"by-the-books" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more by-the-books",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most by-the-books",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "by-the-books (comparative more by-the-books, superlative most by-the-books)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "by-the-book"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2023, Jerome Winter, “\"There Is No War, There Is Only Harvest\": Diplomatic Realpolitik and Combat Gameplay in Mass Effect”, in BioWare's Mass Effect, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 37",
          "text": "The hostility Garrus nurtures for the ineffective Citadel Security Services (C-Sec) bureaucracy has an oedipal tinge since his father, Castis Vakarian, is an exemplary by-the-books C-Sec officer.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative form of by-the-book"
      ],
      "id": "en-by-the-books-en-adj-bK~iInbT",
      "links": [
        [
          "by-the-book",
          "by-the-book#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "by-the-books"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more by-the-books",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most by-the-books",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "by-the-books (comparative more by-the-books, superlative most by-the-books)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "by-the-book"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English adjectives",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2023, Jerome Winter, “\"There Is No War, There Is Only Harvest\": Diplomatic Realpolitik and Combat Gameplay in Mass Effect”, in BioWare's Mass Effect, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 37",
          "text": "The hostility Garrus nurtures for the ineffective Citadel Security Services (C-Sec) bureaucracy has an oedipal tinge since his father, Castis Vakarian, is an exemplary by-the-books C-Sec officer.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative form of by-the-book"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "by-the-book",
          "by-the-book#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "by-the-books"
}