textbook

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a book prepared for use in schools or colleges

   My economics textbook is not helpful at all.

2. 2
   adj

   Of or pertaining to textbooks or their style, especially in being dry and pedagogical; textbooky, textbooklike.

   These figures are just too textbook, or papyrus-like, as if this information came off of a shelf in the Library of Alexandria

3. 3
   adj

   Having the typical characteristics of some class of phenomenon, so that it might be included as an example in a textbook.

   Every night had been clear and star-studded, the progression of the moon through its phases absolutely textbook, its dance with the planets visible in the ecliptic...

4. 4
   adj

   Done exactly correctly, in an exemplary way that might be described in a textbook.

   Well done everyone, the tree fell exactly where we planned. That was textbook.

5. 5
   adj

   Learned from, or as if learned from, a textbook, as opposed to personal discovery or experience.

   He has a textbook understanding of company law but no practical experience of litigation.

6. 6
   adj

   according to or characteristic of a casebook or textbook

7. 7
   noun

   A coursebook, a formal manual of instruction in a specific subject, especially one for use in schools or colleges.

Etymology

From text + book.