pocketbook

• pocket-book, pocket book

From pocket +‎ book, popularized in its sense as a paperback by the success of Pocket Books in the United States after its 1939 launch.

pocketbook (plural pocketbooks)

1. (US) A woman's purse.
2. (figuratively) One's personal budget or economic capacity - the amount one can afford.
3. (uncommon) A small book, particularly (US) a paperback or (Britain) notebook able to fit into a pocket.

   The publishers brought out small format pocketbooks of the whole of their nature series.

   • (Can we date this quote?), New South Wales Department of Primary Industries; Risk Management Pocket Guide, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     The kit is produced in three parts including a pocket book designed to fit into a shirt pocket for everyday on-the-job use, a more detailed guide and a training CD. The kit includes a hazard reporting and feedback notebook and hazard management process prompt cards to remind workers of common hazards they may encounter in day-to-day operations.

   • 2011, Leslie Stephen, Swift, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 10:

     "I have now lost", he wrote in his pocketbook, "the last barrier between me and death..."

   • 2015, Graham Ison, Whispering Grass, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

     Dave recorded the information in his pocketbook and looked Gibbs straight in the eye.