bible

See also: Bible

English

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".

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɪbəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪbəl

Noun

bible (plural bibles)

1. Alternative letter-case form of Bible (“a specific version, edition, translation, or copy of the Christian religious text”)
   • 2012 September 8, Cass Jones, “Elvis Presley's bible sells for £59,000”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     The bible was used by Presley throughout his life until his death on 16 August 1977 and contains his handwritten notes, thoughts and annotations.

2. Alternative letter-case form of Bible (“the analogous holy book of another religion”)
   • 1925, Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto, A Daughter of the Samurai, page 76:

     The Buddhist bible tells this story of Buddha’s time of temptation when he was living as a hermit on the Mount of Snow.

3. (by extension) A comprehensive manual that describes something, or a publication with a loyal readership.

   handyman’s bible

   • 1995 June, Gary Wolf, “The Curse of Xanadu”, in Wired Magazine‎^[2]:

     Computer Lib was written as a popular primer, but its most profound effect was on computer programmers, who needed little persuasion about the value of computers. […] Having set out to appeal to the general public, Nelson managed to publish an insider's bible and highly intimate guide to hacker culture.

   • 1995 September, Richard Barbrook, Andy Cameron, “The Californian Ideology”, in Mute‎^[3], volume 1, number 3, →ISSN:

     For example, Wired—the monthly bible of the ‘virtual class’—has uncritically reproduced the views of Newt Gingrich, […]

4. (law) A binder containing copies of the most important documents for a particular matter.

   Could you please add these to the case bible?

5. (nautical) Synonym of holystone: a piece of sandstone used for scouring wooden decks on ships.
6. (at certain US universities) A compilation of problems and solutions from previous years of a given course, used by some students to cheat on tests or assignments.
   • 1965, Matt Fichtenbaum, Dan Murphy, “The Institute Screw”, in The Broadside of Boston, volume III, number 22:

     My friend’s a genius, he will give me problems one through nine. The bible of a sophomore will have the needed lines.

7. Omasum, the third compartment of the stomach of ruminants

   Synonyms: psalterium, omasum, manyplies, fardel

8. (locksmithing) The upper part of a pin-tumbler lock, containing the driver pins and springs.

Derived terms

• bible-black
• bible leaf
• bible literalist
• bible society
• blue bible
• smuggler's bible
• Tijuana bible

 

Related terms

• biblical

Translations

comprehensive manual

• Afrikaans: bybel
• Arabic: إِنْجِيل (ar) m (ʔinjīl)
• Albanian: Bibël f
• Azerbaijani: bible
• Bulgarian: библия (bg) (biblija)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 圣经 (zh) (shèngjīng)

• Czech: bible (cs) f
• Dutch: bijbel (nl)
• Esperanto: Biblio
• Estonian: piibel (et)
• Finnish: raamattu (fi)
• French: Bible (fr) f
• German: Bibel (de) f
• Greek: βίβλος (el) f (vívlos), βύβλος (el) (vývlos)
• Hungarian: biblia (hu), kézikönyv (hu)
• Ido: biblo (io)
• Indonesian: Alkitab (id)
• Interlingua: biblia
• Irish: bíobla f
• Japanese: 虎の巻 (ja) (tora no maki)
• Korean: 성경 (ko) (seonggyeong), 성서 (ko) (seongseo)
• Latvian: Bībele f
• Lithuanian: Biblija (lt) f
• Macedonian: би́блија f (bíblija)
• Malay: Alkitab
• Polish: Biblia (pl) f
• Portuguese: Bíblia (pt) f
• Romanian: Biblie (ro) f
• Russian: би́блия (ru) f (bíblija)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Библија f, Свето Писмо n

  Roman: Biblija (sh) f, Sveto Pismo n

• Spanish: biblia (es) f
• Swedish: bibel (sv) c
• Thai: คัมภีร์ไบเบิล (Khạmp̣hīr̒ bịbeil)
• Turkish: İncil (tr)
• Welsh: Beibl (cy)

omasum — see omasum

Czech

Alternative forms

• Bible

Etymology

Inherited from Old Czech biblí, from Latin biblia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbɪblɛ]

Proper noun

bible f (related adjective biblický)

1. Bible

Declension

Declension of bible (soft feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	bible	bible
genitive	bible	biblí
dative	bibli	biblím
accusative	bibli	bible
vocative	bible	bible
locative	bibli	biblích
instrumental	biblí	biblemi

Derived terms

• biblista

 

Further reading

• “bible”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “bible”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “bible”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech)

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bibl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

bible f (plural bibles)

1. bible (comprehensive text)

Derived terms

• biblique
• bibliste

Further reading

• “bible”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• Bible, bibel, bibile, byble, bybill, bibelle, bybulle, bibill

Etymology

From Old French bible, from Medieval Latin biblia, from biblia), from Ancient Greek βιβλία (biblía).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiːbəl/

Proper noun

bible

1. The Bible (Christian holy book); a copy of the Bible.
2. (rare) The Koran (Muslim holy book).

Descendants

• English: Bible
• Scots: Bible

References

• “bīble, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-27.

Noun

bible

1. Any book that is of extensive length.
2. A compendium, collection, or storehouse of books.

Descendants

• English: bible
• Scots: bible

References

• “bīble, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-27.