Link Centre Dictionary

library

lib·rary

UK/ˈlaɪ.bɹi/ US/ˈlaɪ.bɹə.ɹi/ common

noun

1.

a room where books are kept

  • “they had brandy in the library”
2.

a collection of literary documents or records kept for reference or borrowing

3.

a depository built to contain books and other materials for reading and study

Synonyms
4.

(computing) a collection of standard programs and subroutines that are stored and available for immediate use

Synonyms
5.

a building that houses a collection of books and other materials

Origin

From 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 bochous, bokhus (literally “book house”), from Old English bōchūs (compare bookhouse). Romance cognates often mean “bookshop” instead: French librairie, Italian libreria, Spanish librería, Romanian librărie and Portuguese livraria. This is a relatively recent innovation (16th century in French), which ended up displacing the earlier sense.

Phrases

  • Borgesian library
  • Carnegie library
  • circulating library
  • diaper library
  • digital library
  • dynamic-link library
  • film library
  • free library

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.