Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Library

Li′bra-ry

(lī′brā̍-ry̆)
,
Noun.
;
pl.
Libraries
(-rĭz)
.
[OE.
librairie
, F.
librairie
bookseller’s shop, book trade, formerly, a library, fr.
libraire
bookseller, L.
librarius
, from
liber
book; cf.
libraria
bookseller's shop,
librarium
bookcase, It.
libreria
. See
Libel
.]
1.
A considerable collection of books kept for use, and not as merchandise;
as, a private
library
; a public
library
.
2.
A building or apartment appropriated for holding such a collection of books.
Holland.

Webster 1828 Edition

Library

LI'BRARY

,
Noun.
[L. librarium, libraria, from liber, a book.]
1.
A collection of books belonging to a private person, or to a public institution or a company.
2.
An edifice or an apartment for holding a collection of books.

Definition 2024

library

library

English

Bibliothèque Mazarine, Paris

Noun

library ‎(plural libraries)

  1. An institution which holds books and/or other forms of stored information for use by the public or qualified people. It is usual, but not a defining feature of a library, for it to be housed in rooms of a building, to lend items of its collection to members either with or without payment, and to provide various other services for its community of users.
  2. A collection of books or other forms of stored information.
  3. An equivalent collection of analogous information in a non-printed form, e.g. record library.
  4. (computer science) A collection of software subprograms that provides functionality, to be incorporated into or used by a computer program.
  5. A collection of DNA material from a single organism or relative to a single disease.
  6. (card games) The deck or draw pile.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Etymology

Middle English librarie, from Anglo-Norman librarie, from Old French librairie, from Latin librarium ‎(“bookcase, chest for books”), from librarius ‎(“concerning books”), from liber ‎(“the inner bark of trees, paper, parchment, book”), probably derived from a Proto-Indo-European base *leub(h) ‎(“to strip, to peel”). Displaced native Middle English bochus, bochous ‎(“library, bookhouse”) (from Old English bōchūs ‎(“library, bookhouse”)). Romance cognates often mean “bookshop” instead French librairie, Italian libreria, and Portuguese livraria. This is a recent innovation (16th century in French), displacing earlier sense.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈlaɪbɹəɹi/
  • (UK, nonstandard) IPA(key): /ˈlaɪbəɹi/, /ˈlaɪbɹi/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈlaɪˌbɹɛɹi/, /ˈlaɪbɹəɹi/
  • (US, nonstandard) IPA(key): /ˈlaɪˌbɛɹi/

Similar Results