Emily Dickinson Lexicon

E'DICT, n. [L. edictum, from edico, to utter or proclaim; e and dico, to speak.]

That which is uttered or proclaimed by authority as a rule of action; an order issued by a prince to his subjects, as a rule or law requiring obedience; a proclamation of command or prohibition. An edict is an order or ordinance of a sovereign prince, intended as a permanent law, or to erect a new office, to establish new duties, or other temporary regulation; as, the edicts of the Roman emperors; the edicts of the French monarch.