best-seller

best·sell·er

[best-sel-er]
noun
1.
a book that is among those having the largest sales during a given period.
2.
any product that among those of its kind is selling particularly well at a given time: This car was a bestseller last year.
Also, best seller.


Origin:
1885–90, Americanism; best + seller

best·sell·er·dom, noun
best-sell·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
bestseller (ˌbɛstˈsɛlə) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  a book, record, CD, or other product that has sold in great numbers, esp over a short period
2.  the author of one or more such books, etc
 
best'selling
 
adj

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10
Best-seller is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

best-seller

book that, for a time, leads all others of its kind in sales, a designation that serves as an index of popular literary taste and judgment. Bookman, an American magazine of literature and criticism, began running best-seller lists in 1895, when it began publication. The list was compiled from reports of sales at bookstores throughout the country. Similar lists began to appear in other literary magazines and in metropolitan newspapers. The lists most commonly considered authoritative in the United States are those of Publishers Weekly and The New York Times. The practice spread from the United States; the British list generally considered most authoritative is that of The Sunday Times (London), reprinted in Bookseller.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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