Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Publication \Pub`li*ca"tion\, n. [L. publicatio confiscation:
   cf. F. publication. See {Publish}.]
   1. The act of publishing or making known; notification to the
      people at large, either by words, writing, or printing;
      proclamation; divulgation; promulgation; as, the
      publication of the law at Mount Sinai; the publication of
      the gospel; the publication of statutes or edicts.

   2. The act of offering a book, pamphlet, engraving, etc., to
      the public by sale or by gratuitous distribution.

            The publication of these papers was not owing to our
            folly, but that of others.            --Swift.

   3. That which is published or made known; especially, any
      book, pamphlet, etc., offered for sale or to public
      notice; as, a daily or monthly publication.

   4. An act done in public. [R. & Obs.]

            His jealousy . . . attends the business, the
            recreations, the publications, and retirements of
            every man.                            --Jer. Taylor.

   {Publication of a libel} (Law), such an exhibition of a libel
      as brings it to the notice of at least one person other
      than the person libeled.

   {Publication of a will} (Law), the delivery of a will, as his
      own, by a testator to witnesses who attest it.