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Album - 6 dictionary results
al⋅bum
[al-buh
m]
–noun
| 1. | a bound or loose-leaf book consisting of blank pages, pockets, envelopes, etc., for storing or displaying photographs, stamps, or the like, or for collecting autographs. |
| 2. | a phonograph record or set of records containing several musical selections, a complete play, opera, etc.: Her album of folk songs will be out next month. |
| 3. | the package or container for such a record or records: The album has a pocket for each record. |
| 4. | a printed book containing an anthology of writings, reproductions of photographs or artwork, musical compositions, etc. |
Origin:
1645–55; 1955–60 for def. 2; < L: neut. sing. of albus white, i.e., a blank (tablet) painted white for writing on
1645–55; 1955–60 for def. 2; < L: neut. sing. of albus white, i.e., a blank (tablet) painted white for writing on

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To Album
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Album
Al"bum\, n. [L., neut. of albus white: cf. F. album. Cf. Alb.]1. (Rom. Antiq.) A white tablet on which anything was inscribed, as a list of names, etc. 2. A register for visitors' names; a visitors' book. 3. A blank book, in which to insert autographs sketches, memorial writing of friends, photographs, etc.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : Album
Spanish:
álbum,
German:
das Album,
Japanese:
アルバム
album
1651, from L. neut. of albus "white" (see alb). In classical times "a blank tablet on which the prætor's edicts and other public matters were inscribed." Revived 16c. by custom of German scholars to keep an album amicorum of colleagues' signatures, meaning then expanded into "book to collect souvenirs." According to Johnson, "a book in which foreigners have long been accustomed to insert autographs of celebrated people." Photographic albums first recorded 1859. Meaning "long-playing gramophone record" is from 1957, because the sleeves they came in resembled large albums.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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album
in ancient Rome, a whitened board on which public notices were inscribed in black. The annals compiled by the pontifex maximus (chief priest), the annual edicts of the praetor, the lists of senators and jurors, the Acta diurna (an account of daily events), and other notices were placed on albums. From this practice is derived the present English word album, meaning a book of blank pages in which autographs, sketches, photographs, or the like are collected
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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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