Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Libel

Li′bel (lī′bĕl), n. [L. libellus a little book, pamphlet, libel, lampoon, dim. of liber the liber or inner bark of a tree; also (because the ancients wrote on this bark), paper, parchment, or a roll of any material used to write upon, and hence, a book or treatise: cf. F. libelle.]

1. A brief writing of any kind, esp. a declaration, bill, certificate, request, supplication, etc. [Obs.] Chaucer.

A libel of forsaking [divorcement]. Wyclif (Matt. v. 31).

2. Any defamatory writing; a lampoon; a satire.

3. (Law) A malicious publication expressed either in print or in writing, or by pictures, effigies, or other signs, tending to expose another to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule. Such publication is indictable at common law.

☞ The term, in a more extended sense, includes the publication of such writings, pictures, and the like, as are of a blasphemous, treasonable, seditious, or obscene character. These also are indictable at common law.

4. (Law) The crime of issuing a malicious defamatory publication.

5. (Civil Law & Courts of Admiralty) A written declaration or statement by the plaintiff of his cause of action, and of the relief he seeks.

Li′bel, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Libeled (-bĕld) or Libelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Libeling or Libelling.] 1. To defame, or expose to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule, by a writing, picture, sign, etc.; to lampoon.

Some wicked wits have libeled all the fair. Pope.

2. (Law) To proceed against by filing a libel, particularly against a ship or goods.

Li′bel (lī′bĕl), v. i. To spread defamation, written or printed; — with against. [Obs.]

What's this but libeling against the senate? Shak.

[He] libels now 'gainst each great man. Donne.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.