Ledger

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 Scripture/service book kept in one place in church and accessible.

According to Charles Wriothesley's "Chronicle" (1538)::"the curates should provide a booke of the bible in Englishe, of the largest volume, to be a lidger in the same church for the parishioners to read on."

It is an application of this original meaning that is found in the commercial usage of the term for the principal book of account in a business house, the general ledger or nominal ledger (see also bookkeeping) and also in the terms purchase ledger and sales ledger.


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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 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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