fablen.
/ˈfeɪbl/, U.S. /ˈfeɪb(ə)l/ 1.
a. A fictitious narrative or statement; a story not founded on fact.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > fiction > [noun] > a work of fiction
fablea1340
fiction1875
fictionalization1954
a1340 R. Rolle Psalter xxxiii. 11 I sall lere ȝow noght þe fabils of poetis, na the storis of tyraunts.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 23857 Bot war a ribaude us tald, Of a fantime or of a fabel.
1483 W. Caxton tr. Caton G vj b The poetes..sayen and rehercen many fables and thynges meruayllous.
?1545 H. Rhodes Bk. Nurture sig. A.iiiv Vse them [sc. children] not to rede fayned fables or vayne fantases.
1642 J. Milton Apol. Smectymnuus 16 Those lofty Fables and Romances, which recount in solemne canto's the deeds of Knighthood.
1700 J. Dryden tr. Ovid Twelfth Bk. Metamorphoses in Fables 441 It seems a Fable, tho' the Fact I saw.
1726 D. Defoe Polit. Hist. Devil i. x. 156 If we may take the [story of Job] for a History, not a Fable.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge xxi. 51 Some say [he] kissed her, but that's a fable.
1860 N. Hawthorne Marble Faun II. ii. 23 It is a most enchanting fable..that is, if it be not a fact.
b. esp. A fictitious story relating to supernatural or extraordinary persons or incidents, and more or less current in popular belief; a myth or legend. (Now rare.) Also, legendary or mythical stories in general; mythological fiction.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > mythology > [noun]
fablea1400
mythology1718
mythos1844
myth-kitty1955
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > mythology > [noun] > a mythical story or myth
fablea1400
mythologica1631
mythos1753
mythologue1792
mythus1825
myth1830
mythology1873
mythologem1884
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 6995, l. 6998 In his [sc. Saleph's] time war þe fabus [Fairf., Gött. fablis; Trin. Cambr. fables] written..Saturnus and sir iubiter, þat we now of in fabuls here.
a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. cvi. f. xliiii Of this last ende and buriyng of Arthur..are tolde many Fables.
a1529 J. Skelton Phyllyp Sparowe (?1545) sig. C.iv I remembre the fable Of Penelope.
1599 J. Davies Nosce Teipsum 26 Minerua is in fables said, From Ioue without a mother to proceed.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 197 [Satan] in bulk as huge As whom the Fables name of monstrous size. View more context for this quotation
1757 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. II. 170 The old fable of Seth's pillars.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth II. 251 The existence..of a pigmy race of mankind, being founded in error, or in fable.
1837 W. S. Landor Pentameron in Wks. (1846) II. 215 Scythia was a land of fable..to the Romans.
1854 H. H. Milman Hist. Lat. Christianity II. iv. i. 10 Mohammedan fable had none of the inventive originality of fiction.
c. A foolish or ridiculous story; idle talk, nonsense; esp. in old wives' (women's) fables (archaic). Also †to take (something) for fable, to hold at fable (transl. Old French tenir a fable).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > empty, idle talk > [noun]
windc1290
trotevalea1300
follyc1300
jangle1340
jangleryc1374
tongue1382
fablec1384
clapa1420
babbling?c1430
clackc1440
pratinga1470
waste?a1475
clattera1500
trattle1513
babble?a1525
tattlea1529
tittle-tattlea1529
chatc1530
babblery1532
bibble-babble1532
slaverings1535
trittle-trattle1563
prate?1574
babblement1595
pribble-prabble1595
pribble1603
morologya1614
pibble-pabblea1616
sounda1616
spitter-spatter1619
argology1623
vaniloquence1623
vaniloquy1623
drivelling1637
jabberment1645
blateration1656
onology1670
whittie-whattiea1687
stultiloquence1721
claver1722
blether1786
havera1796
jaunder1796
havering1808
slaver1825
yatter1827
bugaboo1833
flapdoodle1834
bavardage1835
maunder1835
tattlement1837
slabber1840
gup1848
faddle1850
chatter1851
cock1851
drivel1852
maundering1853
drooling1854
windbaggery1859
blither1866
javer1869
mush1876
slobber1886
guff1888
squit1893
drool1900
macaroni1924
jive1928
natter1943
shtick1948
old talk1956
yack1958
yackety-yack1958
ole talk1964
Haigspeak1981
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > fabrication of statement or story > a false or foolish tale > [noun]
spellc888
triflea1250
talea1325
vanity1340
a tale of waltrot1377
fablec1384
niflec1395
triflerya1400
truffc1430
jest1488
winter's talec1555
winter story1646
galley-packet1786
galley-yarn1874
cuffer1887
ploda1903
scuttlebutt yarn1918
just-so story1922
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Tim. iv. 7 Schonye thou vncouenable fablis and veyn [a1425 L.V. vncouenable fablis, and elde wymmenus fablis].
