PROGRAMME, or PROGRAM  , in its original use, following that of Gr . Irpiypaµµa, a public notice (lrpo'yp&4ew, to make public by writing), now chiefly in the sense of a printed notice containing the items of a musical concert, with the names of the pieces to be performed, the composers and the performers, or of a theatrical performance, with the characters, actors, scenes, &c . In a wider sense the word is used of a syllabus or scheme of study, order of proceedings or the like, or of a catalogue or schedule containing the chief points in a course of action, and so, politically, in the sense of a list of the principal objects on which a party proposes to base its legislative course of action,; as in the " Newcastle Programme " of 1891, drawn up by the Liberal Federation . The. spelling " program," now general in America, was that first in use in England, and so continued till the French form " programme " was adopted at the beginning of the 19th century . The New English Dictionary considers the earlier and modern American spelling preferable, on the analogy of " diagram," " telegram," " cryptogram " and the like .