Word.ws English Dictionary

red book

red book noun: a book, often bound with a red cover, or online equivalent, that is an official, or canonical, collection of data, regulations, or writings.

Noun

red book (plural red books)

  1. A book, often bound with a red cover, or online equivalent, that is an official, or canonical, collection of data, regulations, or writings.
    • All the chauntry preestis whos composicions are enrolled in the rede boke. T. Smith & L. T. Smith Eng. Gilds (1479, ed. 1870, p. 419, cited after OED)
    • Some years ago I persuaded the L.C.C. to issue a red-book of comparative municipal statistics. Times 25 October 1920, 6/2, cited after OED
  2. A book supposedly belonging to the devil and containing the signatures of those in league with him.
    • Her confession to Mr. Langley of Sarum, that she lived with D. Lamb and learnt the art of raising Spirits from him, which she also confessed to Edmond Bower to whom also she acknowledged her skill of curing diseases by Charms and Spels, that she could discover stollen goods, and shew any one the...1655, Thomas More, An Antidote Against Atheism, pages 205–206
    • Some of them related their intimacy with the Devil, declared they had signed his little red book, been present at his sacraments, and rode with him on sticks through the air to attend his diabolical meetings.1840, “The Quakeress”, in Southern Literary Messenger, volume 6, page 830

Proper noun capitalized: Red Book

Red Book

  1. The official technical standard for audio CDs.
    • One company claimed to have the rights to putting hidden tracks in that position, but it's not permitted by the Red Book standard, and many plants will not press CDs with a hidden track in the pregap.2013, Russ Hepworth-Sawyer, editor, From Demo to Delivery, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN

Forms of red book

pluralred books
alternative formred-book
alternative formredbook

Origin of red book

From red + book, as a fixed title for various official books from the 15th century, especially the Red Book of the Exchequer, a manuscript volume of the 13th century (OED).

Words formed from red book

Questions about red book

What does red book mean?
Red book means a book, often bound with a red cover, or online equivalent, that is an official, or canonical, collection of data, regulations, or writings.
What part of speech is red book?
Red book can be a noun or a proper noun.
What is the plural of red book?
The plural of red book is red books.

Words near red book in the dictionary

  1. red blood cell
  2. red blood cell cast
  3. red blood cell casts
  4. red blood cells
  5. Red Bluff
  6. red book
  7. red books
  8. red bourgeoisie
  9. red bourgeoisies
  10. red box
  11. red boxes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: red book (page history and authors); Red 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.

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