Meanings
plural chapbooks
- A small book, usually made from a single sheet, folded several times, containing poems, ballads or religious tracts.
2005 Kathryn A. Lowry - The Tapestry of Popular Songs in 16th- and 17th Century China Two such examples of slim, chapbook-style collections were both part of larger compendia […]
2 more examples
1849 Notices of Fugitive Tracts: And Chap-books Printed at Aldermary Churchyard, Bow Churchyard, Etc This was, till within the last few years, a favourite chapbook in the north of England.
For Haines’s chapbook. No-one here to hear.
1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 2]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC
Origin
Formerly sold by chapmen; see the etymology there, and book.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish chapbook
- chapbooksmall book
French livret de colportage
- livret de colportagesmall book
Polish książeczka liryczna
- książeczka lirycznasmall book
Portuguese folheto, panfleto
- folhetosmall book
- panfletosmall book
- livro de cordelsmall book
Cite this entry
chapbook. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chapbook
“chapbook.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chapbook. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chapbook,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chapbook.
Source: chapbook on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.