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library definition

li·brary (lī′brer′ē, -brər ē; also, though usually regarded as nonstandard, lī′bər ē)

noun pl. libraries -·brar′·ies

    1. a collection of books, periodicals, musical scores, films, phonograph records, etc., esp. a large, systematically arranged collection for reading or reference
    2. a room or building where such a collection is kept
  2. a public or private institution in charge of the care and circulation of such a collection
  3. a set or series of books issued in a single format by a publishing house
  4. any collection of things that is organized for a particular purpose a software library

Etymology: ME librarie < OFr < libraire, copyist < L librarius, n., transcriber of books, adj., of books < liber, a book, orig. inner bark or rind of a tree (which was written on) < IE base *leubh-, to peel off > leaf, Gr lepein, to strip off rind

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

library Synonyms

library

n.

books, book collection, manuscripts, manuscript collection, institution, public library, ambry, bookery, athenaeum, private library, book room, lending library, collection of manuscripts, circulating library, reference library, reference collection, archives, museum, treasury, thesaurus, muniments, memorabilia, rare books, incunabula, incunables, reading room; see also building 1.

Great libraries of the world include: Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris; British Library, London; Bodleian Library, Oxford; Cambridge University Library; Biblioteca Vaticana, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele, Rome; Biblioteca Laurentiana, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Florence; Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan; Biblioteca Marciana, Venice; Bibliothèque Royale, Brussels; Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid; Biblioteca Nacional, Lisbon; Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague; Kongelige Bibliothek, Copenhagen; Gosudarstvennaya Publichnaya Biblioteka, Leningrad; Staatsbibliothek, Berlin; National Library, Athens; Metropolitan Library, Beijing, Library of the Imperial Cabinet, Tokyo; Biblioteca Nacional, Mexico City; Biblioteca Nacional, Rio de Janeiro; Library of Congress, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.; Widener Library, Harvard University; Columbia University Library, New York Public Library, Morgan Library, New York; Boston Public Library; Cleveland Public Library; Harper Library, University of Chicago; Huntington Library, Pasadena, Calif.; Sterling Library, Yale University; University of California Libraries; Hoover War Library, Stanford University.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

library Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • well-stock: We have excellent undergraduate computer facilities and a modern, well-stocked library.

Adjective modifier

  • digital: The achievement of the digital library will be more than a program for delivering services to our remote users.

Modifies a noun

  • catalog: Library Catalog You can search the library catalog by Title, Author, Keyword, ISBN, or Class.

Noun used with modifier

  • lending: An enlarged lending library was added at the rear of the building in 1938.
library usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

library quotes

And the smell of the library was always the sameöthe musty odour of old clothes mixed with the keener scent of unwashed bodies, creating what the chief librarian had once described as 'the steam of the social soup'.

-Ackroyd, Peter

A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber room of his library, where he can get it if he wants it.

-Doyle, SirArthur Conan

   Claustrum sine armario quasi castrum sine armamentario. Ipsum armarium nostrum est armamenturium. A cloister without a library is like a castle without an armoury. For the library is our armoury.

-Geoffrey de Breteuil   fl.12c

library quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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MLA Style

"library." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 4 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/library>

APA Style

library. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 4th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/library

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