Bibliopoly
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Bookselling. literary, uncountable
"If the ſecretary to the French bibliopoly tranſlates the tragedy of Henry V. faithfully, as he has promiſed, he vvill open a fine ſchool of delicacy and decorum for the inſtruction of our courtiers."
Example
More examples"If the ſecretary to the French bibliopoly tranſlates the tragedy of Henry V. faithfully, as he has promiſed, he vvill open a fine ſchool of delicacy and decorum for the inſtruction of our courtiers."
Etymology
From bibliopole (“bookseller”) + -poly (suffix denoting sellers in a market). Bibliopole is derived from Latin bibliopōla (“bookseller”), from Ancient Greek βῐβλῐοπώλης (bĭblĭopṓlēs, “bookseller”), from βῐβλῐ́ον (bĭblĭ́on), βυβλίον (bublíon, “book; letter; tablet; strip of papyrus; writing”) (from βῠ́βλος (bŭ́blos, “papyrus plant; writings on papyrus; book”), from Βῠ́βλος (Bŭ́blos, “city of Byblos”), a source of papyrus) + -πώλης (-pṓlēs, suffix denoting a retailer, shop owner, etc.) (from πωλέω (pōléō, “to sell”)). The English word is also analysable as biblio- (prefix meaning ‘book’) + -poly.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.