Almanac


an annual publication containing a calendar for the coming year, the times of such events and phenomena as anniversaries, sunrises and sunsets, phases of the moon, tides, etc., and other statistical information and related topics.
a publication containing astronomical or meteorological information, usually including future positions of celestial objects, star magnitudes, and culmination dates of constellations.
an annual reference book of useful and interesting facts relating to countries of the world, sports, entertainment, etc.
Contemporary Examples

Kornacki, on the other hand, appears to be far more comfortable with the kind of arcana found in The almanac of American Politics.
Steve Kornacki, MSNBC’s Brainy Replacement for Chris Hayes, Just Wants to Be Useful David Freedlander March 20, 2013

The almanac also tells us it would be a good time to perform demolitions, if you had any of those planned.
Stop Blaming the Moon for Your Crazy Janelle Dumalaon June 19, 2014

Historical Examples

The almanac called it winter, distinctly enough, but the weather was a compromise between spring and summer.
Roughing It Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

He should bring an almanac with him to know when the days go by.
Malbone Thomas Wentworth Higginson

He took the almanac from Timothy Turtle and they both sat down.
The Tale of Timothy Turtle Arthur Scott Bailey

He showed me an almanac, which had a great circulation in the district.
The Stark Munro Letters J. Stark Munro

If you will come to me after dinner with an almanac we will arrange it.
The Duke’s Children Anthony Trollope

I could as soon compose an almanac as and a clue to this puzzle.
The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor Stephen Cullen Carpenter

On that solitary string hangs everything from Armageddon to an almanac, from a successful revolution to a return ticket.
New York Times, Current History, Vol 1, Issue 1 Various

In 1788 a ballad in an almanac brought the custom into popular ridicule.
Folkways William Graham Sumner

noun
a yearly calendar giving statistical information on events and phenomena, such as the phases of the moon, times of sunrise and sunset, tides, anniversaries, etc Also (archaic) almanack
n.

late 14c., attested in Anglo-Latin from mid-13c., via Old French almanach or Medieval Latin almanachus, of uncertain origin. It is sometimes said to be from a Spanish-Arabic al-manakh “calendar, almanac,” but possibly ultimately from Late Greek almenichiakon “calendar,” which is said to be of Coptic origin.

This word has been the subject of much speculation. Originally a book of permanent tables of astronomical data; one-year versions, combined with ecclesiastical calendars, date from 16c.; “astrological and weather predictions appear in 16-17th c.; the ‘useful statistics’ are a modern feature” [OED].

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