bible
/ˈbaɪbəl/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.54 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
Alternative letter-case form of Bible (“a specific version, edition, translation, or copy of the Christian religious text”).
noun
Alternative letter-case form of Bible (“a specific version, edition, translation, or copy of the Christian religious text”).
noun
A comprehensive manual that describes something, or a publication with a loyal readership; a foundational text.
noun
Ellipsis of pitch bible.
noun
A binder containing copies of the most important documents for a particular matter.
Example Sentences
- "[Editor David W. Blight said:] Deeply in need of father figures and spiritual hope, and “religiously seeking knowledge,” as he recalled it, the slave boy [the young Frederick Douglass] turned to a religious black man, a freeman named Charles Lawson, who worked as a drayman for a rope maker and lived on Happy Alley in Fells Point. Frederick spent countless hours with Lawson in the drayman’s shack reading the bible aloud, singing hymns, and praying together. “I could teach him the letter, but he could teach me the spirit,” Douglass remembered. Throughout his life Douglass would teach his teachers and learn from them at the same time. From old Lawson he gained […] above all […] a belief in a benevolent and protective God, the faith that his “life was under the guidance of a wisdom higher than my own.”"
- "If a person should happen to meet them when on these journeys, he should, if he has not a bible in his pocket, draw a circle round him on the ground, and in God's name forbid their approach."
- "The bible was used by Presley throughout his life until his death on 16 August 1977 and contains his handwritten notes, thoughts and annotations."
- "The Buddhist bible tells this story of Buddha’s time of temptation when he was living as a hermit on the Mount of Snow."
- "handyman’s bible"
- "K&R is considered the bible of C programming"
Etymology
From Middle English bible, from Middle Latin biblia (“book”) (misinterpreted as a feminine from earlier Latin neuter plural biblia (“books”)), from Ancient Greek βιβλία (biblía, “books”), plural of βιβλίον (biblíon, “small book”), originally a diminutive of βίβλος (bíblos, “book”), from βύβλος (búblos, “papyrus”) (from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported this writing material). Old English used biblioþēce (from βιβλιοθήκη) and ġewritu (> English writs) for "the Scriptures".
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: bible, -, βιβλία, biblia
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbaɪbəl/
- British English: /ˈbaɪbəl/
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Religion.