Domesday Book

English Noun

Definition

One of the volumes of the Domesday Book.

Etymology

From Middle English Domesdei. According to Dialogus de Scaccario (circa 1180): Hic liber ab indigenis ‘Domesdei’ nuncupatur, id est dies iudicii per metaphoram. Sicut enim districti et terribilis examinis illius nouissimi sententia nulla tergiuersationis arte ualet eludi, sic cum orta fuerit in regno contentio de hiis rebus que illic annotantur, cum uentum fuerit ad librum, sententia eius infatuari non potest uel impune declinari: its decisions were final, as those on doomsday.