book

/bʊk/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/bɵk/

book noun: a collection of sheets of paper bound together to hinge at one edge, containing printed or written material, pictures, etc. Also the simple past of bake.

Noun

book (plural books)

A collection of sheets of paper bound together to hinge at one edge, containing printed or written material, pictures, etc.
- Knowing I lou'd my bookes, he furniſhd me / From mine owne Library, with volumes, that / I prize aboue my Dukedome.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
- I repeat: it suffices that a book be possible for it to exist. Only the impossible is excluded. For example: no book can be a ladder, although no doubt there are books which discuss and negate and demonstrate this possibility and others whose structure corresponds to that of a ladder.1962, Luis Borges, translated by James East Irby, The Library of Babel
A long work fit for publication, typically prose, such as a novel or textbook, and typically published as such a bound collection of sheets, but now sometimes electronically as an e-book.
- I have three copies of his first book.
- “I would never read a book,” he once told an interviewer. “I don’t want to say no book is ever worth reading, but I actually do believe something pretty close to that.”2022 December 6, Stephen Marche, quoting Sam Bankman-Fried, “The College Essay Is Dead”, in The Atlantic
A major division of a long work.
- Genesis is the first book of the Bible.
- Many readers find the first book of A Tale of Two Cities to be confusing.
Synonyms:

tome, volume
A record of betting (from the use of a notebook to record what each person has bet).
- I'm running a book on who is going to win the race.
(informal) A bookmaker (a person who takes bets on sporting events and similar); bookie; turf accountant.
A convenient collection, in a form resembling a book, of small paper items for individual use.
- a book of stamps
- a book of raffle tickets
Synonyms:

booklet
The script of a musical or opera.
- The guild helps ensure that the ownership and control of the music, lyrics, and book of a show remain in the hands of its authors and composers—not the producers.2010, David Baskerville, Tim Baskerville, Music Business Handbook and Career Guide, page 172
Synonyms:

libretto
(plural-normally) Records of the accounts of a business.

Synonyms:

account, record
(colloquial) A book award, a recognition for receiving the highest grade in a class (traditionally an actual book, but recently more likely a letter or certificate acknowledging the achievement).
Six tricks taken by one side.
(slang) Four of a kind.
A document, held by the referee, of the incidents that happened in a game.

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(broadly) A list of all players who have been booked (received a warning) in a game.
- Celtic captain Scott Brown joined team-mate Majstorovic in the book and Rangers' John Fleck was also shown a yellow card as an ill-tempered half drew to a close.2011 March 2, Andy Campbell, “Celtic 1 - 0 Rangers”, in BBC
The list of mares that a stallion will breed in a given season.
A list of the races that a jockey is scheduled to ride in.
The twenty-sixth Lenormand card.
(figuratively) Any source of instruction.
(with-definite-article) The accumulated body of knowledge passed down among black pimps.
- The Book is an oral tradition of belief in The Life that has been passed down from player to player from generation to generation.1974, Adrienne Lanier Seward, The Black Pimp as a Folk Hero, page 11
- On the other hand The Book is an oral tradition containing the rules and principles to be adopted by a pimp who wishes to be a player.1994, Antiquarian Book Monthly, volume 21, page 36
(informal) A portfolio of one's previous work in the industry.
- Getting your book (portfolio) organised is the first step, and knowing both what to include, and what to leave out, is an essential step towards achieving that important agency placement.2017, Nik Mahon, Basics Advertising 02: Art Direction, page 8
- Your portfolio — your book — has to be killer.Idea Industry (page 27)
(uncountable) The sum of chess knowledge in the opening or endgame.
- The opposite-colored bishops endgame is usually a book draw.
- A book move
(historical) A package of silk.
- This machinery was provided with a rotary drum with received upon its periphery the "books" of silk to be operated upon and presented them to travelling, combing, or dressing surfaces. The books were clamped and released automatically by the aid of bars formed with wedges and put in operation by...1867, John I. Knight, Mechanics Magazine, page 52

Verb

book (third-person singular simple present books, present participle booking, simple past and past participle booked)

(transitive) To reserve (something) for future use.
- I want to book a hotel room for tomorrow night.
- I can book tickets for the concert next week.
Synonyms:

reserve
(transitive) To write down, to register or record in a book or as in a book.
- They booked that message from the hill.
Synonyms:

make a note of, note down, record, write down
(transitive) To add a name to the list of people who are participating in something.
- I booked a flight to New York.
Synonyms:

sign up, register, reserve, schedule, enroll
(transitive) To record the name and other details of a suspected offender and the offence for later judicial action.
- The police booked him for driving too fast.
To issue a caution to, usually a yellow card, or a red card if a yellow card has already been issued.
(intransitive, slang) To travel very fast.
- He was really booking until he passed the speed trap.
Synonyms:

bomb, hurtle, rocket, speed, shoot, whiz
To record bets as bookmaker.
(transitive, law student slang) To receive the highest grade in a class.
- The top three students had a bet on which one was going to book their intellectual property class.
(intransitive, slang) To move or leave, often hurriedly and abruptly.
- He was here earlier, but he booked.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Book

the Book

(abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of the Good Book, the Bible.
The Qur'an, especially its supposed divine form inclusive of the true teachings previously provided to the "People of the Book", Jews and Christians.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Book

Book (plural Books)

A surname.

