E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Book-keeping.
The system of keeping the debtor and creditor accounts of merchants in books provided for the purpose, either by single or by double entry.
1
Waste-book. A book in which items are not posted under heads, but are left at random, as each transaction occurred.
2
Day-book. A book in which are set down the debits and credits which occur day by day. These are ultimately sorted into the ledger.
3
Ledger (Dutch, leggen, to lay). The book which is laid up in counting-houses. In the ledger the different items are regularly sorted according to the system in use. (LEDGER-LINES.)
4
By single entry. Book-keeping in which each debit or credit is entered only once into the ledger, either as a debit or credit item, under the customer’s or salesman’s name.
5
By double entry. By which each item is entered twice into the ledger, once on the debit and once on the credit side.
