ledger

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a book, file, or computer record in which financial transactions are organized by account

   The accountant entered the payment in the company's general ledger.

2. 2
   noun

   a book or register used to keep a continuing record of information

   The clerk checked the old ledger for the guest's name.

From Middle English legger or leger, related to liggen ("to lie"). A ledger was originally a large book that lay permanently in one place, unlike a portable record; the name then narrowed to a principal book of accounts. It is related historically to ledge and lie.

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