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black book
1. An official book bound in black.
1624Bedell Lett. xi. 141 The Copie of the record of Doctor Parkers Consecration..which..you saw in a blacke Booke. 1815Encycl. Brit. (ed. 5) III. 261/1 He keeps the black book of receipts, and the treasurer's key of the treasury. 1823T. Lane Stud. Guide Lincoln's Inn 122 Curious regulations..are to be found in their Black Books.
2. The distinctive name of various individual books of public note, referring in some cases to the colour of the binding.
a. Black Book of the Exchequer: a book preserved in the Exchequer Office, containing an official account of the royal revenues, etc. at the time of its compilation (? c 1175).
1479Mem. Ripon (1885) II. 158 In libro..nuncupato blakboke. 1561Stow Eng. Chron. an. 1176 (1615) 154 This yeere was compiled a booke of the orders and rules of the Exchequer, nowe commonly called there the Blacke booke. 1605Camden Rem. 6 It is written in the Blackebooke of the Exchequer, that our Auncestors termed England, a Storehouse of Treasure. 1631T. Powell Tom All Trades 169 Search the Blacke Booke in the Exchequer.
b. Black Book of the Admiralty: an ancient code of rules for the government of the navy, said to have been compiled in the reign of Edw. III.
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Oleron..a code of..rules relating to naval affairs..formed by Richard I..are still preserved in the black book of the admiralty.
3. An official return prepared during the reign of Henry VIII, containing the reports of the visitors upon the abuses in the monasteries.
1581T. Norton Let. in Dugdale Warw. (1730) II. iiii, T. Cromwell..having..thus searcht into their lives, which by a Black Book, containing a world of enormities, were represented in no small measure scandalous. 1815Encycl. Brit. (ed. 5) III. 641/1 The black-book of the English monasteries was a detail of the scandalous enormities practised in religious houses. 1878Dixon Hist. Ch. Eng. I. v. 341.
4. A book recording the names of persons who have rendered themselves liable to censure or punishment.
1592Greene Black Bks. Messenger Wks. 1881–3 XI. 5 Ned Brownes villanies..are too many to be described in my Blacke Booke. 1595Spenser Sonn. x, Al her faults in thy black booke enroll. 1657Reeve God's Plea 20 This Day-book will prove a black-book to him. 1726Amherst Terræ Fil. 115 The black book is a register of the university, kept by the proctor, in which he records any person who affronts him, or the university; and no person, who is so recorded, can proceed to his degree. 1816C. James Milit. Dict. (ed. 4) 57/2 The black book is a sort of memorandum which is kept in every regiment to describe the character and conduct of non-commissioned officers and soldiers.
b. † to be in the black book(s: to be in disgrace. to be in (any one's) black books: to have incurred his displeasure, to be out of his favour.
1785Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v., He is down in the black book, i.e. has a stain in his character. 1881Payn From Exile 89 This unfortunate youth is so deep in your black books.
5. A book of the ‘black art,’ of necromancy.
1842Barham Ingol. Leg., Raising the Devil, A ‘Magician’..has brought him [Cornelius Agrippa] and his terrible ‘Black Book’ again before the world. |