Mor″al (?), n. 1. The doctrine or practice of the duties of life; manner of living as regards right and wrong; conduct; behavior; — usually in the plural.
Corrupt in their morals as vice could make them. South.
2. The inner meaning or significance of a fable, a narrative, an occurrence, an experience, etc.; the practical lesson which anything is designed or fitted to teach; the doctrine meant to be inculcated by a fiction; a maxim.
Thus may we gather honey from the weed,
And make a moral of the devil himself. Shak.
To point a moral, or adorn a tale. Johnson.
We protest against the principle that the world of pure comedy is one into which no moral enters. Macaulay.
3. A morality play. See Morality, 5.