library
Plurallibraries
- 1A public or institutional place that holds books and other media for reading, borrowing, or reference, and offers related services to its users.
The city opened a new library downtown with study rooms and free internet access.
Many libraries now lend e-books and audiobooks alongside printed volumes.
UsageNot a shop: you borrow books from a library but buy them at a bookshop or bookstore.
- 2A collection of books, recordings, films, or other sources of information, kept for use or reference.
Over the years she built an impressive library of rare first editions.
The professor's personal library spanned every subject from botany to law.
UsageOften a library of + noun, or with a possessive: her music library.
Similarcollection
Note
Here the word means the books themselves rather than the building. "A library of" can also measure quantity: Alfred Newton's A Dictionary of Birds (1893 to 1896) speaks of "a small library of books" written on a subject, meaning a sizable literature. Alberto Manguel, writing in the New York Times in 2008, calls his library a composite of many collections built and abandoned.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Newton's book uses the exact phrase a small library of books for books written on a subject. archive.org
- Alberto Manguel wrote in The New York Times in 2008 that his library was a composite of collections he had built and abandoned. en.wiktionary.org
- 3A room set aside for storing books.
After dinner, he went to the library in his house to read by the fire.
The manor's library held thousands of leather-bound volumes.
Similarstudy
- 4A collection of software routines that programmers incorporate into or use within their own programs.
The developers imported a graphics library to render the game's animations.
Most modern languages ship with a standard library of common functions.
Note
A programmer's library is code packaged for reuse: routines, functions and classes behind a defined interface, so a program can call them instead of reimplementing them. The key distinction is how it joins the program. A static library is linked in when the program is built, and a dynamic one is linked when it runs. Standard library names the set that ships with a language.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
- Library code can be reused in programs without copying or reimplementing its definitions. docs.python.org
- Libraries can contain functions and classes. micropython.org
- A library exposes an interface through which programs access its functionality. developer.apple.com
- Static library code becomes part of the executable during the build. docs.oracle.com
- Dynamic libraries are linked at program launch or during execution. developer.apple.com
- A standard library is supplied with a programming language's implementation. docs.python.org
Less common meanings
- 5Any organization or service that loans out items, such as seeds or musical instruments, for use by members of a community or the general public.
The seed library allows gardeners to borrow seeds and return some after harvest.
A community library of musical instruments helps students who cannot afford their own.
UsageUsually named for what it lends: tool library, seed library, toy library.
- 6A collection of cloned DNA fragments, usually maintained in host cells, that together represent the DNA of a particular source, such as an organism, a tissue, or an environmental sample.
- 7In Magic: The Gathering, the deck of cards from which a player draws each turn.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of library apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
This word came through Middle English and Old French from Latin librarium ("bookcase, chest for books"), from librarius ("concerning books") and liber ("the inner bark of trees; paper, parchment, book"), probably from a Proto-Indo-European base *leub(ʰ)- ("to strip, to peel"). It replaced the native Middle English bochous, from Old English bōchūs, literally "book house."
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
- Library came through Middle English and Old French from Latin librarium, meaning a bookcase or chest for books. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin librarium derives from librarius, meaning concerning books, which derives from liber. en.wiktionary.org
- Liber has the meanings inner bark, paper, parchment, and book. en.wiktionary.org
- The proposed ultimate origin is a Proto-Indo-European base meaning to strip or peel. en.wiktionary.org
- It displaced Middle English bochous or bokhus, descended from Old English bōchūs. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English bōchūs literally means book house. en.wiktionary.org