library

li•brar•y

[[t]ˈlaɪˌbrɛr i, -brə ri, -bri[/t]] n. pl. -brar•ies

1) lib

a) a place, as a building or set of rooms, containing books, recordings, or other reading, viewing, or listening materials arranged and cataloged in a fixed way

b) such a place together with the staff maintaining it, as a public facility funded by a government, as part of a school, business, etc., or as a private establishment

2) lib any collection of books, or the space containing them

3) lib any set of items resembling a library in appearance, organization, or purpose:

a library of computer software[/ex]

4) a series of books of similar character or alike in size, binding, etc., issued by a single publishing house

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Etymology: 1300–50; ME libraire < MF librairie < ML librāria, n. use of fem. of L librārius (adj.) of books pron: library with two barely separated r-sounds, is particularly vulnerable to dissimilation—the tendency for neighboring like sounds to become unlike, or for one of them to disappear altogether. The pronunciation [[t]ˈlaɪ brɛr i[/t]] therefore, while still the most common, is frequently reduced by educated speakers, both in the U.S. and in England, to the dissimilated [[t]ˈlaɪ bə ri[/t]] or [[t]ˈlaɪ bri[/t]] A third dissimilated form [[t]ˈlaɪ bɛr i[/t]] is more likely to be heard from less educated or very young speakers and is often criticized. See colonel, February