ledger

noun

led·​ger ˈle-jər 

plural ledgers

1

a

: a book containing accounts to which debits and credits are posted from books of original entry

Psmith, perched gracefully on a stool, entered figures in a ledger.

—P. G. Wodehouse

b

: a digital record that is used similarly to an accounting ledger (as for maintaining a list of transactions)

Williams said he also recovered a ledger spreadsheet on a laptop computer seized from Wright and a "key" to translate the ledger.

—Scott Dolan

specifically : blockchain

NFTs use blockchain, the technology ledger backing cryptocurrencies …, which are databases of linked information to record ownership or transactions of a product.

—Weston Blasi

The original idea behind Provenance was to provide transparency, proof of loan performance, provenance—reliable information about who owned or owns an asset at any given time—lower costs and easier audits for loan buyers and sellers through distributed ledger technology.

—Penny Crosman

2

: a horizontal board used for vertical support (as in scaffolding)

I'd rather see joists resting on a ledger, spiked to the girders or to the house through spacers.

—Jim Locke

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Cryptocurrency is traded on the blockchain, a permanent and public ledger of every transaction. —Elle Reeve And Samantha Guff, CNN, 10 Feb. 2023

NFTs are transacted on the blockchain, a digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed across a network of computer systems. —Dallas News, 29 Apr. 2022

However, the company has yet to explain in detail how any blockchain, the digital ledger at the core of Bitcoin and other digital cryptocurrencies, among other applications, is involved. —NBC News, 5 Aug. 2021

That means some large unpaid obligations — including hundreds of thousands in ads for Geoff Diehl’s unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign — may not ultimately land on the party’s ledger. —Matt Stout, BostonGlobe.com, 22 Feb. 2023

That hardly matters to the Tigers, who now have three quad-four losses on their ledger. —Eddie Timanus, USA TODAY, 20 Feb. 2023

In other words, there is a unique record on Bitcoin’s ledger that says that the slight sliver of Bitcoin with, say, Benjamin Franklin’s image on it belongs to one owner and one owner only. —Ben Weiss, Fortune Crypto, 17 Feb. 2023

State government’s huge, short-term reserves — both current and projected — are tiny when compared to the more than $88 billion in long-term unfunded obligations on Connecticut’s ledger. —Keith M. Phaneuf, Hartford Courant, 28 Jan. 2023

The movement of the money was visible because cryptocurrency transactions are recorded on a public ledger that anyone can access and analyze. —Matthew Goldstein, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2023

See More

Word History

Etymology

Middle English lygger, leger large breviary, beam, probably from leyen, leggen to lay

First Known Use

1588, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing ledger

• ledger line

• ledger line

Kids Definition

ledger

noun

led·​ger ˈlej-ər 

: a book in which accounts are kept in final form