noun
- a small book or pamphlet of popular tales, ballads, etc., formerly hawked about by chapmen.
- a small book or pamphlet, often of poetry.
noun
- a book of popular ballads, stories, etc, formerly sold by chapmen or pedlars
also chap-book, 1824, shortened from chap(man) book, so called because chapmen (see cheap) once sold such books on the street. A modern word for a type of old book.