/sil"euh beuhs/ , n. , pl. syllabuses, syllabi /-buy'/ .
1. an outline or other brief statement of the main points of a discourse, the subjects of a course of lectures, the contents of a curriculum, etc.
2. Law.
a. a short summary of the legal basis of a court's decision appearing at the beginning of a reported case.
b. a book containing summaries of the leading cases in a legal field, used esp. by students.
3. ( often cap. ) Also called Syllabus of Errors . Rom. Cath. Ch. the list of 80 propositions condemned as erroneous by Pope Pius IX in 1864.
[ 1650-60; syllabus, syllabos, prob. a misreading (in mss. of Cicero) of Gk síttybas, acc. pl. of SÍTTYBA label for a papyrus roll ]