Dictionary

pocketbook en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈpɒ.kɪt.bʊk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈpɑ.kɪtˌbʊk/ (General-American)

Etymology

1610s, from pocket + book, popularized in its sense as a paperback by the success of Pocket Books in the United States after its 1939 launch.

Meanings

1. (Northeastern, US) A purse or handbag.
2. (dated) A wallet for paper money.
3. (figuratively) One's personal budget or financial capacity; the amount one can afford.
4. A small book, particularly (US) a paperback or (UK) notebook able to fit into a pocket (of any genre, from reference work to fine art).
   • By 1482 the printing capital of the world was Venice, and the busiest printer there was a man called Aldus Manutius who used to have a sign outside his shop saying 'If you would speak to Aldus, hurry — time presses'. He had good reason. No single printer did more to spread the printed word than he. Aldus knew that his market, and the market of all printers, lay not in the production of expensive, commissioned editions of the Bible or the Psalms, but in an inexpensive format that could easily be carried in a man's saddlebag wherever he went. So Aldus made his books small, and cheap. The Aldine Editions, as his new format was called, were the world's first pocket books, and they sold faster than he could produce them. Nearly half his workers were Greeks, exiles or refugees from the Byzantine Empire after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks. So it was that with the help of his translator-craftsmen, Aldus began the task of translating the Greek classics. When he died, in 1515, no major known Greek authors remained to be translated. Whatever happened in the Greek world, Aldus had ensured that the classical authors would not once again be lost to the West, as they had after the fall of Rome. 1978, James Burke, Connections, Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 105:
   • The kit is produced in three parts including a pocket book designed to fit into a shirt pocket for everyday on-the-job use, a more detailed guide and a training CD. The kit includes a hazard reporting and feedback notebook and hazard management process prompt cards to remind workers of common hazards they may encounter in day-to-day operations. c. 2005, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Risk Management Pocket Guide:
   • The pocket books are in trouble. A creeping extralegal censorship threatens to bowdlerize the product[…] 1955, “The Harassed Pocket-Book Publishers”, in The Antioch Review:
   • The publishers brought out small format pocketbooks of the whole of their nature series.
   • "I have now lost", he wrote in his pocketbook, "the last barrier between me and death..." 2011, Leslie Stephen, Swift, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 10:
   • Dave recorded the information in his pocketbook and looked Gibbs straight in the eye. 2015, Graham Ison, Whispering Grass, Hachette UK, →ISBN:
5. (Philippines, broadly) A small book, particularly (US) a paperback or (UK) notebook able to fit into a pocket (of any genre, from reference work to fine art). ▸ A romance novel published as a small paperback.

Forms

Deriveds

pocketbook issue · champagne taste on a beer pocketbook

Descendants

pocketbog · pocketbok

Relateds

pocketable · vade mecum · pocket-sized

Synonyms

pocket

Translations (52)

sv pocketbok (small book) · ru сумо́чка (woman's purse) · nb pocketbok (small book) · ja 小型版 (small book) · ru карма́нная кни́га (small book) · hu notesz (notebook) · it libro tascabile (small book) · ru су́мка (woman's purse) · pl notes (notebook) · pl torebka damska (woman's purse) · bg дамска чанта (woman's purse) · de persönlicher Geldbeutel (one's personal budget) · ru да́мская сумо́чка (woman's purse) · hu zsebkönyv (small book) · hu keret (one's personal budget) · pl wydanie kieszonkowe (small book) · ko 수진본 (small book) · fr livre de poche (small book) · bg книга малък формат (small book) · it pocket-book (small book) · el βιβλίο τσέπης (small book) · bg джобна книжка (small book) · da pocketbog (small book) · cmn 袖珍本 (small book) · de persönliche Brieftasche (one's personal budget) · tr cep kitabı (small book) · sv pocket (small book) · ru по́кет (small book) · gd leabhar-pòcaid (small book) · nl pocketboek (small book) · it portafoglio (one's personal budget) · hu kistáska (woman's purse) · fi pokkari (small book) · ko 소형판 (small book) · ja 袖珍本 (small book) · pl brulion (notebook) · de Taschenbuch (small book) · pl notatnik (notebook) · eo poŝlibro (small book) · fi taskukirja (small book) · nb pocket (small book) · ru да́мская су́мка (woman's purse) · pl budżet (one's personal budget) · fr pocket (small book) · fi lompakko (one's personal budget) · it tascabile (small book) · fi käsilaukku (woman's purse) · bg джобни (one's personal budget) · ru кни́га небольшо́го форма́та (small book) · hu kiskönyv (small book) · nn pocketbok (small book) · de Handtasche (woman's purse)

wikipedia: Pocket Books