Book (b?k), 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.
☞ 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.
☞ 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.
☞ 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
(Zoöl.), one of several species of minute, wingless insects
injurious to books and papers. They belong to the
Pseudoneuroptera. -- Book moth
(Zoöl.), 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 (Zoöl.), 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.