Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bi·ble       (bī'bəl)  Pronunciation Key  n.   The sacred book of Christianity, a collection of ancient writings including the books of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Hebrew Scriptures, the sacred book of Judaism. A particular copy of a Bible: the old family Bible. A book or collection of writings constituting the sacred text of a religion. often bible A book considered authoritative in its field: the bible of French cooking. [Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin biblia, from Greek, pl. of biblion, book, diminutive of biblos, papyrus, book, from Bublos, Byblos.]

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Bible 

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

bible
noun
1.	the sacred writings of the Christian religions; "he went to carry the Word to the heathen"
2.	a book regarded as authoritative in its field

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
Bible

The book sacred to Christians, which they consider to be the inspired word of God. The Bible includes the Old Testament, which contains the sacred books of the Jews, and the New Testament, which begins with the birth of Jesus.

Thirty-nine books of the Old Testament are accepted as part of the Bible by Christians and Jews alike. Some Christians consider several books of the Old Testament, such as Judith, I and II Maccabees, and Ecclesiasticus, to be part of the Bible also, whereas other Christians, and Jews, call these the Old Testament Apocrypha. Christians are united in their acceptance of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament; Jews do not consider the writings of the New Testament inspired. The Bible is also called “the Book” (bible means “book”).

Note: By extension, any book considered an infallible or very reliable guide to some activity may be called a “bible.”

Books of the Bible

Hebrew Scriptures
Genesis	II Kings	Micah	Song of Songs
Exodus	Isaiah	Nahum	Ruth
Leviticus	Jeremiah	Habakkuk	Lamentations
Numbers	Ezekiel	Zephaniah	Ecclesiastes
Deuteronomy	THE TWELVE	Haggai	Esther
Joshua	Hosea	Zechariah	Daniel
Judges	Joel	Malachi	Ezra
I Samuel	Amos	Psalms	Nehemiah
II Samuel	Obadiah	Proverbs	I Chronicles
I Kings	Jonah	Job	II Chronicles
Old Testament
Jerusalem Version	King James Version	Jerusalem Version	King James Version
Genesis	Genesis	Song of Solomon	Song of Solomon
Exodus	Exodus	Wisdom
Leviticus	Leviticus	Ecclesiasticus
Numbers	Numbers	Isaiah	Isaiah
Deuteronomy	Deuteronomy	Jeremiah	Jeremiah
Joshua	Joshua	Lamentations	Lamentations
Judges	Judges	Baruch
Ruth	Ruth	Ezekiel	Ezekiel
I Samuel	I Samuel	Daniel	Daniel
II Samuel	II Samuel	Hosea	Hosea
I Kings	I Kings	Joel	Joel
II Kings	II Kings	Amos	Amos
I Chronicles	I Chronicles	Obadiah	Obadiah
II Chronicles	II Chronicles	Jonah	Jonah
Ezra	Ezra	Micah	Micah
Nehemiah	Nehemiah	Nahum	Nahum
Tobit		Habakkuk	Habakkuk
Judith		Zephaniah	Zephaniah
Esther	Esther	Haggai	Haggai
Job	Job	Zechariah	Zechariah
Psalms	Psalms	Malachi	Malachi
Proverbs	Proverbs	I Maccabees
Ecclesiastes	Ecclesiastes	II Maccabees
New Testament
Matthew	II Corinthians	I Timothy	II Peter
Mark	Galatians	II Timothy	I John
Luke	Ephesians	Titus	II John
John	Philippians	Philemon	III John
Acts	Colossians	Hebrews	Jude
Romans	I-Thessalonians	James	Revelation
I Corinthians	II-Thessalonians	I Peter

[Chapter:] The Bible

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
Bible

The book sacred to Christians, containing the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament contains the writings sacred to the Jews.

