library

[lahy-brer-ee, -bruh-ree, -bree] /ˈlaɪˌbrɛr i, -brə ri, -bri/
noun, plural libraries.
1.
a place set apart to contain books, periodicals, and other material for reading, viewing, listening, study, or reference, as a room, set of rooms, or building where books may be read or borrowed.
2.
a public body organizing and maintaining such an establishment.
3.
a collection of manuscripts, publications, and other materials for reading, viewing, listening, study, or reference.
4.
a collection of any materials for study and enjoyment, as films, musical recordings, or maps.
5.
a commercial establishment lending books for a fixed charge; a lending library.
6.
a series of books of similar character or alike in size, binding, etc., issued by a single publishing house.
7.
Biology. a collection of standard materials or formulations by which specimens are identified.
8.
canon1 (def 9).
9.
Computers. a collection of software or data usually reflecting a specific theme or application.
Origin
1300-50; Middle English libraire < Middle French librairie < Medieval Latin librāria, noun use of feminine of Latin librārius (adj.) of books, equivalent to lib(e)r book + -ārius -ary
Related forms
interlibrary, adjective
Pronunciation note
Library, with one r -sound following close upon another, is particularly vulnerable to the process of dissimilation—the tendency for neighboring like sounds to become unlike, or for one of them to disappear altogether. The pronunciation
[lahy-brer-ee] /ˈlaɪ brɛr i/ (Show IPA) therefore, while still the most common, is frequently reduced by educated speakers, both in the U.S. and in England, to the dissimilated
[lahy-buh-ree] /ˈlaɪ bə ri/ or
[lahy-bree] /ˈlaɪ bri/ . A third dissimilated form
[lahy-ber-ee] /ˈlaɪ bɛr i/ is more likely to be heard from less educated or very young speakers, and is often criticized. See colonel, February, governor.
Examples from the web for library
  • We were told that the incident portrayed in the book was inaccurate, that the library had never been involved.
  • So a book of a few hundred pages can take up to several library renewals each three-weekly.
  • Slovenian library creates surprise book packs based on genre.
  • They may ask why you chose library science as a career or what drew you to the profession.
  • Bookshelves built into the staircase add a library look.
  • Wow, you really can't let those library due dates slide.
  • For the library faculty positions, the scholarship would have to be in librarianship.
  • From here, you can decide which of your tracks in your cloud library you want synced to local storage on your phone.
  • The exterior of my library building is quite boring.
  • If your town has a lending library for tools, consider yourself lucky.
British Dictionary definitions for library

library

/ˈlaɪbrərɪ/
noun (pl) -braries
1.
a room or set of rooms where books and other literary materials are kept
2.
a collection of literary materials, films, CDs, children's toys, etc, kept for borrowing or reference
3.
the building or institution that houses such a collection: a public library
4.
a set of books published as a series, often in a similar format
5.
(computing) a collection of standard programs and subroutines for immediate use, usually stored on disk or some other storage device
6.
a collection of specific items for reference or checking against: a library of genetic material
Word Origin
C14: from Old French librairie, from Medieval Latin librāris, n use of Latin librārius relating to books, from liber book
Word Origin and History for library
n.

place for books, late 14c., from Anglo-French librarie, Old French librairie "collection of books" (14c.), noun use of adj. librarius "concerning books," from Latin librarium "chest for books," from liber (genitive libri) "book, paper, parchment," originally "the inner bark of trees," probably a derivative of PIE root *leub(h)- "to strip, to peel" (see leaf). The equivalent word in most Romance languages now means "bookseller's shop." Old English had bochord, literally "book hord."

library in Technology
programming, library
A collection of subroutines and functions stored in one or more files, usually in compiled form, for linking with other programs. Libraries are one of the earliest forms of organised code reuse. They are often supplied by the operating system or software development environment developer to be used in many different programs. The routines in a library may be general purpose or designed for some specific function such as three dimensional animated graphics.
Libraries are linked with the user's program to form a complete executable. The linking may be static linking or, in some systems, dynamic linking.
(1998-11-21)