Word of the Week: BLAD

BLAD: Publishing-industry term for a short advance version of a book--usually the jacket art and several sample pages--that gives a publicist or distributor the gist of the contents and design. Said to be an acronym of Basic Layout And Design; however, it may be a backronym from blad, Scots dialect for "a section" or "a fragment."

Read more about publishing-industry jargon here.