Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HOM'I-LY, n. [Fr. homelie; Sp. homilia; It. omelia; Gr. ομιλια, from ομιλεω, to converse in company, ομιλος, a company or assembly.]

A discourse or sermon read or pronounced to an audience; or a plain, familiar discourse on some subject of religion, such as an instructor would deliver to his pupils, or a father to his children. Encyc.