Meaning of book in English

book

noun

/bʊk/ us

/bʊk/

book noun (TEXT)

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A1 [ C ]

a written text that can be published in printed or electronic form:

Have you read any good books recently?

He has a new book out (= published).

She wrote a book on car maintenance.

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A1 [ C ]

a set of pages that have been fastened together inside a cover to be read or written in:

a hardback/paperback book

I took a book with me to read on the plane.

He writes all his expenses in a little book he carries with him.

Nehru Sulejmanovski/EyeEm/GettyImages

[ C ]

one of the parts that a very long book, such as the Bible, is divided into:

the book of Job

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We're reading a different book this week.
In the last two years the book has only sold 200 copies.
She published a book of poems and followed it up with a novel.
I have to return my library books on the sixth of July.
He's the author of several hugely successful children's books.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Pieces of writing

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Books & parts of books

book noun (IN COVER)

C2 [ C ]

a number of one type of thing fastened together flat inside a cover:

a book of stamps/tickets/matches

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Groups and collections of things

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book noun (MONEY RECORD)

books [ plural ]

the written records of money that a business has spent or received:

balance the books Running a school is much more of a business than it used to be - by law we have to balance our books.

[ S ]

the situation in which a bookmaker accepts and pays out amounts of money that are risked on a particular result:

They've already opened/started a book on the result of the next World Cup.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Gambling & bookmaking

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Idioms

by the book
in someone's bad books
in someone's good books
in my book
off the books
on the books
one for the books

book

verb

/bʊk/ us

/bʊk/

book verb (ARRANGE)

A2 [ T or I ]

to arrange to have a seat, room, performer, etc. at a particular time in the future:

be booked up I'd like to go but I'm booked up (= I have arranged to do other things) until the weekend.

be fully booked Unfortunately the restaurant was fully booked (= there were no tables available).

[ + two objects ] I've booked us two tickets to see "Carmen"/I've booked two tickets for us to see "Carmen".

She'd booked a table for four at their favourite restaurant.

Will booked a seat on the evening flight to Los Angeles.

We were advised to book early if we wanted to get a room.

They booked a jazz band for their wedding.

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I've booked the car into the garage.
I've booked a table at the restaurant for nine o'clock.
He booked a double room.
We booked the holiday on a whim.
It's a good thing that we booked our tickets early.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Making bookings & reservations

book verb (MAKE A RECORD)

[ T ]

If a police officer, referee, etc. books someone, they write down the person's name in an official record because they have done something wrong:

A football player who is booked twice in a game is sent off the field.

My grandmother was booked for speeding last week.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Arresting & charging

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Phrasal verbs

book in/book into somewhere
book someone in/book someone into something
book something in

(Definition of book from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

book | American Dictionary

book

noun [ C ]

/bʊk/

book noun [C] (TEXT)

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an object consisting of a number of pages of text or pictures fastened together along one edge and fixed inside two covers:

The artist’s sketch books filled several shelves.

A book is also a number of similar items fastened together inside a cover:

a book of matches/stamps

book

verb

/bʊk/

book verb (ARRANGE)

[ I/T ]

to arrange to have the use of a seat, room, etc. at a particular time in the future:

[ T ] Our travel agent booked us on a flight to Paris.

[ I/T ]

Someone who books a performer arranges a performance:

[ T ] They booked the Rolling Stones for two concerts in New York.

book verb (ACCUSE)

[ T ]

to officially accuse someone of a crime:

Detectives booked him for resisting arrest.

(Definition of book from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

book | Business English

book

noun

/bʊk/ us

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[ C ]

a set of pages in a cover that you read or write in:

book about/on sth She is author of three books about criminal procedure.

The company publishes an extensive range of books.

children's/reference/self-help books

an address book

books [ plural ]

ACCOUNTING

the written records of money that a business has spent or received:

At the end of the year, the accountant goes over the books.

John kept the books and helped her run her business.

See also

appointment book
bankbook
the Beige Book
the Blue Book
cash received book
duplicate book
log book
minute book
order book
paying-in book
plat book
purchase book
rule book
sales day book
sales returns book
statutory book

go by the book (also do sth by the book)

to do something exactly as the rules tells you:

My lawyer always goes strictly by the book.

