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bookie
[ book-ee ]
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Word History and Origins
Origin of bookie1
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Example Sentences
Phil Mickelson said Thursday that he probably will not return to a PGA Tour event being held in Detroit because of a local newspaper article this week that linked him to a bookie reputed to have ties with the mafia.
His father and namesake, “Cowboy” Hayes, had been the biggest bookie in town.
I sold my Rosemary filly to-day on the course to Bentman the bookie, and he paid me in notes.
There, faintly legible on the back in pencil, was the hieroglyph that the bookie had scrawled on it.
Almost the last thing that you expect in a starting-price bookie is a strong penchant for poetry.
This man had introduced them to each other carelessly, and hurried away to "square things up with his bookie."
The bookie looked just once at me, and I'll never forget how his eyebrows went together.
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More About Bookie
What does bookie mean?
A bookie is a person whose business is accepting other people’s gambling bets, such as on sporting events. It can also refer to a company that does this.
Bookie is the common, informal name for a bookmaker. The word book in bookmaker refers to a record of bets.
The word bookie is associated with illegal betting operations, especially those run by organized crime groups. However, being a bookie can be done legally. Still, as modern sports betting becomes more widespread, sophisticated, and run by large businesses, the image of a bookie as a shady person writing down bets by hand in a book is likely on the decline.
Example: I got a hot tip on a horse—I better call my bookie!
Where does bookie come from?
The first records of the word bookie come from the 1880s. It’s a shortened version of bookmaker, in which the word refers to a record of bets. The suffix -ie is used in informal and diminutive nouns. The first records of the word bookmaker come from around 1400. The word maker is used in the same way in the related word oddsmaker.
A bookie is often also an oddsmaker—the person (or organization) that sets the odds for a particular contest. The bookie usually makes money by adding their profits into the odds of each bet.
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How is bookie used in real life?
Bookie is always used in the context of betting, whether legal or otherwise.
The Fitzdares Club feels like an artful attempt to reposition the reputation of the bookies for a more censorious age https://t.co/SaousbNsdZ
— FT Weekend (@ftweekend) October 12, 2020
Just got back from the bookies to collect that lakers championship win pic.twitter.com/f6xXnSUg2L
— Nadim Haddad (@NadimElHaddad1) October 12, 2020
Insurance is the equivalent of legalized gambling. Will I need it? Will I actually be covered? Will it cost me more or less in the end? And the government is the bookie that forces you in to it. pic.twitter.com/HFkE4b7veY
— JR Meyers (@JRMeyers71121) October 11, 2020
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True or False?
All bookies are criminals.
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