circulating library

American  

noun

1. a library whose books can be borrowed by its members or subscribers.

2. lending library.

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circulating library British  

noun

1. another name (esp US) for lending library

2. a small library circulated in turn to a group of schools or other institutions

3. a rare name for subscription library

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Etymology

Origin of circulating library

First recorded in 1735–45

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

circulating library

Among its innovations, the store established a circulating library for travelers wintering in Pasadena’s grand resort hotels, who often preferred to rent a book rather than lug it home.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2022

The stacks, which were to have been demolished to make way for the Foster-designed circulating library, have been mostly empty since 2013, to the dismay of some scholars and preservationists.

From New York Times ● Sep. 13, 2017

The Imperial Library was what’s known as a circulating library.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 2, 2016

Books were expensive, but for a modest fee you could join a circulating library.

From Slate ● Feb. 9, 2016

So well are these unfortunate persons' names known by those who read the book in England, that in the copy which I have from a circulating library, they are all filled out in pencil.

From Pencillings by the Way Written During Some Years of Residence and Travel in Europe by N. Parker Willis

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