Lit"er*a*ture (l&ibreve;t"&etilde;r*&adot;*t&usl;r; 135), n. [F.
littérature, L. litteratura,
literatura, learning, grammar, writing, fr.
littera, litera, letter. See Letter.]
1. Learning; acquaintance with letters
or books.
2. The collective body of literary productions, embracing the entire results of knowledge and fancy preserved in writing; also, the whole body of
literary productions or
writings upon a given subject, or in reference to a particular science or branch of knowledge, or of a given country or period; as, the literature of Biblical criticism; the literature of chemistry.
3. The class of
writings distinguished for beauty of
style or expression, as poetry, essays, or history, in distinction from scientific treatises and
works which contain positive knowledge;
belles-lettres.
4. The occupation, profession, or business of doing literary work. Lamb.
Syn. -- Science; learning; erudition;
belles-lettres. See Science. -- Literature, Learning, Erudition. Literature, in its widest sense, embraces all compositions in writing or print which preserve the results of observation, thought, or fancy; but those upon the positive sciences (mathematics, etc.) are
usually excluded. It is often confined, however, to belles-lettres, or works of taste and
sentiment, as poetry, eloquence, history, etc., excluding abstract discussions and mere erudition. A man of literature (in this narrowest sense) is one who is versed in
belles-lettres; a man of learning excels in what is taught in the
schools, and has a wide extent
of knowledge, especially in respect to the past; a man of erudition is one who is skilled in the more recondite branches of learned inquiry.
The origin of all positive science and philosophy, as well as of all literature and art, in the
forms in which they exist in
civilized Europe, must be traced to the
Greeks.
Sir G. C. Lewis.
Learning thy talent is, but mine is sense.
Prior. Some gentlemen, abounding in their university erudition, fill their sermons with philosophical
terms.
Swift.
Hear it pronounced