handbook

[hand-boo k]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR handbook ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a book of instruction or guidance, as for an occupation; manual: a handbook of radio.

a guidebook for travelers: a handbook of Italy.

a reference book in a particular field: a medical handbook.

a scholarly book on a specific subject, often consisting of separate essays or articles: a handbook of lectures on criticism.

Nearby words

Origin of handbook

translation of German Handbuch

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for handbook

The Jewish/Israel lobby will have to throw away its handbook.
Why I Like Naftali Bennett|Shaul Magid|January 17, 2013|DAILY BEAST
In the 1970s, he wrote a book called Handbook on Abortion, which he updated and republished in seven editions over the years.
Todd Akin Finds a Friend in Dr. John Willke, a Pro-Life ‘Founding Father’|Abigail Pesta|August 21, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Comics were my handbook, my point of entry into American culture.
New Yorker Covers You Weren’t Meant to See|Jorge Colombo|May 7, 2012|DAILY BEAST
He is the author, most recently, of Why We're Liberals: A Handbook for Restoring America's Important Ideals.
The President Vs. the Press|Eric Alterman|March 25, 2009|DAILY BEAST

She is currently working on her third book, a novel called THE SOCIAL CLIMBER'S HANDBOOK.
Who Killed the Yummy Mummy?|Molly Jong-Fast|January 8, 2009|DAILY BEAST
The book is not intended as a handbook for the nursery; many such exist, and many of them are of great merit.
The Mother's Manual of Children's Diseases|Charles West, M.D.
By his elbow a delicate Siamese conned a handbook of strategy.
Ulysses|James Joyce
Fifty per cent of that is needed by the handbook men to operate their places.
The Vice Bondage of a Great City or the Wickedest City in the World|Robert O. Harland
So I bought a handbook on palmistry and, having absorbed it, set out for my next party full of confidence.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, April 7, 1920|Various
It became the handbook of statesmen and jurists, and has never ceased to be quoted by them down to the present day.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 14, Slice 6|Various

British Dictionary definitions for handbook

handbook

noun

a reference book listing brief facts on a subject or place or directions for maintenance or repair, as of a cara tourists' handbook

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for handbook

handbook

Old English handboc; see hand (n.) + book (N.). It translates Latin manualis, and was displaced in Middle English by manual (from French), and later in part by enchiridion (from Greek). Reintroduced 1814, but execrated through much of 19c. as "that very ugly and very unnecessary word" [Trench].

handbook

noun

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Nearby words

Origin of handbook

Examples from the Web for handbook

handbook

noun

handbook