bookie

Everyday

1. (informal) A person or company that takes bets on races and games and pays out money to winners. tree →
2. (informal, UK) The bookie's: a betting shop. tree →

In the lessons

Met in adult life and stories about horse racing, football betting and gambling. It tells the reader money is being bet. In safety and money lessons, gambling is shown as risky because most people lose. Phrases: the bookies' favourite, at the bookie's, bookies' odds.

Examples

• Grandad put a small bet on a horse at the bookie's. tree →
• The bookies said that team was most likely to win. tree →
• That horse is the bookies' favourite. tree →
• There's a bookie's shop on the high street. tree →
• The bookie paid out ten pounds to the winner. tree →
• Gambling with a bookie can lose you a lot of money. tree →
• The odds at the bookie's changed before the race. tree →

Note

Informal, clipped from bookmaker. Countable: bookies. "The bookie's" (with apostrophe) means the betting shop. Gambling is only for adults. Has nothing to do with books for reading.