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reference book

See more synonyms for reference book on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a book containing useful facts or specially organized information, as an encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas, yearbook, etc.
  2. Also called pass, passbook. South African. a domestic identity document carried by black citizens.
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Origin of reference book

First recorded in 1885–90
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for reference book

Historical Examples

  • He declared that a writer who used such a reference-book ought to 116 be deprived of his paper and ink.

    Waiting for Daylight

    Henry Major Tomlinson

  • Always make a point of entering the errata with a pencil in the margins of every reference-book that you acquire.

British Dictionary definitions for reference book

reference book

noun
  1. a book, such as an encyclopedia, dictionary, etc, from which information may be obtained
  2. Southern African another name for passbook (def. 4)
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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