c1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode (1869) ii. xxi. 83 Wolt þou holde þe gospel at fable?
1508 Bp. J. Fisher Wks. (1876) 85 In the whiche confessyon we may not tell fables and other mennes fautes.
1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. cclxxxviii. 430 Syluester toke it for no fable.
1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning i. sig. F2v After a..time..they [sc. narrations of miracles] grew to be esteemed, but as old wiues fables . View more context for this quotation
1721 J. Strype Eccl. Memorials III. App. xx. 56 [We] distorted them into old wives fables.
d. A fiction invented to deceive; a fabrication, falsehood. †Phrase, without (but, sans) fable.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > [noun] > a falsehood, lie
liec900
leasingc1000
falsehoodc1290
falsedom1297
gabbinga1300
fablec1300
follyc1300
fittenc1440
untruthc1449
crackc1450
fallacy1481
falsity1557
falsedict1579
untroth1581
crackera1625
flam1632
mendacity1646
fairy story1692
false1786
whid1794
gag1805
wrinkle1819
reacher1828
cram1842
untruism1845
crammer1861
inveracity1864
bung1882
fairy tale1896
mistruth1897
post-and-rails1945
pork pie1973
porky1985
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > fabrication of statement or story > [noun] > an invention, fiction, story
fablec1300
fantasy1362
feigning1388
invention?a1513
story?1531
finctionc1540
figment1577
fingure1593
fiction1599
knavigation1613
flam1632
gun1720
novel1764
fabrication1790
fudge1797
gag1805
myth1840
make-up1844
concoction1885
fictionalization1954
c1300 K. Alis. 134 Of gold he made a table Al ful of steorren, saun fable.
c1330 R. Mannyng Chron. (1810) 146 Men..Þat neuer lufed fable bot mayntend pes & right.
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 4608 Þis ȝe witeþ wel alle with-oute any fabul.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 2349 Bot for þis hight moght be no fabul.
a1500 Childe of Bristowe 227 in W. C. Hazlitt Remains Early Pop. Poetry Eng. (1864) I. 119 Al thynges..he gaf aboute, withouten fable, to pore men.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) I. 534 Rycht fair he wes and feccfull als but fabill.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. lxxxviiv The writers of Frenche fables to deface the glorye of the Englishmen, write [etc.].
a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) iv. iv. 74 Sans Fable, she her selfe reuil'd you there. View more context for this quotation
1635 J. Swan Speculum Mundi i. §1. 2 The fables of the Egyptians.
1700 J. Dryden tr. Ovid Speeches Ajax & Ulysses in Fables 457 This is not a Fable forg'd by me, Like one of his, an Ulyssean Lie.
1786 T. Jefferson Writings (1859) II. 52 What is said..on this subject in the Courier d'Europe is entirely fable.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 8 The extraordinary success of the fables of Oates.
e. A creation of fable; something falsely affirmed to exist; a ‘myth’.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > fabrication of statement or story > [noun] > something invented
fiction1495
fablea1593
commentation1652
myth1849
a1593 C. Marlowe Tragicall Hist. Faustus (1604) sig. C2 Come, I thinke hells a fable.
