libel

noun

1. (countable)A written or pictorial false statement which unjustly seeks to damage someone's reputation.
2. (uncountable)The act or tort of displaying such a statement publicly.
3. (countable)Any defamatory writing; a lampoon; a satire.
4. (countable)A written declaration or statement by the plaintiff of their cause of action, and of the relief they seek.

   “These provisions of law being in force, the steamer Rio Grande, owned, as was alleged, by persons in Mexico, being in the port of Mobile, in the Southern District of Alabama, certain materialmen, on the 26th of November, 1867, filed separate libels against her in the district court for the said district.”

5. (countable)A brief writing of any kind, especially a declaration, bill, certificate, request, supplication, etc.

   “a libel of forsaking [divorcement]”

verb

1. (transitive)To defame (someone), especially in a manner that meets the legal definition of libel.

   “He libelled her when he published that.”

   “But vvhat ſo pure, vvhich envious tongues vvill ſpare? / Some vvicked vvits have libell'd all the fair.”

2. (transitive)To proceed against (goods, a ship, etc.) by filing a legal claim.