Definition of "fable" in Anglais

noun

1. A fictitious narrative intended to enforce some useful truth or precept, usually with animals, etc. as characters; an apologue. Prototypically, Aesop's Fables.

2. Any story told to excite wonder; common talk; the theme of talk.

3. Fiction; untruth; falsehood.

4. The plot, story, or connected series of events forming the subject of an epic or dramatic poem.

verb

1. (intransitive, archaic) To compose fables; hence, to write or speak fiction; to write or utter what is not true.

   • 1852, Matthew Arnold, Empedocles on Etna, Act II, in Empedocles on Etna and Other Poems, London: B. Fellowes, p. 50, 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.