To consult the book of numbers: a term used in the House of Commons, when, instead of answering or confuting a pressing argument, the minister calls for a division, i.e. puts the matter to the vote.
·noun ·pl of Number. The fourth book of the Pentateuch, containing the census of the Hebrews. ...
Webster's Dictionary of the English Language
the fourth book of the law or Pentateuch. It takes its name in the LXX. and Vulgate (whence our "Num...
William Smith's Bible Dictionary
are such as are mutually equal to the sum of each other's aliquot parts. ...
The Sailor's Word-Book
The fourth of the books of the Pentateuch, called in the Hebrew be-midbar, i.e., "in the wilderness....
Easton's Bible Dictionary