article

/ahr"ti keuhl/, n., v., articled, articling.

n.

1. a written composition in prose, usually nonfiction, on a specific topic, forming an independent part of a book or other publication, as a newspaper or magazine.

2. an individual object, member, or portion of a class; an item or particular: an article of food; articles of clothing.

3. something of indefinite character or description: What is that article?

4. an item for sale; commodity.

5. Gram. any member of a small class of words, or, as in Swedish or Rumanian, affixes, found in certain languages, as English, French, and Arabic, that are linked to nouns and that typically have a grammatical function identifying the noun as a noun rather than describing it. In English the definite article is the, the indefinite article is a or an, and their force is generally to impart specificity to the noun or to single out the referent from the class named by the noun.

6. a clause, item, point, or particular in a contract, treaty, or other formal agreement; a condition or stipulation in a contract or bargain: The lawyers disagreed on the article covering plagiarism suits.

7. a separate clause or provision of a statute.

8. Slang. a person.

9. Archaic. a subject or matter of interest, thought, business, etc.

10. Obs. a specific or critical point of time; juncture or moment: the article of death.

v.t.

11. to set forth in articles; charge or accuse specifically: They articled his alleged crimes.

12. to bind by articles of covenant or stipulation: to article an apprentice.

[1200-50; ME < AF, ML articulus article of faith, L: joint, limb, member, clause, grammatical article, equiv. to arti- (comb. form of artus joint; akin to ARTHRO-, ARM²) + -culus -CULE¹]

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