Homily

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. A serious or tedious exhortation in private on some moral
        point, or on the conduct of life.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              As I have heard my father
              Deal out in his long homilies.        --Byron.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {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."
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  homily
       n : a sermon on a moral or religious topic [syn: {preachment}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  69 Moby Thesaurus words for "homily":
     article, assignment, causerie, chalk talk, descant, discourse,
     discussion, disquisition, dissertation, essay, etude, examination,
     excursus, exercise, exposition, feature, first approach, harangue,
     homework, instruction, introductory study, lecture,
     lecture-demonstration, lesson, lucubration, memoir, monograph,
     moral, moral lesson, morality, moralization, morceau, note,
     object lesson, outline, pandect, paper, paragraph, piece,
     preachification, preaching, preachment, prelection,
     preliminary study, prolegomenon, recital, recitation,
     religious discourse, research paper, screed, sermon, sermonette,
     set task, sketch, skull session, special article, study, survey,
     talk, task, teaching, term paper, theme, thesis, tract, tractate,
     travelogue, treatise, treatment