ledger

ledger
\ \ [15] Etymologically, a ledger is a book that ‘lies’ in one place. The term was used in 15th- and 16th-century English with various specific applications, including a ‘large copy of the Breviary’ (the Roman Catholic service book), and a ‘large register or record-book’ – both big volumes that would not have been moved around much – but it finally settled on the ‘main book in the set of books used for keeping accounts’. It probably comes from Dutch legger or ligger, agent nouns derived respectively from leggenlay’ and liggenlie’ (relatives of English lay and lie).
\ \ Cf.LAY, LIE

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • ledger — led‧ger [ˈledʒə ǁ ər] noun [countable usually plural] ACCOUNTING one of the books or computer records showing the totals of items shown separately in the Books Of First Entry or day book S; = BOOK OF FINAL ENTRY: • Gone are the days of ledgers… …   Financial and business terms

  • Ledger — bezeichnet: ein Papierformat in den USA und Kanada, siehe Papierformat#Nordamerika Ledger ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Bob Ledger (* 1937), englischer Fußballspieler Heath Ledger (1979–2008), australischer Schauspieler Robert Ledger ( …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ledger — Ledg er(l[e^]j [ e]r), n. [Akin to D. legger layer, daybook (fr. leggen to lay, liggen to lie), E. ledge, lie. See {Lie} to be prostrate.] 1. A book in which a summary of accounts is laid up or preserved; the final book of record in business… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • ledger — I noun account book, account of transactions, accounts, balance sheet, bankbook, book of accounts, book of records, books, calculation, cashbook, codex accepti et expensi, computation, daybook, diary, entries, file, index, log, logbook, passbook …   Law dictionary

  • ledger — account book, c.1400, from leggen to place, lay (see LAY (Cf. lay) (v.)). Originally a book that lies permanently in a place (especially a large copy of a breviary in a church). Sense of book of accounts is first attested 1580s, short for ledger… …   Etymology dictionary

  • ledger — [lej′ər] n. [ME legger, prob. < ME leggen or liggen after MDu ligger: see LAY1, LIE1] 1. a large, flat stone placed over a tomb 2. a) a large, horizontal timber in a scaffold b) …   English World dictionary

  • ledger — [n] account book books, daybook, journal, record book, register; concepts 271,280,801 …   New thesaurus

  • ledger — ► NOUN ▪ a book or other collection of financial accounts. ORIGIN originally denoting a large bible or breviary: probably from variants of LAY(Cf. ↑lay) and LIE(Cf. ↑lie), influenced by Dutch legger and ligger …   English terms dictionary

  • ledger — Synonyms and related words: Domesday Book, account, account book, accounts payable ledger, accounts receivable ledger, address book, adversaria, album, annual, appointment calendar, appointment schedule, balance sheet, bank ledger, bankbook, bill …   Moby Thesaurus

  • Ledger — A ledger or lieger (from the English dialect forms liggen or leggen , to lie or lay; in sense adapted from the Dutch substantive logger ), is the principal book for recording transactions. Originally, the term referred to a large volume of… …   Wikipedia

  • ledger — A collection of accounts of a similar type. Traditionally, a ledger was a large book with separate pages for each account; in modern systems they will usually consist of computer records. The most common ledgers are the nominal ledger containing… …   Accounting dictionary

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