Domesday Book

Meanings

1. The Book of Winchester; the principal record of the Domesday survey of England carried out in 1086 for William the Conqueror, comprising of two volumes: the Great Domesday Book and the Little Domesday Book.

1. One of the volumes of the Domesday Book.
2. A record of any other Norman survey.

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.