Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Rubric

Ru′bric (rṳ′brĭk), n. [OE. rubriche, OF. rubriche, F. rubrique ( cf. it. rubrica), fr. L. rubrica red earth for coloring, red chalk, the title of a law (because written in red), fr. ruber red. See red.] That part of any work in the early manuscripts and typography which was colored red, to distinguish it from other portions. Hence, specifically: (a) A titlepage, or part of it, especially that giving the date and place of printing; also, the initial letters, etc., when printed in red. (b) (Law books) The title of a statute; — so called as being anciently written in red letters. Bell. (c) (Liturgies) The directions and rules for the conduct of service, formerly written or printed in red; hence, also, an ecclesiastical or episcopal injunction; — usually in the plural.

All the clergy in England solemnly pledge themselves to observe the rubrics. Hook.

(d) Hence, that which is established or settled, as by authority; a thing definitely settled or fixed. Cowper.

Nay, as a duty, it had no place or rubric in human conceptions before Christianity. De Quincey.

Ru′bric, v. t. To adorn ith red; to redden; to rubricate. [R.] Johnson.

Ru′bric, Ru′bric·al, a. 1. Colored in, or marked with, red; placed in rubrics.

What though my name stood rubric on the walls Or plaistered posts, with claps, in capitals? Pope.

2. Of or pertaining to the rubric or rubrics. "Rubrical eccentricities." C. Kingsley.

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 “?”.