allegory

1. (uncountable, rhetoric) The use of symbols which may be interpreted to reveal a hidden, broader message, usually a moral or political one, about real-world issues and occurrences; also, the interpretation of such symbols.Examples: "In theſe teſtimonies vvhich they alledge of the ſcripture there are certayne, vvhiche are vvell nere of no vvayghte, but there is none of them, but eyther it is darke vvith the myſte of allegorie: or els it dothe receyue dyuerſe and manifolde interpretations."; "As some of the finest compositions among the ancients are in allegory, I have endeavoured, in several of my papers, to revive that way of writing, and hope I have not been altogether unsuccessful in it; […]"; "Allegory Metaphors continues still, / Which with new graces every sentence fill."rhetoricuncountable

2. (countable, by extension)Examples: "[T]houghe ſome woordes ſpoken by the mouthe of Chriſt written in ſcripture, be to be vnderſtanden only by way of a ſimilitude or an allegory: it foloweth not therupõ [thereupon] that of neceſſitye euerye like woorde of Chriſt in other places was none other but an allegory."; "[…] Abraham had two ſonnes, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman, was borne after the fleſh: but hee of the freewoman, was by promiſe. Which things are an Allegorie; for theſe are the two Couenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. […] But Jeruſalem which is aboue is free, which is the mother of vs all."; "[T]hey held the Creed in the plain literal ſenſe thereof vvithout any ſhuffling Allegories, […]"broadlycountableuncountable

3. (countable, by extension)Examples: "[T]he Harp of Ireland, puts me in mind, of that Glorious Embleme, or Allegory, vvherein the vviſdome of Antiquity, did figure, and ſhadovv out, vvorks of this Nature."; "Among all the great men of antiquity, Procruſtes ſhall never be my hero of legiſlation; vvith his iron bed, the allegory of his government, and the type of ſome modern policy, by vvhich the long limb vvas to be cut ſhort, and the ſhort tortured into length. Such vvas this ſtate bed of uniformity!"; "There were casts of the Gladiator—he whose native courage struggled against the doom which was yet welcome—a mournful allegory of honour."broadlycountableuncountable

4. (countable, by extension)broadlycountableuncountable