[ahr-ti-kuh
l] 
noun, verb, -cled, -cling.| 1. | a written composition in prose, usually nonfiction, on a specific topic, forming an independent part of a book or other publication, as a newspaper or magazine. |
| 2. | an individual object, member, or portion of a class; an item or particular: an article of food; articles of clothing. |
| 3. | something of indefinite character or description: What is that article? |
| 4. | an item for sale; commodity. |
| 5. | Grammar. any member of a small class of words, or, as in Swedish or Romanian, affixes, found in certain languages, as English, French, and Arabic, that are linked to nouns and that typically have a grammatical function identifying the noun as a noun rather than describing it. In English the definite article is the, the indefinite article is a or an, and their force is generally to impart specificity to the noun or to single out the referent from the class named by the noun. |
| 6. | a clause, item, point, or particular in a contract, treaty, or other formal agreement; a condition or stipulation in a contract or bargain: The lawyers disagreed on the article covering plagiarism suits. |
| 7. | a separate clause or provision of a statute. |
| 8. | Slang. a person. |
| 9. | Archaic. a subject or matter of interest, thought, business, etc. |
| 10. | Obsolete. a specific or critical point of time; juncture or moment: the article of death. |
| 11. | to set forth in articles; charge or accuse specifically: They articled his alleged crimes. |
| 12. | to bind by articles of covenant or stipulation: to article an apprentice. |
| ar·ti·cle (är'tĭ-kəl) n.
To bind by articles set forth in a contract, such as one of apprenticeship. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin articulus, joint, article, diminutive of artus, joint (translation of Greek arthron, joint, article); see ar- in Indo-European roots.] |