copybook

English

Etymology

From copy +‎ book.

Noun

copybook (plural copybooks)

1. A student's exercise book containing samples of good handwriting to be copied.
   • 2001, Allen Kurzweil, A Case of Curiosities:

     She whipped up the cards on the floor, extinguished an unglobed candle, and ruffled open the pages of Claude's copybook.

2. (Quebec, UK) A notebook containing blank, often lined, pages for writing answers.
3. (programming, COBOL) A series of instructions or data definitions copied into multiple programs from a shared library; boilerplate.

Derived terms

• blot one's copybook

Translations

student's exercise book — see exercise book