Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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.

   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.

   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.

   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.

   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.

   {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} (Zo["o]l.), one of several species of minute,
      wingless insects injurious to books and papers. They
      belong to the {Pseudoneuroptera}.

   {Book moth} (Zo["o]l.), 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} (Zo["o]l.), 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.