off book

See also: off-book

English

(theater) No longer needing the script to rehearse.
After 5 days studying the script, Jane is now off book, and can concentrate on gesture more.
- 1873, Thomas Wright, Our New Masters, Strahan & Co., page 125:
  "He will glibly parse a sentence ... and repeat the catechism and whole chapters of the Bible 'off book.'"
- 1993, Doug Moston, Coming to Terms with Acting, →ISBN, page 74:
  "In all likelihood, the director will leave you alone throughout the rest of the production and focus attention on the guy who isn't off book yet."
- 2003, Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex, Picador,, →ISBN, page 332:
  "'So if Antigone wants to be off book, I think the rest of you should be off book too.'"
below the list price
- 1963, Richard Austin Smith, Corporations in Crisis, Doubleday, page 74:
  "in the winter of 1957-58 prices were 60 percent off book."