1. plural of octavo; books or pages of a size produced by folding a sheet of paper three times to make eight leaves
Usage: printing; bookbinding

Examples

• The library’s rare book collection includes several valuable octavos from the 18th century.
• Publishers often chose octavos for novels because they were portable and economical to produce.
• The bookshelf was filled with octavos and quartos arranged by publication date.
• These octavos measure approximately 6 by 9 inches when trimmed.
• The printer specialized in producing high-quality octavos for literary works.