Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Literal \Lit"er*al\, a. [F. lit['e]ral, litt['e]ral, L.
   litteralis, literalis, fr. littera, litera, a letter. See
   {Letter}.]
   1. According to the letter or verbal expression; real; not
      figurative or metaphorical; as, the literal meaning of a
      phrase.

            It hath but one simple literal sense whose light the
            owls can not abide.                   --Tyndale.

   2. Following the letter or exact words; not free.

            A middle course between the rigor of literal
            translations and the liberty of paraphrasts.
                                                  --Hooker.

   3. Consisting of, or expressed by, letters.

            The literal notation of numbers was known to
            Europeans before the ciphers.         --Johnson.

   4. Giving a strict or literal construction; unimaginative;
      matter-of fast; -- applied to persons.

   {Literal contract} (Law), contract of which the whole
      evidence is given in writing. --Bouvier.

   {Literal equation} (Math.), an equation in which known
      quantities are expressed either wholly or in part by means
      of letters; -- distinguished from a numerical equation.