[Chapter:] World Literature, Philosophy, and Religion

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

bible publication
The most detailed and authoritative reference for a particular language, operating system or other complex software system. It is also used to denote one of a small number of such books such as Knuth and K&R.
[The Jargon File]
(1996-12-03)

Jargon File - Cite This Source - Share This

bible

n.
1. One of a small number of fundamental source books such as Knuth, K&R, or the Camel Book.
2. The most detailed and authoritative reference for a particular language, operating system, or other complex software system.

U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

Bible Grove, IL Zip code(s): 62858

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bible

Bi"ble\ (b[imac]"b'l), n. [F. bible, L. biblia, pl., fr. Gr. bibli`a, pl. of bibli`on, dim. of bi`blos, by`blos, book, prop. Egyptian papyrus.]

1. A book. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

2. The Book by way of eminence, -- that is, the book which is made up of the writings accepted by Christians as of divine origin and authority, whether such writings be in the original language, or translated; the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments; -- sometimes in a restricted sense, the Old Testament; as, King James's Bible; Douay Bible; Luther's Bible. Also, the book which is made up of writings similarly accepted by the Jews; as, a rabbinical Bible.

3. A book containing the sacred writings belonging to any religion; as, the Koran is often called the Mohammedan Bible.

Bible Society, an association for securing the multiplication and wide distribution of the Bible.

Douay Bible. See Douay Bible.

Geneva Bible. See under Geneva.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Bible

Bible, the English form of the Greek name _Biblia_, meaning "books," the name which in the fifth century began to be given to the entire collection of sacred books, the "Library of Divine Revelation." The name Bible was adopted by Wickliffe, and came gradually into use in our English language. The Bible consists of sixty-six different books, composed by many different writers, in three different languages, under different circumstances; writers of almost every social rank, statesmen and peasants, kings, herdsmen, fishermen, priests, tax-gatherers, tentmakers; educated and uneducated, Jews and Gentiles; most of them unknown to each other, and writing at various periods during the space of about 1600 years: and yet, after all, it is only one book dealing with only one subject in its numberless aspects and relations, the subject of man's redemption. It is divided into the Old Testament, containing thirty-nine books, and the New Testament, containing twenty-seven books. The names given to the Old in the writings of the New are "the scriptures" (Matt. 21:42), "scripture" (2 Pet. 1:20), "the holy scriptures" (Rom. 1:2), "the law" (John 12:34), "the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms" (Luke 24:44), "the law and the prophets" (Matt. 5:17), "the old covenant" (2 Cor. 3:14, R.V.). There is a break of 400 years between the Old Testament and the New. (See APOCRYPHA.) The Old Testament is divided into three parts:, 1. The Law (Torah), consisting of the Pentateuch, or five books of Moses. 2. The Prophets, consisting of (1) the former, namely, Joshua, Judges, the Books of Samuel, and the Books of Kings; (2) the latter, namely, the greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets. 3. The Hagiographa, or holy writings, including the rest of the books. These were ranked in three divisions:, (1) The Psalms, Proverbs, and Job, distinguished by the Hebrew name, a word formed of the initial letters of these books, _emeth_, meaning truth. (2) Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, called the five rolls, as being written for the synagogue use on five separate rolls. (3) Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. Between the Old and the New Testament no addition was made to the revelation God had already given. The period of New Testament revelation, extending over a century, began with the appearance of John the Baptist. The New Testament consists of (1) the historical books, viz., the Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles; (2) the Epistles; and (3) the book of prophecy, the Revelation. The division of the Bible into chapters and verses is altogether of human invention, designed to facilitate reference to it. The ancient Jews divided the Old Testament into certain sections for use in the synagogue service, and then at a later period, in the ninth century A.D., into verses. Our modern system of chapters for all the books of the Bible was introduced by Cardinal Hugo about the middle of the thirteenth century (he died 1263). The system of verses for the New Testament was introduced by Stephens in 1551, and generally adopted, although neither Tyndale's nor Coverdale's English translation of the Bible has verses. The division is not always wisely made, yet it is very useful. (See VERSION.)