This week's theme
Words about books

This week's words
vade mecum
enchiridion
roman-fleuve
chapbook
omnibus

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Eponyms

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(OM-ni-bus)

MEANING:

noun: 1. A volume reprinting several works by one author or works on one theme. 2. A public vehicle designed to carry a large number of people.
adjective: Including or dealing with many things at once.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French, from Latin omnibus (for all). Ultimately from the Indo-European root op- (to work, produce) that is also the ancestor of words such as opera, opulent, optimum, maneuver, manure, operose and inure. Earliest documented use: 1829.

USAGE:

"Say I'm reading an omnibus edition, where three novels are published as a collection. Does that count as one book or three? As far as I'm concerned it's three."
Glen Humphries; Last Word on Speed Reading; Illawarra Mercury (Australia); Jan 13, 2011.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: