What is "publication of a libel"

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.