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folklore

 - 4 dictionary results

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.
Use folklore in a Sentence
Origin:
1846; folk + lore; coined by English scholar and antiquary William John Thoms (1803–85)

Related forms:
folklorist, noun
folk⋅lor⋅is⋅tic, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To folklore
folk·lore   (fōk'lôr', -lōr')   
n.  

  1. The traditional beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a people, transmitted orally.

  2. The comparative study of folk knowledge and culture. Also called folkloristics.

    1. A body of widely accepted but usually specious notions about a place, a group, or an institution: Rumors of their antics became part of the folklore of Hollywood.

    2. A popular but unfounded belief.

folk'lor'ic adj., folk'lor'ish adj., folk'lor'ist n., folk'lor·is'tic adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cultural Dictionary

folklore

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.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

folklore 
1846, coined by antiquarian William J. Thoms (1803-85) 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 (1891), folk-song (1847), folk-dance (1912). Folk-music is from 1889; in reference to the branch of modern popular music (originally associated with Greenwich Village in New York City) it dates from 1958.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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