Dewey
(ˈdjuːɪ)
The surname of Melvil Dewey (1851–1931), American librarian, applied attrib. to designate a decimal system of library classification developed by him. (See decimal classification s.v. decimal A. 1 a.)
| 1879 Library Jrnl. IV. 139 The books on the shelves were numbered and arranged according to the ‘Dewey system’. 1885 Ibid. X. 26 The scheme looks like a modification or improvement of the Dewey Decimal System. 1931 Times Educ. Suppl. 27 June 250/1 Classification of books—Dewey system. 1959 Observer 14 June 19/5 If anthropologists wrote with a little more levity, those of us who have to cook would be constantly at the shelves numbered 572 (Dewey classification) of the public libraries. 1970 E. McGirr Death pays Wages iii. 59, I suppose they have some sort of Dewey System master index. |