book ‧ mak ‧ er /ˈbʊkˌmeɪkə $ -ər/ BrE AmE ( also bookie informal ) noun [countable]
[ Date: 1800-1900 ; Origin: book 'list of bets made' (19-21 centuries) + maker ]
someone whose job is to collect money that people want to risk on the result of a race, competition etc, and who pays them if they guess correctly