Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AR'TI-CLE, n. [L. articulus, a joint, from artus; Gr. αρθρον.]

1. A single clause in a contract, account, system of regulations, treaty, or other writing; a particular separate charge or item, in an account; a term, condition, or stipulation in a contract. In short, a distinct part of a writing, instrument or discourse, consisting of two or more particulars; as, articles of agreement; an account consisting of many articles.
2. A point of faith; a doctrinal point or proposition in theology; as the thirty-nine articles.
3. A distinct part. Upon each article of human duty. – Paley.
4. A particular commodity, or substance; as, an article of merchandise; salt is a necessary article. In common usage, this word is applied to almost every separate substance or material. The articles which compose the blood. – Darwin.
5. A point of time. [Not in use.] – Clarendon.
6. In botany, that part of a stalk or stem, which is between two joints. – Milne.
7. In grammar, an adjective used before nouns, to limit or define their application; as hic, ille, ipse, in Latin; ὁ, ἡ, το, in Greek; the, this, that, in English; le, la, les, in French; il, la, lo, in Italian. The primary use of these adjectives was to convert an indeterminate name into a determinate one; or to limit the application of a common name, to a specific, known, or certain individual. But article being an improper term to express the true signification, I make use of definitive, which see.