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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



123 words match “FABLE”

FABULIZE v.
To invent, compose, or relate fables or fictions. G. S. Faber.
FABULOUS a.
Feigned, as a story or fable; related in fable; devised; invented; not real; fictitious; as, a fabulous description; a fabulous hero. The fabulous birth of Minerva. Chesterfield.
FACILE a.
Easy of access or converse; mild; courteous; not haughty, austere, or distant; affable; complaisant. I meant she should be courteous, facile, sweet. B. Jonson.
FALCHION n.
name given generally and poetically to a sword, especially to the swords of Oriental and fabled warriors.
FENG-HWANG n.
A pheasantlike bird of rich plumage and graceful form and movement, fabled to appear in the land on the accession of a sage to the throne, or when right principles are about to prevail. It is often represented on porcelains and other works of art.
FORTE n.
The strong point; that in which one excels. fort"a The construction of a fable seems by no means the forte of our modern poetical writers. Jeffrey.
FOUNTAIN n.
onch shell (Strombus gigas). -- Fountain of youth, a mythical fountain whose waters were fabled to have the property of renewing youth.
GANZA n.
A kind of wild goose, by a flock of which a virtuoso was fabled to be carried to the lunar world. [Also gansa.] Johnson.
GOLDEN a.
second year is the ring-tailed eagle. -- Golden fleece. (a) (Mythol.) The fleece of gold fabled to have been taken from the ram that bore Phryxus through the air to Colchis, and in quest of which Jason undertook the Argonautic expedition. (b) (Her.) An order of knighthood instituted in 1429 by Philip the Good, Duke of…
GORGON n.
One of three fabled sisters, Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, with snaky hair and of terrific aspect, the sight of whom turned the beholder to stone. The name is particularly given to Medusa.
HAND v.
, to transmit in succession, as from father to son, or from predecessor to successor; as, fables are handed down from age to age; to forward to the proper officer (the decision of a higher court); as, the Clerk of the Court of Appeals handed down its decision. -- To hand over, to yield control of; to surrender; to del…
HERCULES n.
A hero, fabled to have been the son of Jupiter and Alcmena, and celebrated for great strength, esp. for the accomplishment of his twelve great tasks or "labors."
HESPERIDES n.
The daughters of Hesperus, or Night (brother of Atlas), and fabled possessors of a garden producing golden apples, in Africa, at the western extremity of the known world. To slay the guarding dragon and get some of these apples was one of the labors of Hercules. Called also Atlantides.
HIPPOCRENE n.
A fountain on Mount Helicon in Boeotia, fabled to have burst forth when the ground was struck by the hoof of Pegasus. Also, its waters, which were supposed to impart poetic inspiration. Keats. Nor maddening draughts of Hippocrene. Longfellow.
HOMILETIC; HOMILETICAL a.
Of or pertaining to familiar intercourse; social; affable; conversable; companionable. [R.] His virtues active, chiefly, and homiletical, not those lazy, sullen ones of the cloister. Atterbury.
IMPLEX a.
Intricate; entangled; complicated; complex. The fable of every poem is . . . simple or implex. it is called simple when there is no change of fortune in it; implex, when the fortune of the chief actor changes from bad to good, or from good to bad. Addison.
INEFFABILITY n.
The quality or state of being ineffable; ineffableness; unspeakableness.
INENARRABLE a.
Incapable of being narrated; indescribable; ineffable. [Obs.] "Inenarrable goodness." Bp. Fisher.
INEXPRESSIBLE a.
Not capable of expression or utterance in language; ineffable; unspeakable; indescribable; unutterable; as, inexpressible grief or pleasure. "Inexpressible grandeur." Blair. In orbs Of circuit inexpressible they stood. Milton.
INFLATUS n.
athing into; inflation; inspiration. The divine breath that blows the nostrils out To ineffable inflatus. Mrs. Browning.
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