allegory

  • 1ALLEGORY — ALLEGORY, a narrative in which the agents and the action, and sometimes the setting as well, are contrived not only to make sense in themselves, but also to signify a second correlated order of things, concepts, or events (Abrams). In the Bible A …

    Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • 2allegory —    Allegory is typically defined as a descriptive or narrative literary text wherein the actions, the objects, and the characters signify ideas or concepts that lie outside the text itself. It might be seen as a kind of extended metaphor in which …

    Encyclopedia of medieval literature

  • 3allegory — 1 Allegory, symbolism designate methods of representation in art. Both characteristically aim to represent concretely something that is abstract or for some other reason not directly representable. Allegory is applied to a form of representation… …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 4Allegory — Al le*go*ry, n.; pl. {Allegories}. [L. allegoria, Gr. ?, description of one thing under the image of another; ? other + ? to speak in the assembly, harangue, ? place of assembly, fr. ? to assemble: cf. F. all[ e]gorie.] 1. A figurative sentence… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 5allegory — allegory, fable, parable 1. All three words denote a narrative or story that symbolizes other persons and events. Allegory flourished in medieval literature and later (Spenser s Faerie Queene, 1590–6; Bunyan s Pilgrim s Progress, 1678–84, in… …

    Modern English usage

  • 6allegory — (n.) late 14c., from O.Fr. allegorie (12c.), from L. allegoria, from Gk. allegoria figurative language, description of one thing under the image of another, lit. a speaking about something else, from allos another, different (see ALIAS (Cf.… …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 7allegory — [n] indirect representation, storytelling apologue, emblem, fable, figuration, moral, myth, parable, story, symbol, symbolism, symbolization, tale, typification; concept 282 …

    New thesaurus

  • 8allegory — ► NOUN (pl. allegories) ▪ a story, poem, or picture which can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. DERIVATIVES allegorist noun allegorization (also allegorisation) noun allegorize (also allegorise) verb. ORIGIN Greek all …

    English terms dictionary

  • 9allegory — [al′ə gôr΄ē] n. pl. allegories [ME allegorie < L allegoria < Gr allēgoria, description of one thing under the image of another < allos, other (see ELSE) + agoreuein, to speak in assembly < agora, AGORA1] 1. a story in which people,… …

    English World dictionary

  • 10Allegory — Tempera on panel, 61 × 51 cm, c. 1500.The Allegory of Music is a popular theme in painting; in this example, Lippi uses symbols popular during the High Renaissance, many of which refer to Greek mythology.] An allegory (from el. αλλος, allos,… …

    Wikipedia