libel

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
libel/ˈlʌɪbl/

▶noun

• 1 Law the publication of a false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation. Compare with slander.

  ■ such a statement; a written defamation.

• 2 (in admiralty and ecclesiastical law) a plaintiff's written declaration.

▶verb (libels, libelling, libelled; US libels, libeling, libeled)

• 1 Law defame by publishing a libel.

• 2 (in admiralty and ecclesiastical law) bring a suit against.

– derivatives
libeller noun.

– origin ME (in the general sense ‘a document, a written statement’): via OFr. from L. libellus, dimin. of liber ‘book’.