Vŏl'ūme, n.

(vŏl'yūm, 53), n. [Fr., It., & Pg. volume, Pr. volum, Sp. volumen, from Lat. volumen, properly a thing that is rolled or wound up, hence a roll of writing, a book, volume, from volvere, volutum, to roll.]

1. A roll; a scroll; a written document put up for keeping or use, in a roll-like form, after the manner of the ancients. [Obs.]
2. Hence, a book; a tome; a collection of printed sheets bound together, whether containing a single work, or a part of a work, or more than one work; especially, that part of an extended work which is bound up together in one cover.

An odd volume of a set of books bears not the value of its proportion to the set. Franklin. 3. Any thing of a roll-like, rounded, or swelling form; a turn; a contortion; a whirl. “The undulating billows rolling their silver volumes.” Irving. So glides some trodden serpent on the grass, And long behind his wounded volume trails. Dryden.

4. Dimensions; compass; mass; bulk; space occupied, as measured by cubic units, that is, cubic inches, feet, yards, and the like; as, the volume of an elephant’s body; a volume of gas.
5. (Mus.) Power, fullness, quantity, or caliber of voice or tone.