family Bible

American  

noun

1. a large Bible usually having pages at the front for recording the marriages, births, and deaths in a family.

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family Bible British  

noun

1. a large Bible used for family worship in which births, marriages, and deaths are recorded

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Etymology

Origin of family Bible

First recorded in 1775–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

family Bible

Former Vice President Mike Pence often talks of how he “joined the Reagan revolution and never looked back,” and took his oath with his hand on the Reagan family Bible.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 26, 2023

She said she believed it had been recorded in a family Bible as March 12, 1909, The Washington Post reported.

From New York Times ● Nov. 16, 2022

South Carolina had no official record of her birth, according to her son, but Ms. McLaurin said she believed her birth date to have been recorded in a family Bible as March 12, 1909.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 15, 2022

In fact, three were used in the swearing-in ceremonies – Kamala Harris used both Thurgood Marshall's and one belonging to a friend; Joseph Biden used a 128-year-old family Bible.

From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2021

Chipper had, after all, eaten the family Bible the winter before, chewed right through it from Genesis to Revelation, shredding generations of inscribed Hickams in the process.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam