Ser"mon, v. i. [Cf. OF. sermoner,
F. sermonner to lecture one.] To speak; to discourse; to
compose or deliver a sermon. [Obs.] Holinshed.
What needeth it to sermon of it
more?
Chaucer.Ser"mon, v. t. 1.
To discourse to or of, as in a sermon. [Obs.]
Spenser.
2. To tutor; to lecture. [Poetic]
Shak.
Ser"mon (?), n. [OE. sermoun,
sermun, F. sermon, fr. L. sermo, -onis, a
speaking, discourse, probably fr. serer, sertum, to
join, connect; hence, a connected speech. See Series.]
1. A discourse or address; a talk; a writing; as,
the sermons of Chaucer. [Obs.] Chaucer.
2. Specifically, a discourse delivered in
public, usually by a clergyman, for the purpose of religious
instruction and grounded on some text or passage of
Scripture.
This our life exempt from public haunts
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones and good in everything.
Shak.
His preaching much, but more his practice, wrought,
A living sermon of the truths he taught.
Dryden.
3. Hence, a serious address; a lecture on
one's conduct or duty; an exhortation or reproof; a homily; -- often
in a depreciatory sense.