library — English Dictionary

library
Pronunciations (8)
  • /ˈlaɪ.bɹi/
    Pronunciation notes
    • UK
  • /ˈlaɪ.bɹə.ɹi/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Received-Pronunciation
  • /ˈlaɪˌbɹɛɹ.i/
    Pronunciation notes
    • General-American
  • /ˈlaɪ.bɹəɹ.i/
    Pronunciation notes
    • General-American
  • /ˈlaɪˌbɛɹ.i/
  • /ˈlaɪ.bəɹi/
  • ˈlaɪbɹi
    Pronunciation notes
    • GB
  • ˈlaɪˌbɹɛɹi
    Pronunciation notes
    • US

Noun

  1. An institution which holds books and/or other forms of media for use by the public or qualified people often lending them out, as well as providing various other services for its users.

    Examples

    I borrowed this book from the library.

    She went to exchange her books at her local library.

    More examples (1)

    Libraries have been burnt and whole religious movements wiped out because their belief and myths have been considered to be of dubious origin by the upholders of orthodoxy[.]

    When all else fails, give up and go to the library.

  2. Any institution that lends out its goods for use by the public or a community.

    Usage
    • broadly
    Examples

    You can check out a bandsaw from the tool library.

    More examples (1)

    […] bike library where, as of 2016, there had been 275 check-outs per bike per year between 2010 and 2016. According to the librarians, the bikes are constantly in use during periods of good weather (Vilelle 2017).

  3. A collection of books or other forms of stored information.

    Examples

    A small library of books has been written on the subject.

    More examples (1)

    My library is not a single beast but a composite of many others, a fantastic animal made up of the several libraries built and then abandoned, over and over again, throughout my life. I can’t remember a time in which I didn’t have a library of some sort. The present one is a sort of multilayered autobiography, each book holding the moment in which I opened it for the first time.

  4. A collection of information or reference materials not in book form.

    Examples

    She has the most impressive record library I've ever seen.

    More examples (1)

    At his office in Copenhagen's Amager neighborhood, Thulstrup maintains a vast materials library, arranging samples and mock-ups on tables as tactile mood boards.

  5. A room dedicated to storing books.

  6. A collection of software routines that provide functionality to be incorporated into or used by a computer program.

    Synonyms
    Examples

    A static library is much like any other library in that it contains a bunch of code for your application to use.

  7. A collection of DNA material from a single organism or relative to a single disease.

  8. The deck or draw pile.

    Examples
    More examples (4)

    At the conclusion of every duel, each player must show the remaining cards in his or her hand to the opponent to verify that no Restricted List duplicate cards appear there (e.g., to prove that a second Time Walk wasn't drawn from his library).

    But why did very good players shy away from cards that are so obviously good from our perspectives? One very real possibility is that library manipulation/increased selection and redundancy tech had not yet been established - after all, many players were amazed at Lestree's use of the Sylvan Library to draw extra cards!

    To win a game of Magic, you must achieve one of two chief goals: either be the first to reduce your opponent's life total from 20 to 0, or force him or her to attempt to draw a card from his or her library when there are no cards left in it.

    The deck becomes the draw pile, also called the library, from which each player repeatedly draws cards for his or her own hand, cards that are gradually included into the game.

    At this phase, most of TCGs only allow players drawing card(s) from a pack which is also called library or deck.

Noun

  1. a room where books are kept

    Broader terms
    Examples

    they had brandy in the library

  2. a collection of literary documents or records kept for reference or borrowing

  3. a depository built to contain books and other materials for reading and study

  4. (computing) a collection of standard programs and subroutines that are stored and available for immediate use

  5. a building that houses a collection of books and other materials

    Broader terms
Word forms
libraries

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