1611 C. Tourneur Atheist's Trag. (new ed.) iv. sig. I3 Their walking spirits are meere imaginarie fables.
1691 J. Hartcliffe Treat. Virtues p. xxiii If a Man cannot believe..that the Immortality of the Soul is a Fable; then [etc.].
1836 J. Gilbert Christian Atonem. v. 174 Some substitute there plainly must be..or moral administration is a fable.
2. A short story devised to convey some useful lesson; esp. one in which animals or inanimate things are the speakers or actors; an apologue. Now the most prominent sense.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > parable, allegory, or apologue > [noun]
byspelc950
by-talea1300
forbyseninga1300
fable1340
parablec1384
similitudea1425
examplec1425
allegoryc1450
problema1500
apologuea1555
byworda1557
mythology1603
Aesopism1845
exemplum1883
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 155 Herof ȝet ysopes þe fable of þe little hounde and of þe asse.
1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope 3 She gaf to hym the yefte of speche for to speke dyuerse fables and Inuencions.
1576 A. Fleming Panoplie Epist. Argt. 227 A fable of the grasshopper and the Ant.
1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning i. sig. F3v The Husband man whereof Æsope makes the Fable . View more context for this quotation
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 183. ¶1 Jothram's Fable of the Trees is the oldest that is extant.
1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature (1799) III. 496 His Fable of the Belly and the Members.
1841 R. W. Emerson Hist. in Ess. 1st Ser. (London ed.) 13 A poet makes twenty fables with one moral.
1865 T. Wright Hist. Caricature (1875) v. 75 We find no traces of fables among the original literature of the German race.
3. [After Latin fabula.] The plot or story of a play or poem. †Also (rarely), a dramatic composition, play.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > a play > [noun] > plot
fable1678
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > fiction > [noun] > plot
plat1589
plot1613
paper-plot1622
bone1647
intrigue1651
action1668
intrigo1672
fable1678
story1679
happy ending1748
storyline1906
plot line1907
1678 T. Rymer Trag. Last Age 4 I have chiefly consider'd the Fable or Plot, which all conclude to be the Soul of a Tragedy.
1693 T. Rymer Short View Trag. sig. G4 This Fable [of Othello] is drawn from a Novel..by Giraldi Cinthio.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 39. ¶3 The Modern Tragedy excels that of Greece and Rome, in the Intricacy and Disposition of the Fable.
1767 B. Thornton in B. Thornton et al. tr. Plautus Comedies II. 112 (note) The part which Lysimachus afterwards takes in the fable.
1779 S. Johnson Cowley in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets I. 138 The fable [of the Davideis] is plainly implex.
1850 R. W. Emerson Shakspeare in Representative Men v. 194 Shakespeare knew that tradition supplies a better fable than any invention can.
a. Talk, in phrase to hold (a person) in fable; discourse, narration. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > narration > [noun]
spellc888
talec1000
telling?c1225
relationc1390
fablec1400
collationc1430
deliverance1431
narrationc1449
exposition1460
recounting1485
deducing1530
recital1565
delivery1592
reporting1603
retailing1609
recountmenta1616
narrative1748
narrating1802
deducement1820
recountal1825
retailment1832
c1400 Rom. Rose 1439 I wole nat longe holde you in fable Of alle this gardyn delectable.
1530 W. Buckmaster Let. in Coll. Docum. Corpus Christi College (Univ. Cambridge) (1838) 24 Here shalbe an ende for this tyme of this fable.
1616 B. Jonson Every Man in his Humor (rev. ed.) ii. i, in Wks. I. 20 Whilst they, sir, to relieue him, in the fable, Make their loose comments, vpon euery word, Gesture, or looke, I vse.
b. The subject of common talk; a person or thing who has become proverbial; a ‘byword’. archaic. [After Latin fabula: see Horace Ep. i. xiii. 9.]
