The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 12 letter word DICTIONARIES
I've seen this crossword clue in The Sunday Telegraph
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More clues leading to the result DICTIONARIES
- Some stars support speech, the result of 7
- Style of speech stars found in books
- Sign on delivery for reference books
- Volumes of meaning in speech before House
- A direction is given about books crossword setters may use
- Phrasing sign of spring in reference books
- Books that provide meaningful help, by definition
- Speaking by sign equates to volumes of words
- Sign language comes before volumes of words
- Books for every term
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Books that provide meaningful help, by definition" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case books that provide meaningful help, by definition = dictionaries.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does DICTIONARIES mean?
DICTIONARIES noun- A reference work with a list of words from one or more languages, normally ordered alphabetically, explaining each word's meaning, and sometimes containing information on its etymology, pronunciation, usage, translations, and other data.
- (preceded by the) A synchronic dictionary of a standardised language held to only contain words that are properly part of the language.
- (by extension) Any work that has a list of material organized alphabetically; e.g., biographical dictionary, encyclopedic dictionary.
- An associative array, a data structure where each value is referenced by a particular key, analogous to words and definitions in a physical dictionary.
- To look up in a dictionary.
- To add to a dictionary.
- To compile a dictionary.