bible

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the sacred scriptures of Christianity, comprising the Old and New Testaments

   The family kept a Bible beside the bed and read from it each evening.

2. 2
   noun

   a particular copy, edition, or translation of the Christian scriptures

   Her old bible contained handwritten notes in every margin.

3. 3
   noun

   a comprehensive and highly authoritative book about a subject

   The repair manual became his bible for restoring the vintage engine.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Bible came through Old French from ecclesiastical Latin biblia sacra, ultimately from Greek (ta) biblia (to hagia), “the holy books.” The singular biblion was originally a diminutive of biblos, “papyrus” or “scroll,” a word of Semitic origin that may derive from Byblos, the eastern Mediterranean port that exported papyrus to Greece. Bibliography and bibliophile come from the same source.

From Middle English bible and Medieval Latin biblia, reinterpreted as a singular from Greek biblia, 'books,' the plural of biblion, 'small book.' Biblion ultimately referred to papyrus associated with the Phoenician city of Byblos. The figurative sense developed from the Christian Bible's status as an authoritative text.

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary