\Al"le*go*ry\, n.; pl. {Allegories}. [L. allegoria, Gr.
?, description of one thing under the image of another; ?
other + ? to speak in the assembly, harangue, ? place of
assembly, fr. ? to assemble: cf. F. all['e]gorie.]
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.
2. Anything which represents by suggestive resemblance; an
   emblem.
3. (Paint. & Sculpt.) A figure representation which has a
   meaning beyond notion directly conveyed by the object
   painted or sculptured.
Syn: Metaphor; fable.
Usage: {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.
Note: An allegory is a prolonged metaphor. Bunyan's
      ``Pilgrim's Progress'' and Spenser's ``Fa["e]rie
      Queene'' are celebrated examples of the allegory.