Bible
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Bible
- 1. The Christian holy book.
- 2. The Jewish holy book that was largely incorporated into the Christian Bible.
- 3. The analogous holy book of another religion.
- 4. A specific version, edition, translation, or copy of any of the above.
- 5. A comprehensive manual that describes something. (e.g., handyman’s bible).
- 6. (nautical) A holystone.
Etymology
Latin biblia “a collection of books” (since there are many books in the Bible) < Ancient Greek βιβλία, (biblia) “books”, plural of βιβλίον (biblion) “book”, originally a diminutive of βίβλος (biblos) < βύβλος (bublos) “papyrus” (from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported this writing material)