PARABLE
Par"a*ble, n. Etym: [F. parabole, L. parabola, fr. Gr. gal to drop.
Cf. Emblem, Gland, Palaver, Parabola, Parley, Parabole, Symbol.]
Defn: A comparison; a similitude; specifically, a short fictitious narrative of something which might really occur in life or nature, by means of which a moral is drawn; as, the parables of Christ. Chaucer. Declare unto us the parable of the tares. Matt. xiii. 36.
Syn.
— See Allegory, and Note under Apologue.
PARABLE
Par"a*ble, v. t.
Defn: To represent by parable. [R.]
Which by the ancient sages was thus parabled. Milton.
PARABOLA Pa*rab"o*la, n.; pl. Parabolas. Etym: [NL., fr. Gr. Parable, and cf. Parabole.] (Geom.) (a) A kind of curve; one of the conic sections formed by the intersection of the surface of a cone with a plane parallel to one of its sides. It is a curve, any point of which is equally distant from a fixed point, called the focus, and a fixed straight line, called the directrix. See Focus. (b) One of a group of curves defined by the equation y = axn where n is a positive whole number or a positive fraction. For the cubical parabola n = 3; for the semicubical parabola n = Cubical, and Semicubical. The parabolas have infinite branches, but no rectilineal asymptotes.
PARABOLE
Pa*rab"o*le, n. Etym: [L., fr. Gr. Parable.] (Rhet.)
Defn: Similitude; comparison.
PARABOLIC; PARABOLICAL
Par`a*bol"ic, Par`a*bol"ic*al, a. Etym: [Gr. parabolique. See
Parable.]
1. Of the nature of a parable; expressed by a parable or figure; allegorical; as, parabolical instruction.