Hypertext Webster Gateway: "epistle"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Epistle \E*pis"tle\, v. t.
To write; to communicate in a letter or by writing. [Obs.]
--Milton.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Epistle \E*pis"tle\, n. [OE. epistle, epistel, AS. epistol,
pistol, L. epistola, fr. Gr. ? anything sent by a messenger,
message, letter, fr. ? to send to, tell by letter or message;
'epi` upon, to + ? to dispatch, send; cf. OF. epistle,
epistre, F. ['e]p[^i]tre. See {Stall}.]
1. A writing directed or sent to a person or persons; a
written communication; a letter; -- applied usually to
formal, didactic, or elegant letters.
A madman's epistles are no gospels. --Shak.
2. (Eccl.) One of the letters in the New Testament which were
addressed to their Christian brethren by Apostles.
{Epistle side}, the right side of an altar or church to a
person looking from the nave toward the chancel.
One sees the pulpit on the epistle side. --R.
Browning.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
epistle
n : especially a long, formal letter
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