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > [noun] > person or thing much talked about
fable1535
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > [noun] > person or thing much talked about > that has become proverbial
proverba1382
byword1535
fable1535
myth1853
1535 Bible (Coverdale) 1 Kings ix. 7 Israel shall be come a by~worde and fabell [1382 Wyclif, schal be into a proverbe and into a fable] amonge all nacions.
1591 E. Spenser Ruines of Rome in Complaints vii Ye sacred ruines..Alas! by little ye to nothing flie, The people's fable, and the spoyle of all.
1607 B. Jonson Volpone i. v. sig. C4v Knew you not that Sir? 'Tis the common fable . View more context for this quotation
1670 C. Cotton tr. G. Girard Hist. Life Duke of Espernon ii. vii. 316 He..became..the Fable of the Court.
1766 C. Anstey New Bath Guide xv. i. 101 I'm a Fable!..and serve to dispense An Example to all Men of Spirit and Sense.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Gardener's Daughter in Poems (new ed.) II. 19 We grew The fable of the city where we dwelt.
1850 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis II. xxxix. 360 He..broke the bank several nights, and was the fable of the place.
5. ? A trifle, toy. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > of little importance or trivial
gnatc1000
ball play?c1225
smalla1250
triflec1290
fly1297
child's gamec1380
motec1390
mitec1400
child's playc1405
trufferyc1429
toyc1450
curiosity1474
fly-winga1500
neither mass nor matins1528
boys' play1538
nugament1543
knack?1544
fable1552
nincety-fincety1566
mouse1584
molehill1590
coot1594
scoff1594
nidgery1611
pin matter1611
triviality1611
minuity1612
feathera1616
fillip1621
rattle1622
fiddlesticka1625
apex1625
rush candle1628
punctilio1631
rushlight1635
notchet1637
peppercorn1638
petty John1640
emptiness1646
fool-fangle1647
nonny-no1652
crepundian1655
fly-biting1659
pushpin1660
whinny-whanny1673
whiffle1680
straw1692
two and a plack1692
fiddle1695
trivial1715
barley-strawa1721
nothingism1742
curse1763
nihility1765
minutia1782
bee's knee1797
minutiae1797
niff-naff1808
playwork1824
floccinaucity1829
trivialism1830
chicken feed1834
nonsensical1842
meemaw1862
infinitesimality1867
pinfall1868
fidfad1875
flummadiddle1882
quantité négligeable1885
quotidian1902
pipsqueak1905
hickey1909
piddle1910
cream puff1920
squat1934
administrivia1937
chickenshit1938
cream puff1938
diddly-squat1963
non-issue1965
Tinkertoy1972
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Seller of fables, haberdash wares, or trifles.
Compounds
C1. attributive, as fable-book, fable-forge, †fable-lesynge, fable-poem, fable-poetry, fable-tale, fable-type.
ΚΠ
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 421 Varro telleþ nouȝt a fable lesynge.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. iv. 118 And therefore smile I at those Fable-Forges.
1652 C. B. Stapylton tr. Herodian Imperiall Hist. vii. 55 Niger..who tells us a fabile tale.
1788 V. Knox Winter Evenings I. ii. xv. 208 Fable books used for the initiation of children in reading.
1941 L. MacNeice Poetry of Yeats vi. 111 A new kind of fable-poetry which avoids becoming allegory.
1941 L. MacNeice Poetry of Yeats vi. 111 The fable-poems..are dry, unromantic pieces.
1941 L. MacNeice Poetry of Yeats ix. 192 In the plays..fable-types, who correspond to the beggars and fools and hermits of the lyrics.
C2. objective, as fable-forger, fable-maker, fable-monger, fable-teller, fable-weaver, fable-writer; fable-framing, fable-making, fable-mongering, fable-weaving nouns and adjectives.
ΚΠ
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Fabler, or fable teller, or full of fables, fabulosus.
1610 J. Healey tr. St. Augustine Citie of God xviii. xiii. 679 How mischieuous the presumption of those fable-forgers was.
