octavo
Americannoun
-
octavos
plural
-
a book size of about 6 × 9 inches (16 × 23 centimeters), determined by printing on sheets folded to form 8 leaves or 16 pages. 8vo, 8°
-
a book of this size.
adjective
noun
-
Often written: 8vo. 8°. Also called: eightvo. a book size resulting from folding a sheet of paper of a specified size to form eight leaves
demi-octavo
-
a book of this size
-
(formerly) a size of cut paper 8 inches by 5 inches (20.3 cm by 12.7 cm)
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of octavo
First recorded in 1575–85; short for New Latin in octāvō “in an eighth (of a sheet)”
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.
See Examples For:
“Who, indeed, but a woman,” wrote one reviewer, “could have ventured, with the smallest prospect of success, to fill three octavo volumes with the history of a woman’s heart?”
From The Guardian ● Oct. 8, 2016
They would publish two octavo volumes at a time, each about 200 pages long.
From Slate ● Mar. 16, 2016
A collector acquires a clothbound octavo volume bearing the title "Holy Writ."
From Time Magazine Archive
However, demand was fully re-established in the decade 1600-1609, and not just for the new more complex commentaries such as that of Clavius, published in fat quartos, but also for cheap octavo editions.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
In one volume, octavo, gilt top, half roan, $3.00.
From Patroclus and Penelope A Chat in the Saddle by Dodge, Theodore Ayrault
When shelf classification is imperative, the folios are all put together, the quartos together, and the octavos together.
From The Private Library What We Do Know, What We Don't Know, What We Ought to Know About Our Books by Humphreys, Arthur Lee
I'll bespeak a quotation for binding and lettering a thousand octavos in paste grain, on behalf of some convenient firm of publishers.
From The Red Triangle Being Some Further Chronicles of Martin Hewitt, Investigator by Morrison, Arthur
This is the nearest realisation of a shelf classification, and by this method the folios may be far separated from the quartos, and the quartos from the octavos.
From The Private Library What We Do Know, What We Don't Know, What We Ought to Know About Our Books by Humphreys, Arthur Lee
Nineteen-twentieths of the books in circulation are octavos and smaller volumes.
From The Private Library What We Do Know, What We Don't Know, What We Ought to Know About Our Books by Humphreys, Arthur Lee
Twenty years ago Mr. John Doddridge Humphreys gave to the world five octavos of his ancestor's correspondence, which, on the whole, we deem the most eminent instance, in modern times, of editorial incompetency.
From The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 1, April, 1851 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.
