from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Homily \Hom"i*ly\, n.; pl. {Homilies}. [LL. homilia, Gr. ?
communion, assembly, converse, sermon, fr. ? an assembly, fr.
? same; cf. ? together, and ? crowd, cf. ? to press: cf. F.
hom['e]lie. See {Same}.]
1. A discourse or sermon read or pronounced to an audience; a
serious discourse. --Shak.
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2. A serious or tedious exhortation in private on some moral
point, or on the conduct of life.
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As I have heard my father
Deal out in his long homilies. --Byron.
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{Book of Homilies}. A collection of authorized, printed
sermons, to be read by ministers in churches, esp. one
issued in the time of Edward VI., and a second, issued in
the reign of Elizabeth; -- both books being certified to
contain a "godly and wholesome doctrine."
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