Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A Roman brass coin, the as of diminished weight.
  • noun A small balance.
  • noun An instrument for taking levels; a level.
  • noun [capitalized] A southern constellation which Laeaille, after 1754, proposed to substitute for Triangulum Australe, which dates from the fifteenth century.
  • noun [capitalized] [NL.] A genus of dragon-flies.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A small balance.
  • noun A level, or levelling instrument.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin, diminutive of libra balance. See level.

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Examples

  • These confessors sent letters of recommendation in the name of the dead martyrs (libella pacis) to the bishop in favor of the renegades.

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 9: Laprade-Mass Liturgy 1840-1916 1913

  • Proh Deûm atque hominum fidem! quare illi, cui ne libella nummi est, dentes, stomachum, viscera concessit natura? mehercule, nostro ludibrium debens corpori, frustra laboravit a patre voluntario exilio, qui macrum ligone macriorem reddit agellum.

    The Poems of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume 2 Jonathan Swift 1706

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