family Bible

American  

noun

1. a large Bible usually having pages at the front for recording the marriages, births, and deaths in a family.

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family Bible British  

noun

1. a large Bible used for family worship in which births, marriages, and deaths are recorded

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Etymology

Origin of family Bible

First recorded in 1775–85

Example Sentences

Former Vice President Mike Pence often talks of how he “joined the Reagan revolution and never looked back,” and took his oath with his hand on the Reagan family Bible.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 26, 2023

Sheridan's track record leads me to guess that most people will trust that the scattered plot of "1923" will eventually knot into a story worth noting in the Dutton family Bible.

From Salon • Dec. 18, 2022

“I took the oath of office — lifted my hand off our family Bible — and inherited a nation in crisis,” Biden said.

From Washington Post • Apr. 28, 2021

A great-uncle shared with him a family Bible that had belonged to his own great-grandmother, who was born into slavery in 1865, just before Emancipation.

From New York Times • Feb. 26, 2021

The family Bible and a huge dictionary with its own magnifying glass lay side by side next to a red plush album full of cramped formal portraits of my ancestors.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly