Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An unverified story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical.
- noun A body or collection of such stories.
- noun One that inspires legends or achieves legendary fame.
- noun An inscription or title on an object, such as a coin.
- noun An explanatory caption accompanying an illustration.
- noun An explanatory table or list of the symbols appearing on a map or chart.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To narrate or celebrate in or as in a legend.
- To furnish with an inscription; inscribe with a legend: as, “a legended tomb,”
- noun In the early church, a selection of readings from Scripture appointed for use at divine service; later, and more especially, the chronicle or register of the lives of the saints, formerly read at matins and in the refectories of religious houses.
- noun An entertaining story, especially in early times one relating to wonders or miracles told of a saint; hence, any unauthentic and improbable or non-historical narrative handed down from early times; a tradition.
- noun A musical composition set to a poetical story, or intended to express such a story without words.
- noun An inscription or device of any kind; particularly, the inscription on a shield or coat or arms, or the explanatory inscription on a monument or under a plan or drawing, or the inscription which accompanies a picture, whether descriptive or supposed to stand for words used by the persons represented in the picture.
- noun In numismatics, the words or letters stamped on the obverse or the reverse of a coin or medal: sometimes differentiated from, inscription as the reading around the circumference of a coin or medal, and sometimes as all that is inscribed excepting the name of the sovereign or other person represented.
- noun A roll; list; book.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To tell or narrate, as a legend.
- noun That which is appointed to be read; especially, a chronicle or register of the lives of saints, formerly read at matins, and in the refectories of religious houses.
- noun A story respecting saints; especially, one of a marvelous nature.
- noun Any wonderful story coming down from the past, but not verifiable by historical record; a myth; a fable.
- noun An inscription, motto, or title, esp. one surrounding the field in a medal or coin, or placed upon an heraldic shield or beneath an engraving or illustration.
- noun See under
Golden .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
story of unknown origin describingplausible butextraordinary pastevents . - noun A story in which a
kernel of truth isembellished to an unlikely degree. - noun A leading
protagonist in a historical legend. - noun A person of extraordinary
accomplishment . - noun A
key to the symbols and color codes on amap ,chart , etc. - noun The text on a coin.
- noun A fabricated backstory for a spy, with associated documents and records; a
cover story . - noun UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, colloquial, slang A cool, nice or helpful person, especially one who is male.
- verb archaic, transitive To
tell ornarrate ; torecount .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun brief description accompanying an illustration
- noun a story about mythical or supernatural beings or events
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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MARADONA the legend of football my most adorable football legend~ Full name: Diego
WN.com - Articles related to Maradona and Messi arrive in South Africa 2010
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It conjures the Orpheus legend from myriad oblique angles — the long, elusive Ashbery poem the mezzo-soprano sings (Kristen Hoff, showing a clear-stream tone and superb diction) gives snapshots of the story while questioning both its very essence and whether living on in legend is really living at all.
Archive 2008-07-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2008
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It conjures the Orpheus legend from myriad oblique angles — the long, elusive Ashbery poem the mezzo-soprano sings (Kristen Hoff, showing a clear-stream tone and superb diction) gives snapshots of the story while questioning both its very essence and whether living on in legend is really living at all.
Magna Carter (3): The stuff that dreams are made of Matthew Guerrieri 2008
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Under the term legend the modern concept would include every untrue tale.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 9: Laprade-Mass Liturgy 1840-1916 1913
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The term legend, of course, is a fairly flexible one in sports broadcasting, but The Shankly Years, the first in the series, boasted a font of great anecdotes about the eponymous genuine article.
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February 16th, 2010 at 2: 18 pm wildwilly1111 (I - Bank of America Merrill Lynch) says: cch sharpton, a legend is his own mind.
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Ms. BOB used the word "legend" to describe Ms. Elias, without knowing that Ms. Elias actually is a legend in the opera world, having performed at the Met 686 times since making her debut there in 1954.
Learning From A Rave Revue Lizzie Simon 2011
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Just inside the legend is an encircling pair of olive branches, crossed and tied at the bottom but slightly apart at the top.
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A final observation of the legend is the emphasis placed on maize (which is indigenous to the New World).
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A final observation of the legend is the emphasis placed on maize (which is indigenous to the New World).
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In SDS slang, he was creating his ‘legend’. A good legend would account for every aspect of the character’s story and personality, and would make it possible for a spy to be a ‘deep swimmer’ rather than a ‘shallow paddler’.
Katrina Forrester · Shag another: In Bed with the Police · LRB 7 November 2013 Katrina Forrester 2022
fio_smiles commented on the word legend
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June 13, 2008
fio_smiles commented on the word legend
A legend (Latin, legenda, "things to be read") is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. Legend, for its active and passive participants, includes no happenings that are outside the realm of "possibility", defined by a highly flexible set of parameters, which may include miracles that are perceived as actually having happened, within the specific tradition of indoctrination where the legend arises, and within which it may be transformed over time, in order to keep it fresh and vital, and realistic.
A legend is a story, that is probably about someone that did exist but has been twisted to seem more interesting and fascinating. This story is passed down generation to generation. Most legends are pourquoi stories.
Ernst Bernheim suggested that legend is simply the survival of rumour.
June 13, 2008
fio_smiles commented on the word legend
Origin of the word:
c.1340, from O.Fr. legende (12c.), from M.L. legenda "legend, story," lit. "(things) to be read," on certain days in church, etc., from neuter plural gerundive of L. legere "to read, gather, select" (see lecture). Used originally of saints' lives; extended sense of "nonhistorical or mythical story" first recorded 1613. Meaning "writing or inscription" (especially on a coin or medal) is from 1611; on a map, illustration, etc., from 1903.
June 13, 2008
MaryW commented on the word legend
Tim Weiner, Enemies: A History of the FBI (New York: Random House, 2012), p. 181July 19, 2017
ry commented on the word legend
cf. qms
July 27, 2019