libel
Noun · VerbOpen English WordNet
Noun (2)
- a false and malicious publication printed for the purpose of defaming a living personType of defamation, calumny
- the written statement of a plaintiff explaining the cause of action (the defamation) and any relief they seekType of complaint
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: 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. obsolete Geoffrey 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.
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.— Alexander Pope
2. Law To proceed against by filing a libel, particularly against a ship or goods.
To spread defamation, written or printed; — with against. obsolete
What's this but libeling against the senate?— William Shakespeare
[He] libels now 'gainst each great man.— John Donne
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54