n a reference work (often in several volumes) containing articles on various topics (often arranged in alphabetical order) dealing with the entire range of human knowledge or with some particular specialty
The best are The World Book En cyclopedia, which has dominated the grade-school market in recent years, Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia and Britannica Junior Encyclopaedia.
As a sickly eleven-year-old, John showed precocious talent as a rewriteman by compiling a children's encyclopedia from John Clark Ridpath's Cyclopedia of Universal History.
He got an en cyclopedia from his father for neither drinking, smoking nor gambling until 21.