folk·lore

[fohk-lawr, -lohr]
noun
1.
the traditional beliefs, legends, customs, etc., of a people; lore of a people.
2.
the study of such lore.
3.
a body of widely held but false or unsubstantiated beliefs.

Origin:
1846; folk + lore; coined by English scholar and antiquary William John Thoms (1803–85)

folk·lor·ist, noun
folk·lor·is·tic, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
folklore (ˈfəʊkˌlɔː) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  the unwritten literature of a people as expressed in folk tales, proverbs, riddles, songs, etc
2.  the body of stories and legends attached to a particular place, group, activity, etc: Hollywood folklore; rugby folklore
3.  the anthropological discipline concerned with the study of folkloric materials
 
'folkloric
 
adj
 
'folklorist
 
n, —adj
 
folklor'istic
 
adj

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10
Folklore is always a great word to know.
So is ort. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

folklore
1846, coined by antiquarian William J. Thoms (1803-1885) as an Anglo-Saxonism (replacing popular antiquaries) and first published in the "Athenaeum" of Aug. 22, 1846, from folk + lore. This word revived folk in a modern sense of "of the common people,
whose culture is handed down orally," and opened up a flood of compound formations, eg. folk art (1921), folk-hero (1899), folk-medicine (1898), folk-tale/folk tale (1891), folk-song (1847), folk-dance (1912).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

folklore definition


Traditional stories and legends, transmitted orally (rather than in writing) from generation to generation. The stories of Paul Bunyan are examples of American folklore.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Example sentences
Folklore always knew this: wicked stepfathers have been a staple of fairy-tales
  since time immemorial.
The impact can be so devastating that local folklore is full of tales about
  this natural cyclical event.
In particular, it is well recognized as having one of the top folklore
  departments in the world.
Students read folklore and myths about vampires from around the world, as.
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