Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CRE'DENCE, n. [It. credenza; Fr. creance; from L. credens, from credo, to believe. See Creed.]

1. Belief; credit; reliance of the mind on evidence of facts derived from other sources than personal knowledge, as from the testimony of others. We give credence to a historian of unsuspected integrity, or to a story which is related by a man of known veracity.
2. That which gives a claim to credit, belief or confidence; as, a letter of credence, which is intended to commend the bearer to the confidence of a third person.