-
- To save this word, you'll need to log in.
card catalog
noun
: a catalog (as of books) in which the entries are arranged systematically on cards
Examples of card catalog in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Without detailed metadata, a video archive is like a library without a card catalog.
—Dave Friend, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
The fabled Joan Rivers card catalog of jokes is being donated to the National Comedy Center.
—Jason Zinoman, New York Times, 26 Oct. 2023
The museum is in the planning stages of an interactive exhibition that will center on Joan Rivers’s card catalog of jokes and include material covering a vast swath of comedy history, from the 1950s to 2015.
—Jason Zinoman, New York Times, 8 June 2023
Upon check-in, the host will escort the guests behind a curtain, take their phones and lock them in a vintage card catalog cabinet.
—Bahar Anooshahr, The Arizona Republic, 7 Feb. 2023
Vintage stuff covers my century-old farmhouse, from the card catalog table in the living room to the tennis racquets on the wall of the mudroom to the potato chip tin in the kitchen.
—Laura Johnston, cleveland, 2 July 2022
To launch it, said Rikki Longino, the City Library’s garden coordinator, the library’s garden staff performed a little skit in the auditorium using the old-fashioned wooden card catalog that is now used to stock seeds.
—Stefene Russell, The Salt Lake Tribune, 24 Apr. 2022
The seed packets are stored in card catalog cabinets.
—Joanne Kempinger Demski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 17 Mar. 2022
Most seed libraries, however, are in public libraries of the book persuasion, generally open during the hours the library is open, with seeds often housed in the now-obsolete card catalog drawers.
—Pam Peirce, San Francisco Chronicle, 4 Feb. 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'card catalog.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1853, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near card catalog
Cite this Entry
“Card catalog.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/card%20catalog. Accessed 10 Jun. 2024.
Kids Definition
card catalog
noun
: a catalog of library books in which a card for each book is alphabetically filed with its call number usually under the title, author, and subject of the book
More from Merriam-Webster on card catalog
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about card catalog
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share