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