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 Literature \Lit"er*a*ture\ (l[i^]t"[~e]r*[.a]*t[-u]r; 135), n.
   [F. litt['e]rature, L. litteratura, literatura, learning,
   grammar, writing, fr. littera, litera, letter. See {Letter}.]
   1. Learning; acquaintance with letters or books.
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   2. The collective body of literary productions, embracing the
      entire results of knowledge and fancy preserved in
      writing; also, the whole body of literary productions or
      writings upon a given subject, or in reference to a
      particular science or branch of knowledge, or of a given
      country or period; as, the literature of Biblical
      criticism; the literature of chemistry.
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   3. The class of writings distinguished for beauty of style or
      expression, as poetry, essays, or history, in distinction
      from scientific treatises and works which contain positive
      knowledge; belles-lettres.
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   4. The occupation, profession, or business of doing literary
      work. --Lamb.

   Syn: Science; learning; erudition; belles-lettres.

   Usage: See {Science}. -- {Literature}, {Learning},
          {Erudition}. Literature, in its widest sense, embraces
          all compositions in writing or print which preserve
          the results of observation, thought, or fancy; but
          those upon the positive sciences (mathematics, etc.)
          are usually excluded. It is often confined, however,
          to belles-lettres, or works of taste and sentiment, as
          poetry, eloquence, history, etc., excluding abstract
          discussions and mere erudition. A man of literature
          (in this narrowest sense) is one who is versed in
          belles-lettres; a man of learning excels in what is
          taught in the schools, and has a wide extent of
          knowledge, especially, in respect to the past; a man
          of erudition is one who is skilled in the more
          recondite branches of learned inquiry.
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                The origin of all positive science and
                philosophy, as well as of all literature and
                art, in the forms in which they exist in
                civilized Europe, must be traced to the Greeks.
                                                  --Sir G. C.
                                                  Lewis.
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                Learning thy talent is, but mine is sense.
                                                  --Prior.
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                Some gentlemen, abounding in their university
                erudition, fill their sermons with philosophical
                terms.                            --Swift.
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