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fable

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

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From Middle English, borrowed from Old French fable, from Latin fābula, from fārī (“to speak, say”) + -bula (“instrumental suffix”). See ban, and compare fabulous, fame. Doublet of fabula.

Pronunciation

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  • enPR: fā′bəl, IPA(key): /ˈfeɪbəl/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪbəl
  • Hyphenation: fa‧ble

Noun

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fable (plural fables)

  2. A fictitious narrative intended to enforce some useful truth or precept, usually with animals, etc. as characters; an apologue. Prototypically, Aesop's Fables.
    Synonym: morality play
  3. Any story told to excite wonder; common talk; the theme of talk.
    Synonym: legend
  4. Fiction; untruth; falsehood.
  5. The plot, story, or connected series of events forming the subject of an epic or dramatic poem.
    • 1695, John Dryden, A Parallel betwixt Painting and Poetry:
      For the moral (as Bossu observes,) is the first business of the poet, as being the groundwork of his instruction. This being formed, he contrives such a design, or fable, as may be most suitable to the moral;

Derived terms

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Translations

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story told to excite wonder
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Translations to be checked

Verb

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fable (third-person singular simple present fables, present participle fabling, simple past and past participle fabled)

  1. (intransitive, archaic) To compose fables; hence, to write or speak fiction; to write or utter what is not true.
    • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 111, column 2:
      He Fables not, I heare the enemie: / Out ſome light Horſemen, and peruſe their Wings.
    • 1709, Mat[thew] Prior, “An Ode, Humbly Inscrib’d to the Queen”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, stanza XVII, page 287:
      Vain now the Tales which fab’ling Poets tell, / That wav’ring Conqueſt ſtill deſires to rove; / In Marlbrô’s Camp the Goddeſs knows to dwell: / Long as the Hero’s Life remains her Love.
    • 1852, Matthew Arnold, Empedocles on Etna, Act II, in Empedocles on Etna and Other Poems, London: B. Fellowes, p. 50,[1]
      He fables, yet speaks truth.
  2. (transitive, archaic) To make up; to devise, and speak of, as true or real; to tell of falsely; to recount in the form of a fable.
    Synonyms: make up, invent, feign, devise
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 288–292:
      […] erre not that ſo ſhall end / The ſtrife of Glorie: which we mean to win, / Or turn this Heav’n itſelf into the Hell / Thou fableſt […]
    • 1691, “Cassandra, or, Divination”, in Arthur Gorges, transl., The Wisdom of the Ancients, London, translation of [De Sapientia Veterum] by Francis Bacon, page 1:
      THE Poets Fable, That Apollo being enamoured of Caſſandra, was by her many ſhifts and cunning ſlights ſtill deluded in his Deſire […]
    • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 2: Nestor]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part I [Telemachia], page 24:
      Fabled by the daughters of memory. And yet it was in some way if not as memory fabled it. A phrase, then, of impatience, thud of Blake’s wings of excess.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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French

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French  Wikisource has original text related to this entry:

Wikisource fr

Etymology

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Inherited from Old French fable, borrowed from Latin fabula.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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fable f (plural fables)

  1. fable, story
    Synonyms: conte, histoire
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Descendants

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  • → Turkish: fabl

Further reading

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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From the noun fabel, ultimately from Latin fabula, from fā(rī) (“to speak, say”) + -bula (“instrumental suffix”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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fable (imperative fabl or fable, present tense fabler, passive fables, simple past and past participle fabla or fablet)

  1. to fantasize, dream
    fable om suksess
    dream about success

Derived terms

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References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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From the noun fabel, ultimately from Latin fabula, from fā(rī) (“to speak, say”) + -bula (“instrumental suffix”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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fable (imperative fabl, present tense fablar, simple past and past participle fabla)

  1. to fantasize, dream
    fable om suksess
    dream about success
  2. to make up (something)

Derived terms

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References

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Old French

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin fabula.

Noun

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fable oblique singular, f (oblique plural fables, nominative singular fable, nominative plural fables)

  1. fable, story

Synonyms

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Descendants

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