<p><strong>Noun</strong></p><ul><li>the shape and size of a book as determined by the number of times the original sheet has been folded to form the leaves.</li><li>the general physical appearance of a book, magazine, or newspaper, such as the typeface, binding, quality of paper, margins, etc.</li><li>the organization, plan, style, or type of something: The format of the show allowed for topical and controversial gags.</li><li>Computers: the arrangement of data for computer input or output, such as the number and size of fields in a record or the spacing and punctuation of information in a report.</li></ul><p><strong>Verb</strong></p><ul><li>(used with object) to plan or provide a format for: to format the annual telethon.</li><li>Computers: to set the format of (input or output): Some word-processing programs format output in a variety of ways.</li><li>to prepare (a disk) for writing and reading.</li><li>(used without object) to devise a format.</li></ul>