1836. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, I., 400. And Wilkins Flasher, Esquire, entered it (the bet) in a little BOOK with a gold pencil-case; and the other gentleman entered it also, in another little BOOK with another gold pencil-case.
1837. B. DISRAELI, Henrietta Temple, 260. Am I to be branded because I have made half a million by a good BOOK?
1852. F. E. SMEDLEY, Lewis Arundel, liii. ‘He has backed the Dodona colt for the Derby, and has got a heavier BOOK on the race than he likes.’
1864. HOTTEN, Dictionary, s.v. BOOK … The principle of making a BOOK, or betting round, as it is sometimes termed, is to lay a previously-determined sum against every horse in the race, or as many horses as possible; and should the bookmaker ‘get round,’ i.e., succeed in laying against as many horses as will more than balance the odds laid, he is certain to be a winner.
1869. Gentleman’s Magazine, July, 231. He wins your money with a smile, will accommodate his BOOK to suit what bets you may choose to make.
1879. PAYN, High Spirits (Change of Views). He had a knowledge, too, of practical mathematics, which enabled him to make a BOOK upon every great racing event of the year.
1889. Pall Mall Gazette, Oct. 21, 6, 1. Every sporting man is flattered if termed a sportsman, but it would be almost an insult to speak to a sportsman as a sporting man who looks at sport through the glasses of a BOOK.
2. (gaming).—The first six tricks at whist: see BOOKS.
3. (general).—The copy of words to which music is set; the words of a play; formerly only applied to the libretto of an opera. [HALLIWELL: formerly used for any composition from a volume to a single sheet, particularly where a list is spoken of; Shakespeare uses it for ‘articles of agreement.’]
1513–25. State Papers, iv. 66. [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 387. A merchant in our days would shudder if he found his clerk making a BOOK; but this phrase is used for casting up accounts.]
1598. SHAKESPEARE, 1 Henry IV., iii. 1. By that time will our BOOK, I think, be drawn. Ibid. By this our BOOK is drawn, we will but seal, And then to horse immediately.
1768. STERNE, A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, I., 180. A small pamphlet, it might be the BOOK of the opera.
1889. Answers, 8 June, 24. The prompter had a little table on the ‘prompt’ side; his ‘BOOK’ was one mass of directions, the margins being covered with little pictures and diagrams of the stage, showing the positions of the leading actors in every scene.
TO KNOW ONE’S BOOK, verb. phr. (popular).—To make up one’s mind; to know what is best for one’s interest.
c. 1879. Broadside Ballad, ‘Ain’t you glad you didn’t.’
| Ain’t you glad sometimes to know, | |
| A second thought you took, | |
| About a subject upon which | |
| You thought you KNEW YOUR BOOK. |
TO SUIT ONE’S BOOK, verb. phr. (common).—To suit one’s arrangements, fancy, or wish.
1852. F. E. SMEDLEY, Lewis Arundel, vi. As there will be plenty of the needful, she will SUIT HIS BOOK as well as any other.
PHRASES: TO SAY OFF BOOK = to repeat. BY THE BOOK = formally; in set phrase. IN A PERSON’S GOOD (or BAD) BOOKS = in favour (or disfavour). OUT OF ONE’S BOOK = mistaken; out of one’s reckoning. WITHOUT ONE’S BOOK = (1) unauthorised; (2) by rote. TO DRIVE THE BOOK = to compel to give evidence on oath. TO BRING TO BOOK = to bring to account. TO SPEAK LIKE A BOOK = to speak with authority. TO TALK LIKE A BOOK = to speak in set terms, as a precision. TO TAKE A LEAF OUT OF A PERSON’S BOOK = to take example by him.
Verb. (colloquial).—To catch; to FIX (q.v.), to dispose of: that is entered or registered; Fr. être planché, être mort (to be booked); faitré (= BOOKED) and gerbable (= the subject).
1840. HOOD, Up the Rhine, 6. I am BOOKED for a much longer journey.
1857. SNOWDEN, Magistrates Assistant, 3 ed., 446. BOOKED, caught, taken, or disposed of.
1881. PAYN, A Grape from a Thorn, xxiii. ‘I don’t remember anyone having given me an ‘engaged ring’ before; and it’s not leap-year, neither. However, the lady’s BOOKED, which is a great relief.’
