
distinguish them from heretics.
{Canonical life}, the method or rule of living prescribed by
the ancient clergy who lived in community; a course of
living prescribed for the clergy, less rigid than the
monastic, and more restrained that the secular.
{Canonical obedience}, submission to the canons of a church,
especially the submission of the inferior clergy to their
bishops, and of other religious orders to their superiors.
{Canonical punishments}, such as the church may inflict, as
excommunication, degradation, penance, etc.
{Canonical sins} (Anc. Church.), those for which capital
punishment or public penance decreed by the canon was
inflicted, as idolatry, murder, adultery, heresy.
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