bibliographer
AmericanEtymology
Origin of bibliographer
1650–60; < Greek bibliográph ( os ) book-writer ( see biblio-, -graph) + -er 1
Explanation
If you’ve decided to read everything Shakespeare ever wrote, or are looking for the best books on American basketball for a research paper, you’ll appreciate that some bibliographer somewhere has probably made a list suitable for each of those two projects. A professional bibliographer makes lists of published writings, including when and where they were published and sometimes giving notes on each one. The list, called a bibliography, might be all of a certain author's works, or all the most important works on a certain topic. The Greek roots of both words are biblion, "book," and graphos, "something drawn or written." Whenever you make a list of all the resources you consulted for an essay, you’re making a bibliography and acting as an amateur bibliographer yourself.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
By 1968, 20 US universities were receiving materials from the growing collection, as noted by Maureen LP Patterson, a leading bibliographer of South Asian studies.
From BBC • Dec. 29, 2024
The heir contacted Lucio Aquilanti, a Buenos Aires antiquarian bookseller, and a prominent Cortázar bibliographer, who confirmed the piece’s authenticity.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 12, 2023
Yes — at least, if it’s by that highfunctioning bibliographer Mike Ashley.
From Washington Post • Jun. 8, 2016
And then the relationship between Edgar Allan Poe and Griswold, who became his bibliographer after he died, and kept Poe a minor figure in literature for over a hundred years.
From The Guardian • Jun. 14, 2013
The word “chapbook” has not been noticed earlier than 1824, when Dibdin, the celebrated bibliographer, described a work as being “a chapbook, printed in rather a neat black-letter.”
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 7 "Cerargyrite" to "Charing Cross" by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
