(a) A sentence or clause, a brief statement, a short passage, a short text or quotation; in a ~, briefly, in short; (b) a written message or letter; a story; a long passage in an author's source.

(a) A distinct article or section of a text; a metrical or rhetorical unit in a song or poem; an individual statement, allegation, admonition, etc. (in a series of such statements, etc.); (b) a conclusion; ?an agreement; ?an inference; (c) law a distinct condition, stipulation, or proviso in a legal document, a legal clause; ~ of distress, a clause providing for distraint in case of non-payment; ~ of purveu (proviso), a provisional clause, a proviso; ~ of warantie (warantise), a clause warranting the security of a title to real property; also fig.