This is a private deal - we don't have to do everything by the book.

on the books

employed by a company or officially belonging to an organization:

There are 256 people on the books at the cement works.

Carla is on the books of a modelling agency.

book

verb

/bʊk/ us

[ I or T ] mainly UK

to arrange a place on a flight, a room in a hotel, a ticket for an event, etc. for a particular time in the future:

Because tickets are limited, you have to book early.

book a flight/holiday/show When he tried to book a flight home to Australia, his credit card was refused.

book a table/room/seat.

book an appointment/meeting If you want to see Ms. Smith you'll have to book an appointment.

book sth for sth It's the day we have provisionally booked for the launch of the new media website.

See also

reserve

[ T ] ACCOUNTING

to make a record of something in a company's accounts:

The loss would have been much larger had they not booked an £8m profit from property sales.

book sth in sth Jarvis expects to be able to book some or all of that figure in the current year's accounts.

Phrasal verbs

book in/into sth

book someone in/book someone into something

(Definition of book from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of book

book

For orders not pre-paid, postage and packing will be charged according to the weight of the book.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A key issue in the book is an analysis of the experience with the application of economic instruments, such as charges and tradable discharge permits.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Works that were centrally planned and assigned, moreover, had a better chance of seeing print than did books written on personal initiative.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Further reference to tools and players is made as the book progresses.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Indeed, this is a classic book, still owned by many players.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The book is valuable to undergraduate students, but it can also be a quick refresher on the topic for some graduate students.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The rice package and book were the easiest to detect, which can be seen from the average time for detection.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

A publisher who arrived late on the market or who miscalculated the demand for an ordinary, "mid-list" book could be punished with a heavy loss.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The book was in two parts, the first part philosophical, the second dealing with mathematics and the natural sciences.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Unfortunately, it is difficult in a short space to do justice to a book which already is a philosophical classic.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Physically, the book's size is an awkward 10 inches by 7 inches.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The book includes numerous colour photographs, but many are not sharp or their colours are washed out.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs of items from the exhibit (always in full color) and other supporting material (in black and white).

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The book makes good use of black and white photographs, has a useful appendix on methodology and an excellent bibliography.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The second, by a remarkable collection of photographs, some from the university archives and other sources and some specifically produced for the book.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with book

book

These are words often used in combination with book.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

antiquarian book

I am sorry to say that a periodical which is almost the organ of the antiquarian book trade paid no attention.

From the

Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

banned book

In voice-over narration, he describes his enjoyment of reading banned books, his despair of his small-town existence, and his dreams of leaving for college.

From

Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

best-selling book

Their story became a film and a best-selling book.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with book

What is the pronunciation of book?

A1,A1,C2,A2

Translations of book

in Chinese (Traditional)

文本, (紙版或電子版的)書, 書，書本…

in Chinese (Simplified)

文本, (纸版或电子版的)书, 书，书本…

in Spanish

libro, cuaderno, reservar…

in Portuguese

livro, caderno, reservar…

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पुस्तक, पुस्तिका, वेष्टनामध्ये एकाच प्रकारच्या गोष्टी एकत्र बांधून ठेवणे…

本, （印刷・電子の）書籍, 帳簿…

kitap, alıştırma kitabı, bir şeyi ileri de kullanılmak…

livre [masculine], cahier [masculine], carnet [masculine]…

llibre, llibreta, reservar…

boek, lijst, bespreken…

அச்சிட்ட அல்லது மின்னணு வடிவத்தில் வெளியிடக்கூடிய ஒரு எழுதப்பட்ட உரை, படிக்க அல்லது எழுதப்பட வேண்டிய ஒரு அட்டையின் உள்ளே ஒன்றாக இணைக்கப்பட்டுள்ள பக்கங்களின் தொகுப்பு, ஒரு அட்டையின் உள்ளே தட்டையாக இணைக்கப்பட்ட ஒரு வகையான பொருள்…

पुस्तक, किताब, प्रकाशन के लिए उपयुक्त…

પુસ્તક, ચોપડી, ચોપડો…

bog, spilleregnskab, købe/bestille billet…

bok, häfte, lista över ingångna vad…

buku, buku latihan, buku kira-kira…

das Buch, das Wettbuch, bestellen…