octavo
Americannoun
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octavos
plural
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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°
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a book of this size.
adjective
noun
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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
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a book of this size
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(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
An octavo should never be sewn on less than four cords, and a folio on six.
From Practical Bookbinding by Paul Adam
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
Dr. Milles’s quarto and Mr. Bryant’s octavos are on my table, ready to be packed in your parcel.
From Cursory Observations on the Poems Attributed to Thomas Rowley (1782) by James M. Kuist
Its form is a case of the theory: the book is an undeniable duodecimo, but the size of its paper gives it the look of not the smallest of octavos.
From A Budget of Paradoxes, Volume I by David Eugene Smith
I work night and day, I pile up volume after volume, two and three octavos in a year.
From The Immortal Or, One Of The "Forty." (L'immortel) - 1877 by A. W. (Arthur Woollgar) Verrall
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 Arthur Lee Humphreys
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.