1647 R. Stapleton tr. Juvenal Sixteen Satyrs 173 Rhodope..(fellow bondwoman to Æsope the fable-maker).
a1661 B. Holyday in tr. Juvenal Satyres (1673) Pref. The famous Italian fable-weaver, Ariosto.
1677 T. Gale Court of Gentiles: Pt. III iii. 72 The Pythagorising Jewish humor of Fable-framing Philosophie.
1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iv. 190 The Licentious Figments of Poets and Fable-Mongers.
1691 J. Dryden Let. Sir G. Etherege in Hist. Adolphus 76 All those Fable-makers.
1734 D. Waterland Scripture Vindicated Pref. xxii The attentive Readers may perceive how to distinguish the true and proper Allegorists from the Fable-mongers or Mythics.
1833 H. A. in Philol. Museum 2 442 Men who were not fable-makers or compilers of marvellous stories.
1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick xxxiv. 168 His credulous, fable-mongering ears.
1905 Westm. Gaz. 25 Feb. 10/3 A fable-writer and dramatic poet.
1911 S. S. Colvin Learning Process viii. 117 The tendency to fable-making causes him [sc. a child] to make statements..at variance with the truth.
1946 E. Blunden Shelley 24 In these fable-weavings something of the desire to be an author is seen.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1894; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
fablev.
/ˈfeɪbl/, U.S. /ˈfeɪb(ə)l/ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > conversation > converse [verb (intransitive)]
yedc888
speak971
rounda1200
talka1225
tevela1225
intercommunec1374
fable1382
parlec1400
reason?c1425
communique?1473
devise1477
cutc1525
wade1527
enterparle1536
discourse1550
to hold one chat, with chat, in chat1573
parley1576
purpose1590
dialogue1595
commerce1596
dialoguize1596
communicate1598
propose1600
dialogize1601
converse1615
tella1616
interlocute1621
interparle1791
conversate1811
colloquize1823
conversationize1826
colloque1850
visit1862
colloquy1868
to make conversation1921
1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) Luke xxiv. 15 While they talkiden (or fableden) [L. fabularentur]..Ihesu him self neiȝynge went with hem.
1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Ai/2 To Fable, talke, confabulari.
a. To tell fictitious tales, speak fiction, romance.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > fabrication of statement or story > a false or foolish tale > tell tales [verb (intransitive)]
fablec1380
fabulize1612
romance1653
to play (also tip) the traveller1697
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > fiction > tell or write fiction [verb (intransitive)]
fablec1380
c1380 Eng. Wycliffite Serm. in Sel. Wks. II. 133 Whanne men speken fables þei fablen in þer speche.
1401 in T. Wright Polit. Poems & Songs (1859) II. 41 Daw, thou fablest of foxes.
1571 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Psalmes of Dauid with Comm. (xviii. 16) David..doth not fable like a Poet.
1595 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 v. v. 25 Let Aesop fable in a winters night.
a1721 M. Prior 1st Hymn Callimachus 69 Saturn's sons..Old poets mention, fabling.
1814 R. Southey Roderick vi. 115 I do not dream nor fable.
b. To talk idly. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > empty, idle talk > talk idly [verb (intransitive)]
