See Also: Moral(medicine)
moral(dictionary)
moral(2)(dictionary)
moral(1)(dictionary)
Moral Rights(law)
Moral Rearmament(dictionary)
moral 1, adjective(dictionary)
moral 2, noun(dictionary)
moral majority(dictionary)
MORAL EVIDENCE(law)

moral(2) (iou)



moral noun. LME.
[Use as noun of MORAL adjective, infl. also by late Latin morale neut. sing., moralia neut. pl., French moral, morale (cf. MORALE).]
In pl. & sing. Moral matters: the title of various books by classical writers, spec. St Gregory the Great's work on the moral exposition of the biblical Book of Job. LME.
a. The moral teaching or practical lesson of a story, event, etc. L15.
Dickens There's a moral in everything. Scientific American As a general moral we conclude that war as man wages it finds no counterpart in nature.
b. An exposition of the moral teaching or practical lesson contained in a literary work; that part of a work which applies or points the moral meaning. Now rare. M16.
c. Import, significance. L16-M19.
a. A symbolic figure. Only in L16.
b. A counterpart, a likeness. Chiefly in the very moral of. M18.
= MORALITY 4b. Long obsolete exc. Hist. L16.
In pl. & sing. Moral habits, conduct, or (formerly) qualities; habits of life with regard to right and wrong conduct; spec. sexual conduct; without qualification, good or right habits or conduct. E17.
A. Bevan This may be sound economics. It could not be worse morals. Weekly News (Cambridge) He was concerned over the lack of morals..among the town's young people.
In pl. (usu. treated as sing.). = MORALITY 5a. Now rare. M17.
A moral certainty. slang (now chiefly Austral.). M19.
= MORALE 2. Now rare. L19.