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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