Fable

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Fable \Fa"ble\ (f[=a]"b'l), n. [F., fr. L. fabula, fr. fari to
     speak, say. See {Ban}, and cf. {Fabulous}, {Fame}.]
     1. A Feigned story or tale, intended to instruct or amuse; a
        fictitious narration intended to enforce some useful truth
        or precept; an apologue. See the Note under {Apologue}.
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              Jotham's fable of the trees is the oldest extant.
                                                    --Addison.
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     Note: A fable may have talking animals anthropomorphically
           cast as humans representing different character types,
           sometimes illustrating some moral principle; as,
           Aesop's Fables.
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     2. The plot, story, or connected series of events, forming
        the subject of an epic or dramatic poem.
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              The moral is the first business of the poet; this
              being formed, he contrives such a design or fable as
              may be most suitable to the moral.    --Dryden.
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     3. Any story told to excite wonder; common talk; the theme of
        talk. "Old wives' fables. " --1 Tim. iv. 7.
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              We grew
              The fable of the city where we dwelt. --Tennyson.
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     4. Fiction; untruth; falsehood.
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              It would look like a fable to report that this
              gentleman gives away a great fortune by secret
              methods.                              --Addison.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Fable \Fa"ble\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Fabled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Fabling}.]
     To compose fables; hence, to write or speak fiction; to write
     or utter what is not true. "He Fables not." --Shak.
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           Vain now the tales which fabling poets tell. --Prior.
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           He fables, yet speaks truth.             --M. Arnold.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Fable \Fa"ble\, v. t.
     To feign; to invent; to devise, and speak of, as true or
     real; to tell of falsely.
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           The hell thou fablest.                   --Milton.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  fable
       n 1: a deliberately false or improbable account [syn: {fabrication},
             {fiction}]
       2: a short moral story (often with animal characters) [syn: {parable},
           {allegory}, {apologue}]
       3: a story about mythical or supernatural beings or events
          [syn: {legend}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  88 Moby Thesaurus words for "fable":
     Marchen, Western, Western story, Westerner, action,
     adventure story, allegory, anagnorisis, angle, apologue,
     architectonics, architecture, argument, atmosphere, background,
     bedtime story, canard, catastrophe, characterization, color,
     complication, concoction, continuity, contrivance, denouement,
     design, detective story, development, device, episode,
     extravaganza, fabliau, fabrication, fairy tale, falling action,
     fantasy, fiction, figment, folk story, folktale, forgery, gest,
     ghost story, gimmick, horse opera, incident, invention, legend,
     line, local color, love story, mood, motif, movement, mystery,
     mystery story, myth, mythology, mythos, nursery tale, parable,
     peripeteia, plan, plot, recognition, rising action, romance,
     scheme, science fiction, secondary plot, shocker, slant,
     space fiction, space opera, story, structure, subject, subplot,
     suspense story, switch, thematic development, theme, thriller,
     tone, topic, twist, whodunit, work of fiction
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Fable
     applied in the New Testament to the traditions and speculations,
     "cunningly devised fables", of the Jews on religious questions
     (1 Tim. 1:4; 4:7; 2 Tim. 4:4; Titus 1:14; 2 Pet. 1:16). In such
     passages the word means anything false and unreal. But the word
     is used as almost equivalent to parable. Thus we have (1) the
     fable of Jotham, in which the trees are spoken of as choosing a
     king (Judg. 9:8-15); and (2) that of the cedars of Lebanon and
     the thistle as Jehoash's answer to Amaziah (2 Kings 14:9).