Also used as

book is also the simple past of bake.

book meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

book in Hindi

collection of sheets of paper bound together containing printed or written material: पुस्तक pustak, किताब kitāb, ग्रंथ granth, बही bahī, पोथी pothī, पोथा pothā
record of betting: लेखा lekhā
script of a musical: स्वरलिपि svarlipi
usually in plural: records of the accounts of a business: खाता khātā, बही bahī, लेखा lekhā

book in Tamil

collection of sheets of paper bound together containing printed or written material: நூல் nūl, புத்தகம் puttakam

book in Marathi

collection of sheets of paper bound together containing printed or written material: पुस्तक pustak

book in Urdu

collection of sheets of paper bound together containing printed or written material: کِتاب kitāb, پُسْتَک pustak, بُک buk

More languagesFewer languages

book in Bengali: বই boi, কিতাব kitab, পুঁথি pũthi, বুক buk
book in Telugu: పుస్తకం pustakaṁ, పొత్తం pottaṁ
book in Malayalam: പുസ്തകം pustakaṁ, ബുക്ക് bukkŭ
book in Kannada: ಪುಸ್ತಕ pustaka
book in Punjabi: ਪੋਥੀ pothī, ਪੋਥਾ pothā, ਕਿਤਾਬ kitāb, ਪੁਸਤਕ pustak
book in Gujarati: પુસ્તક pustak, ચોપડી copḍī
book in Odia: ବହି bahi
book in Sanskrit: पुस्तक pustaka, ग्रन्थ grantha
book in Sinhala: පොත pota
book in Assamese: কিতাপ kitap, পুথি puthi
book in Nepali: पुस्तक pustak, किताप kitāp
book in Pashto: کتاب ketāb
book in Tagalog: libro, aklat
book in Arabic: كِتَاب kitāb, سِفْر sifr, كتاب ketāb, سِجِل sijil
book in Malay: buku, kitab, pustaka, tempah
book in Indonesian: buku, kitab, pesan
book in Persian: نَامَه nāma, کِتَاب kitāb, کِتاب ketâb, نامِه nâme
book in Thai: หนังสือ nǎng-sʉ̌ʉ, สมุด sà-mùt, จอง jɔɔng
book in Vietnamese: sách, sổ, sách giáo khoa, tập
book in Myanmar: စာအုပ် caup
Sindhi: ڪِتابُ kitābu
Dhivehi: ފޮތް fot̊

Examples of book in a sentence

She opened the book to page 37 and began to read aloud.
He was frustrated because he couldn't find anything about dinosaurs in the book.
a book of matches (matchbook)
And then, just when an observer might be lured into thinking that that must be it, more books...1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, page 51:
The BK plans a march to h8, eating the f4 pawn en route, for a book draw.2018 April 6, Leonard Barden, “Chess: Schoolboy Vincent Keymer secures shock triumph at Grenke Open”, in The Guardian, archived from the...
This machinery was provided with a rotary drum with received upon its periphery the "books" of silk to be operated upon and presented them to travelling, combing, or dressing surfaces.1867, John I. Knight, Mechanics Magazine, page 52:

All 40 example sentences with book

Synonyms of book

10 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of book

Forms of book

Noun
plural	books
alternative form (obsolete)	boke
alternative form (archaic)	booke
Verb
third-person singular present	books
present participle	booking
past participle	booked
past	booked
Proper noun
plural	Books

Past tense of book: booked

Plural of book: books

Origin of book

From Middle English bok, book, from Old English bōc, from Proto-West Germanic *bōk, from Proto-Germanic *bōks. Bookmaker sense by clipping. Cognates Cognate with Scots beuk, buik, buke (“book”), Yola buke (“book”), North Frisian Bok, buk, bök (“book”), Saterland Frisian Bouk (“book”), West Frisian, Dutch boek (“book”), Alemannic German Buech (“book”), Bavarian Buach (“book”), Central Franconian Booch, Buch (“book”), German, Luxembourgish Buch (“book”), German Low German Book (“book”), Limburgish book, Bouk (“book”), Vilamovian büch (“book”), Yiddish בוך (bukh, “book”), Danish bog (“book”), Elfdalian buok (“book”), Faroese, Icelandic bók (“book”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish bok (“book”).

From Middle English booken, boken, from Old English bōcian, ġebōcian, from the noun (see above).

From Middle English book, bok, from Old English bōc, from Proto-Germanic *bōk, first and third person singular indicative past tense of Proto-Germanic *bakaną (“to bake”).

Phrases with book

176 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with book

38 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about book

What does book mean?: Book means a collection of sheets of paper bound together to hinge at one edge, containing printed or written material, pictures, etc.
What is book in Hindi?: Book in Hindi is पुस्तक (pustak), किताब (kitāb), ग्रंथ (granth). See Book meaning in Hindi.
How do you use book in a sentence?: She opened the book to page 37 and began to read aloud.
What part of speech is book?: Book can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce book?: Book is pronounced /bʊk/ (UK).
What is the plural of book?: The plural of book is books.

Words near book in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: book (page history and authors); Book (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-book.ogg, En-uk-book.ogg.

Cite this entry: “book.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/book. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.