Definitions

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

  • noun One that edits, prints, publishes, or binds books.
  • noun One who accepts and pays off bets, as on a horserace.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A printer and binder of books.
  • noun One who writes and publishes books; especially, a mere compiler.
  • noun One who makes a book (see book, n., 9) on a race or other doubtful event; a professional betting man. See extract.

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

  • noun One who writes and publishes books; especially, one who gathers his materials from other books; a compiler.
  • noun (Horse Racing) A betting man who “makes a book.” See To make a book, under Book, n.

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

  • noun A person who prints or binds books
  • noun A person (or a business) who calculates odds and accepts bets, especially on horse racing; a bookie

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

  • noun a maker of books; someone who edits or publishes or binds books
  • noun a gambler who accepts and pays off bets (especially on horse races)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

book +‎ maker. This definition is lacking an etymology or has an incomplete etymology. You can help Wiktionary by giving it a proper etymology.

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Examples

  • But the U.K. online bookmaker is asking investors to make a risky gamble on its initial public offering.

    Betfair's Unattractive IPO Odds Ren 2010

  • BetonSports. com, a UK bookmaker, is offering numerous bets on what will befall the "Butcher of Baghdad" by December 31, 2004.

    Saddam’s Fate 2004

  • BetonSports. com, a UK bookmaker, is offering numerous bets on what will befall the "Butcher of Baghdad" by December 31, 2004.

    Saddam’s Fate 2004

  • BetonSports. com, a UK bookmaker, is offering numerous bets on what will befall the "Butcher of Baghdad" by December 31, 2004.

    Saddam’s Fate 2004

  • "A bookmaker is someone who has thirty or fifty customers," he says.

    One Smart Bookie 2001

  • "A bookmaker is someone who has thirty or fifty customers," he says.

    One Smart Bookie 2001

  • “So you know the slang for bookmaker, do you?” he asked, surprised that she did.

    Almost a Whisper Charlene Cross 1994

  • “So you know the slang for bookmaker, do you?” he asked, surprised that she did.

    Almost a Whisper Charlene Cross 1994

  • Sunday's reports alleged that Higgins called a bookmaker to place a bet of around £1,000 on himself to lose at the halfway point of last year's final, which he went on to win.

    The Guardian World News 2010

  • The disclosure that a leading Sri Lankan cricketer was under suspicion for too much late-night conviviality with a bookmaker is a warning that the Twenty20 Indian Premier League (IPL) is not immune to investigation by ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU).

    The Times of India 2010

Comments

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  • IrE; in AmE use bookie

    May 5, 2011