Meaning
An outstanding, extraordinary or remarkable event or achievement, in principle impressive enough to belong in a record book. American and colloquial; usually admiring but readily ironic, so an epic failure can also be 'one for the books'. Conversational and usually jocular; a staple of sports commentary and speech, rarely formal writing. Regional use: American English.
Origin
American colloquial, dated to about 1900 by Dictionary.com, which explains that it originally alluded to record books kept for sports and soon spread to other fields. Grammarist offers a complementary account: the phrase grew out of bookmakers' betting notebooks and the older British saying 'a turn-up for the book', an 1863 Leeds newspaper example of which describes a horse so unfancied that most bookmakers had never written its name in their books, letting them keep all the stakes. The two explanations differ - official record-keeping versus gambling ledgers - and the standard dictionaries favour the record-book account for the American form, while the singular 'one for the book' remained common into the 20th century.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- another one for the books
- one for the book
- one for the record books
- that's one for the books
Usage Examples
- Four goals on her debut - that's one for the books.
- The audit took nine years, which is one for the books in all the wrong ways.
- He called the meeting to order at dawn, which is one for the books in this office.