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Very painful or tedious; wearisome; as, a sermon lasting two mortal hours. [Colloq.] Sir W. Scott. Mortal foe, Mortal enemy, an inveterate, desperate, or implacable enemy; a foe bent on one's destruction.

lebration, or the like; -- distinguished from an argument in court, a popular harangue, a sermon, a lecture, etc.; as, Webster's oration at Bunker Hill. The lord archbishop . . . made a long oration. Bacon.

owed as his sense. Dryden. Excellent paraphrases of the Psalms of David. I. Disraeli. His sermons a living paraphrase upon his practice. Sowth. The Targums are also called the Chaldaic or Aramaic Paraphrases. Shipley.

a selection from the Bible, appointed to be read in the churches or used as a text for a sermon.

; to discourse publicly on a religious subject, or from a text of Scripture; to deliver a sermon. How shall they preach, except they be sent Rom. x. 15. From that time Jesus began to preach. Matt. iv. 17.

The act of delivering a religious discourse; the art of sermonizing; also, a sermon; a public religious discourse; serious, earnest advice. Milner. Preaching cross, a cross, sometimes surmounting a pulpit, erected out of doors to designate a preaching place. -- Preaching friars. See Dominican.

A religious harangue; a sermon; -- used derogatively. Shak.

preparing, or previously fitting for a purpose; that which prepares. "A preparative unto sermons." Hooker.

h reference to discourse written or spoken; as, a prolix oration; a prolix poem; a prolix sermon. With wig prolix, down flowing to his waist. Cowper.

The act of pursuing or prosecuting; a following out or after. Sermons are not like curious inquiries after new nothings, but pursuances of old truths. Jer. Taylor.

as, a scant allowance of provisions or water; a scant pattern of cloth for a garment. His sermon was scant, in all, a quarter of an hour. Ridley.

rilous; gross or obscene language; low buffoonery; vulgar abuse. Interrupting prayers and sermons with clamor and scurrility. Macaulay.

; mean; foul; vile; obscenely jocular; as, scurrilous language. The absurd and scurrilous sermon which had very unwisely been honored with impeachment. Macaulay.

The making of speeches or sermons; sermonizing. [Obs.] Peacham.

One who makes sermons or speeches. [Obs.] Howell.

The heads and outline of a literary production, especially of a sermon.

] prayed unto the Lord and wept sore. 1 Sam. i. 10. Sore sighed the knight, who this long sermon heard. Dryden.

r purpose, occasion, or person; as, a special act of Parliament or of Congress; a special sermon.

stock or supply; standard; permanent; standing; as, a stock actor; a stock play; a stock sermon. "A stock charge against Raleigh." C. Kingsley. Stock company (Theater), a company of actors regularly employed at one theater, or permanently acting together in various plays under one management.

A verse or passage of Scripture, especially one chosen as the subject of a sermon, or in proof of a doctrine. How oft, when Paul has served us with a text, Has Epictetus, Plato, Tully, preached! Cowper.