Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One of the books in a work of several volumes.
  • noun A book, especially a large or scholarly one.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A volume forming a part of a larger work; any volume, especially a ponderous one.
  • noun ⟨ See toom.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun As many writings as are bound in a volume, forming part of a larger work; a book; -- usually applied to a ponderous volume.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun One in a series of volumes.
  • noun A large or scholarly book.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a (usually) large and scholarly book

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French, from Latin tomus ("section of larger work"), from Ancient Greek τόμος (tomos, "section, roll of papyrus, volume"), from τέμνω (temnō, "I cut, separate").

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  • "To those west of the Shannon the word (tome) has mysteriously and inexplicably been appointed a new and utterly unrelated meaning: cool, or deadly if you speak Finglas." from Tome Magazine

    August 7, 2011