Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Wiktionary

fable

English

edit
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

edit

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

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

Noun

edit

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

edit
edit

Translations

edit
story told to excite wonder
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

edit

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

edit

Translations

edit

Further reading

edit

Anagrams

edit

French

edit
French  Wikisource has original text related to this entry:

Wikisource fr

Etymology

edit

Inherited from Old French fable, borrowed from Latin fabula.

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

fable f (plural fables)

  1. fable, story
    Synonyms: conte, histoire
edit

Descendants

edit
  • → Turkish: fabl

Further reading

edit

Norwegian Bokmål

edit

Etymology

edit

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

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

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

edit

References

edit

Norwegian Nynorsk

edit

Etymology

edit

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

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

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

edit

References

edit

Old French

edit

Etymology

edit

Borrowed from Latin fabula.

Noun

edit

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

  1. fable, story

Synonyms

edit

Descendants

edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=fable&oldid=80539290"