chapbook

noun

chap·​book ˈchap-ˌbu̇k How to pronounce chapbook (audio)
: a small book containing ballads, poems, tales, or tracts

Examples of chapbook in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Harjo wrote her first volume of poetry, a nine-poem chapbook called The Last Song, in 1975. Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Apr. 2025 Bores wrote in his 1590 chapbook a year later that Stumpp’s head was also severed from his body and placed upon a stake, providing a gruesome warning to the community. Sean Neumann, People.com, 1 Feb. 2025 Her first publication was a chapbook of poems, 1983’s The Women Who Hate Me. 1988’s Trash, a book of essays, brought her critical acclaim. Bethy Squires, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2024 Few bookstores were willing to carry Shameless Hussy’s publications, not just because of the content — there was not, at first, an appetite for such bold feminist writing — but also because of the format: spineless, stapled chapbooks, like zines. Penelope Green, New York Times, 17 May 2024 See All Example Sentences for chapbook

Word History

Etymology

chapman + book

First Known Use

1775, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of chapbook was in 1775

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Cite this Entry

“Chapbook.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chapbook. Accessed 3 May. 2025.

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