LEGEND


Meaning of LEGEND in English

I. ˈlejənd noun

( -s )

Etymology: Middle English legende, from Middle French & Medieval Latin; Middle French legende, from Medieval Latin legenda, from Latin legendus, gerundive of legere to gather, select, read; akin to Greek legein to collect, gather, choose, speak, logos word, reason, speech, account, Albanian mb- leth I collect

1.

a. : the story of the life of a saint

b. : a collection of such stories

c. : account , history

those rambling letters … are naught else than a legend of the cumbersome life and various fortunes of a cadet — James Howell

2.

a. : lectionary 1

b. : passional

3.

a. : a story coming down from the past ; especially : one handed down from early times by tradition and popularly regarded as historical although not entirely verifiable

all the well-known families had their grotesque or tragic or romantic legends — W.B.Yeats

legends regarding buried treasure … are as numerous as they are improbable — Thomas Barbour

steeped himself in the legends of the river — Saxe Commins

b. : the total body of such stories and traditions ; especially : the collective stories and traditions of a particular group (as a people or clan)

a place in American legend

local legend perpetuates the tale — American Guide Series: Oregon

lives on in legend

c. : a popular myth usually of current or recent origin

the legends they weave offer valuable clues to their nature — Julian Towster

creation of a legend about a movie star by the publicity department

d. : one around whom such stories and traditions have grown up : one having a special status as a result of possessing or being held to possess extraordinary qualities that are usually partly real and partly mythical

a legend at forty-seven, as he has been for some years — Ward Morehouse

had already had a resounding public career and … become a legend in his own time — Vincent Sheean

e. : the subject of a legend

some cartoons … are good enough to become legend — Gerald Gottlieb

big bonuses in prosperous times are legend — Newsweek

4.

a. : the wording (as an inscription, motto, or title) on an object

a brass placard bore the legend — Erle Stanley Gardner

cancellation with the three-line legend — Stamps

the legends on both sides of the coins — J.F.Lhotka

on one side of the glass entrance is a legend twenty feet in height — R.G.Young

b. : caption 4b

c. : an explanatory list of the symbols appearing on a map or chart

d. : a statement on the label of a drug product indicating that federal law prohibits the druggist from dispensing it except on the prescription of a physician

Synonyms: see myth

II. transitive verb

( -ed/-ing/-s )

: to inscribe (as a map or illustration) with a legend

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.