Word.ws English Dictionary

bookie

/ˈbʊki/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˈbɵkɪj/

bookie noun: a bookmaker, being a person who, or business which, takes bets from the general public on sporting events and similar. Also the diminutive of book.

Noun

bookie (plural bookies)

  1. (informal) A bookmaker, being a person who, or business which, takes bets from the general public on sporting events and similar.
    • ‘You won’t believe it,’ he [Fitz McGee] said. ‘Those dummies won’t let me scratch! The horse is gonna be odds‐on and I’ve got a chunk bet on him out of town. Never get the bookie call it off this late.’1975 September 5, Red Smith, quoting Phil Bieber, “Lyin’ Fitz, the Beautiful Dreamer”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on...
    Synonyms:
    turf accountant

Also used as

bookie is also the diminutive of book.

Examples of bookie in a sentence

  • The vig is like your "tax" paid on a bet which goes to the bookie.
  • Leaving Lady Margaret to do battle with the bookies, I bought myself a country-baked vanilla slice.
  • Everyone knows that feeling of walking into a room and the atmosphere being bare bookie but also calm.

All 10 example sentences with bookie

Synonyms of bookie

Forms of bookie

pluralbookies

Origin of bookie

Clipping of bookmaker + -ie.

From book + -ie.

Words formed from bookie

Words that rhyme with bookie

Questions about bookie

What does bookie mean?
Bookie means a bookmaker, being a person who, or business which, takes bets from the general public on sporting events and similar.
What part of speech is bookie?
Bookie is a noun.
How do you pronounce bookie?
Bookie is pronounced /ˈbʊki/ (UK).
What is the plural of bookie?
The plural of bookie is bookies.

Words near bookie in the dictionary

  1. bookhounds
  2. bookhouse
  3. bookhouses
  4. bookhunter
  5. bookhunters
  6. bookie
  7. bookier
  8. bookies
  9. bookiest
  10. bookiness
  11. booking

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bookie (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bookie.wav.

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