chattera1250
drivelc1390
clatter1401
chatc1440
smattera1450
pratec1460
blaver1461
babble?1504
blether1524
boblec1530
trattlea1555
tittle-tattle1556
fable1579
tinkle1638
whiffle1706
slaver1730
doitera1790
jaunder1808
haver1816
maunder1816
blather1825
yatter1825
blat1846
bibble-babble1888
flap-doodle1893
twiddle1893
spiel1894
rot1896
blither1903
to run off at the mouth1908
drool1923
twiddle-twaddle1925
crap1940
natter1942
yack1950
yacker1961
yacket1969
1579 J. Jones Arte preseruing Bodie & Soule i. xviii. 31 Let Paracelsus..neuer so foolishly fable to the contrarie.
1653 S. Fisher Παιδοβαπτιζοντες Παιδιζοντες: Baby-baptism 7 Fabling about moods and figures.
1870 Daily News 15 Oct. 5/2 Superstition is at last resolvable into the claim of ignorance..to fable of the ineffable.
3. To speak falsely, talk falsehoods, lie. Const. with. Obsolete exc. archaic.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > lie, tell lies [verb (intransitive)]
lie971
leasec1000
triflec1305
gabc1330
fablec1525
fitten1577
falsify1629
Cretize1655
a bottle of smoke1787
wrinkle1819
blague1883
c1525 J. Rastell New Commodye Propertes of Women sig. Avi I wonder where she getts The thyngs that she hath with folks for to fable.
1535 A. Borde Let. 2 Aug. in Fyrst Bk. Introd. Knowl. (1870) Foreword 57 In wytnes þat I do not fable with yow.
a1625 W. Shakespeare & J. Fletcher Two Noble Kinsmen (1634) iii. v. 107 To say veritie, and not to fable; We are a merry rout, or else a rable. View more context for this quotation
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 158 [Those who have made a pilgrimage to Mecca] are euer after accounted Syets or Holy men, and cannot fable from that time forward.
1801 R. Southey Thalaba II. x. 227 Thou hast fabled with me!
1814 J. West Alicia de Lacy III. 268 Mother, I do not fable.
4. transitive. To say or talk about fictitiously; to relate as in a fable, fiction, or myth; to fabricate, invent (an incident, a personage, story, etc.). With simple and object complement, to with infinitive, with sentence as object; also absol. †to fable up: to work up by fiction into.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > inventive or creative faculty > contrive, devise, or invent [verb (transitive)] > a story, etc.
fable1553
frame1576
to lay together1603
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > fabrication of statement or story > invent, concoct [verb (transitive)]
forgec1386
contrivec1400
commentc1450
dissimule1483
devisea1535
invent1535
fable1553
coin1561
to make upc1650
manufacture1700
to tell the tale1717
fabricate1779
concoct1792
fob1805
mythologize1851
fabulate1856
phoney1940
society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > fiction > relate or represent in fiction [verb (transitive)]
feign1413
fable1553
to story out1570
1553 R. Eden tr. S. Münster Treat. Newe India sig. Mvjv What foles do fable, take thou no hede at all.
1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest f. 96 It is fabled with the Poets, that Ixion, Junoes Secretary, prouoked hir to Venery.
1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis ii. 25 Hee fabled sundrye reportes.
1603 J. Stow Suruay of London (new ed.) 34 Aldersgate..called not of..Eldarne trees..as some haue fabuled.
1612 J. Speed Theatre of Empire of Great Brit. i. xi. 21/2 The Hurlers..fabuled to bee men metamorphosed into stones.
1638 J. Ford Fancies iii. 42 That is a truth much fabled, never found.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vi. 292 Turn this Heav'n it self into the Hell Thou fablest . View more context for this quotation
1726 D. Defoe Polit. Hist. Devil i. x. 153 Men soon fabl'd up their Histories..into Miracle and Wonder.
1741 I. Watts Improvem. Mind i. i. 8 The most learned of Mortals will never..act over again what is fabled of Alexander.
1750 W. Warburton Julian v Of these [cannon] the Chinese were at liberty to fable what they pleased.
1774 T. Pennant Tour Scotl. 1772 354 This castle is fabled to have been founded by Ewin.
1797 S. T. Coleridge Relig. Musings (new ed.) in Poems (ed. 2) 135 Armed Deities, Such as the blind Ionian fabled erst.
1815 W. Wordsworth White Doe of Rylstone iv. 71 More clear Than Ghosts are fabled to appear.
1850 Ld. Tennyson Princess (ed. 3) iii. 58 I fabled nothing fair, But, your example pilot, told her all.
1869 J. Phillips Vesuvius viii. 207 The inhabitants fabled that the birds which attempted to fly over it fell down into the water.
1877 L. Morris Epic of Hades iii. 12 And so men fabled me, a huntress.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1894; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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