Chapter Bonnet Lairds to Boots of B by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

to know, and save him from the power of enchantment. (Ariosto: Orlando Furioso, book viii)
   Beware of a man of one book. Never attempt to controvert the statement of any one in his own special subject. A shepherd who cannot read will know more about sheep than the wisest book-worm. This caution is given by St. Thomas Aquinas.
   That does not suit my book. Does not accord with my arrangements. The reference is to betting-books, in which the bets are formally entered.
   To bring him to book. To make him prove his words; to call him to account. Make him show that what he says accords with what is written down in the indentures, the written agreement, or the book which treats of the subject.
   To book it. To take down an order; to make a memorandum; to enter in a book.
   To speak by the book. With minute exactness. To speak literatim, according to what is in the book.
   To speak like a book. To speak with great precision and accuracy; to be full of information.
   To speak without book. Without authority; from memory only, without consulting or referring to the book.
   Bell, book, and candle. (See under Bell.)

Book of Books (The ). The Bible.

Book of Life (The ). In Bible language, is a register of the names of those who are to inherit eternal life. (Phil. iv. 3; Rev. xx. 12.)

Books
   He is in my books, or in my good books. The former is the older form; both mean to be in favour. The word book was at one time used more widely, a single sheet, or even a list being called a book. To be in my books is to be on my list of friends.

“I was so much in his books, that at his decease he left me his lamp.”- Addison.

“If you want to keep in her good books, don't call her `the old lady.' ”- Dickens.

   He is in my black (or bad) books. In disfavour. (See Black Books.)
   On the books. On the list of a club, on the list of candidates, on the list of voters, etc.
    In the universities we say, “on the boards.”
   Out of my books. Not in favour; no longer in my list of friends.
   The battle of the books. The Boyle controversy (q.v.). (See Battle.)
   To take one's name off the books. To withdraw from a club. In the passive voice it means to be excluded, or no longer admissible to enjoy the benefits of the institution. The university phrases are “to keep my name on the boards”; “to take my name off the boards,” etc.

Book-keeper One who borrows books, but does not return them.

Book-keeping The system of keeping the debtor and creditor accounts of merchants in books provided for the purpose, either by single or by double entry.
   Waste-book. A book in which items are not posted under heads, but are left at random, as each transaction occurred.
   Day-book. A book in which are set down the debits and credits which occur day by day. These are ultimately sorted into the ledger.
   Ledger (Dutch, leggen, to lay). The book which is laid up in counting-houses. In the ledger the different items are regularly sorted according to the system in use. (LEDGER-LINES.)
   By single entry. Book-keeping in which each debit or credit is entered only once into the ledger, either as a debit or credit item, under the customer's or salesman's name.
   By double entry. By which each item is entered twice into the ledger, once on the debit and once on the credit side.

Bookworm One always poring over his books; so called in allusion to the insect that eats holes in books, and lives both in and on its leaves.

Boom A sudden and great demand of a thing, with a corresponding rise in its price. The rush of a ship under press of sail. The word arises from the sound of booming or rushing water.

“The boom was something wonderful. Everybody bought, everybody sold.”- Mark Twain: Life on the Mississippi, chap. 57.

Boom-Passenger (A ). A convict on board ship, who was chained to the boom when made to take his daily exercise.