library

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“
The shelves in the room which I call my library are furnished, but I dare not look how much dust they have accumulated.

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Definitions (22)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (9)

  1. noun A place in which literary and artistic materials, such as books, periodicals, newspapers, pamphlets, prints, records, and tapes, are kept for reading, reference, or lending.
  2. noun A collection of such materials, especially when systematically arranged.
  3. noun A room in a private home for such a collection.
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Examples (50)

  • The theological contents of the library was a vast mass of polemical literature, orthodox and heterodox, including all faiths, all variations of sect. —  Olive A Novel
  • What a library is here! —  Imaginary Conversations and Poems A Selection
  • Raymond rebelled, and refused point-blank to go: an evening in his library was his mood. —  On the Stairs
  • Local history or geology, nature study, current public events in State or nation, art in some of its phases, or the literature of a particular country or period, may be the special consideration of a club or reading circle; in every case the library is the laboratory of investigation. —  Society Its Origin and Development
  • Kind and friendly with his officers, his library was at their disposal; the fore cabin, where his books were usually kept, was open to all; it was the school-room of the young midshipmen and the study of the old ones. —  Frank Mildmay The Naval Officer
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English librarie, from Anglo-Norman, from Latin librārium, bookcase, from neuter of librārius, of books, from liber, libr-, book.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English librarie, from Old French librairie, librarie, libraire, a bookseller's shop, a bookcase, a library, French librairie = Provencal librari = Spanish libreria (after F.) = Portuguese livraria = Italian libreria (after F.), a bookseller's shop, bookselling, also, in imprints, a publication-office, from Latin libraria, a bookseller's shop, Middle Latin a library, cf. Latin librarium, a bookcase, feminine and neuter respectively of librarius, belonging to books, from liber, a book: see liber. For the Roman word for ‘library’ in the usual English sense, see bibliotheca.
 

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/ˈlaɪbreɪri/
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