{ } a. [ F. allégorique, L. allegorius, fr. Gr. &unr_;. See Allegory. ] Belonging to, or consisting of, allegory; of the nature of an allegory; describing by resemblances; figurative. “An allegoric tale.” Falconer. “An allegorical application.” Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

Allegorical being . . . that kind of language which says one thing, but means another. Max Miller. [ 1913 Webster ]

Al`le*gor"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Al`le*gor"ic*al*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. allegoriste. ] One who allegorizes; a writer of allegory. Hume. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of turning into allegory, or of understanding in an allegorical sense. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Allegorized p. pr. & vb. n. Allegorizing. ] [ Cf. F. allégoriser, fr. L. allegorizare. ] 1. To form or turn into allegory; as, to allegorize the history of a people. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To treat as allegorical; to understand in an allegorical sense; as, when a passage in a writer may understood literally or figuratively, he who gives it a figurative sense is said to allegorize it. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To use allegory. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who allegorizes, or turns things into allegory; an allegorist. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Allegories [ L. allegoria, Gr. &unr_;, description of one thing under the image of another; &unr_; other + &unr_; to speak in the assembly, harangue, &unr_; place of assembly, fr. &unr_; to assemble: cf. F. allégorie. ] 1. A figurative sentence or discourse, in which the principal subject is described by another subject resembling it in its properties and circumstances. The real subject is thus kept out of view, and we are left to collect the intentions of the writer or speaker by the resemblance of the secondary to the primary subject. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Anything which represents by suggestive resemblance; an emblem. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Paint. & Sculpt.) A figure representation which has a meaning beyond notion directly conveyed by the object painted or sculptured. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Metaphor; fable. -- Allegory, Parable. “An allegory differs both from fable and parable, in that the properties of persons are fictitiously represented as attached to things, to which they are as it were transferred. . . . A figure of Peace and Victory crowning some historical personage is an allegory. “I am the Vine, ye are the branches” [ John xv. 1-6 ] is a spoken allegory. In the parable there is no transference of properties. The parable of the sower [ Matt. xiii. 3-23 ] represents all things as according to their proper nature. In the allegory quoted above the properties of the vine and the relation of the branches are transferred to the person of Christ and His apostles and disciples.” C. J. Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

An allegory is a prolonged metaphor. Bunyan's “Pilgrim's Progress” and Spenser's “Faërie Queene” are celebrated examples of the allegory. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. pl. [ NL., fr. Gr. 'anti` against + &unr_; to speak; part. pass. &unr_;. ] (Eccl.) Certain books of the New Testament which were for a time not universally received, but which are now considered canonical. These are the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistles of James and Jude, the second Epistle of Peter, the second and third Epistles of John, and the Revelation. The undisputed books are called the Homologoumena. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) See Coalgoose. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. [ Sp. Gallego. ] A native or inhabitant of Galicia, in Spain; a Galician. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Legal, and Literary. ] Pertaining to the literature of law. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of the nature of a prolegomenon; preliminary; introductory; prefatory. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Prolegomena [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_;, properly neut. pass. p. pr. of &unr_; to say beforehand; &unr_; before + &unr_; to say. ] A preliminary remark or observation; an introductory discourse prefixed to a book or treatise. D. Stokes (1659). Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. th^le far + root of Gr. &unr_; to be born. ] (Biol.) The supposed influence of a father upon offspring subsequent to his own, begotten of the same mother by another father. -- Te*leg"o*nous a. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]