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tome - 5 dictionary results

tome

  [tohm] ,
Use tome in a Sentence
–noun
1. a book, esp. a very heavy, large, or learned book.
2. a volume forming a part of a larger work.
Origin:
1510–20; < F < L tomus < Gk tómos slice, piece, roll of paper, book, akin to témnein to cut

-tome

 
a combining form with the meanings “cutting instrument” (microtome; osteotome), “segment, somite” (sclerotome), used in the formation of compound words.
Compare tomo-, -tomous, -tomy.

Origin:
comb. form repr. Gk tom a cutting; tómos a cut, slice; -tomon (neut.), -tomos (masc.) -cutting (adj.)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To tome
tome   (tōm)   
n.  
  1. One of the books in a work of several volumes.
  2. A book, especially a large or scholarly one.

[French, from Latin tomus, from Greek tomos, a cutting, section, from temnein, to cut; see tem- in Indo-European roots.]
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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Tome

Tome\, n. [F. tome (cf. It., Sp., & Pg. tomo), L. tomus, fr. Gr. ? a piece cut off, a part of a book, a volume, akin to ? to cup, and perhaps to L. tondere to shear, E. tonsure. Cf. Anatomy, Atom, Entomology, Epitome. ] As many writings as are bound in a volume, forming part of a larger work; a book; -- usually applied to a ponderous volume.

Tomes of fable and of dream. --Cowper.

A more childish expedient than that to which he now resorted is not to be found in all the tomes of the casuists. --Macaulay.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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tome 
1519, from M.Fr. tome, from L. tomus "section of a book, tome," from Gk. tomos "volume, section of a book," originally "section, piece cut off," from temein "to cut," from PIE *tom-/*tem- "to cut" (cf. second element in L. aestimare "to value, appraise," O.C.S. tina "to cleave, split," M.Ir. tamnaim "I cut off," Welsh tam "morsel"). Originally "a single volume of a multi-volume work;" sense of "a large book" is attested from 1573.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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