/lej"euhnd/ , n.
1. a nonhistorical or unverifiable story handed down by tradition from earlier times and popularly accepted as historical.
2. the body of stories of this kind, esp. as they relate to a particular people, group, or clan: the winning of the West in American legend.
3. an inscription, esp. on a coat of arms, on a monument, under a picture, or the like.
4. a table on a map, chart, or the like, listing and explaining the symbols used. Cf. key 1 (def. 8).
5. Numis. inscription (def. 8).
6. a collection of stories about an admirable person.
7. a person who is the center of such stories: She became a legend in her own lifetime.
8. Archaic. a story of the life of a saint, esp. one stressing the miraculous or unrecorded deeds of the saint.
9. Obs. a collection of such stories or stories like them.
[ 1300-50; 1900-05 for def. 4; ME legende written account of a saint's life legenda lit., (lesson) to be read, n. use of fem. of L legendus, ger. of legere to read; so called because appointed to be read on respective saints' days ]
Syn. 1. LEGEND, FABLE, MYTH refer to fictitious stories, usually handed down by tradition (although some fables are modern). LEGEND, originally denoting a story concerning the life of a saint, is applied to any fictitious story, sometimes involving the supernatural, and usually concerned with a real person, place, or other subject: the legend of the Holy Grail.
A FABLE is specifically a fictitious story (often with animals or inanimate things as speakers or actors) designed to teach a moral: a fable about industrious bees. A MYTH is one of a class of stories, usually concerning gods, semidivine heroes, etc., current since primitive times, the purpose of which is to attempt to explain some belief or natural phenomenon: the Greek myth about Demeter.
Ant. 1. fact.