lore

All the facts and traditions about a particular subject that have been accumulated over time through education or experience.

Noun

  1. All the facts and traditions about a particular subject that have been accumulated over time through education or experience.
    • the recondite lore of the Ancient Egyptians
    • He to them calles and speakes, yet nought avayles; / They heare him not, they have forgot his lore / But go which way they list; their guide they have forelore. - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in...
    • The succession story would get repeated so often that it would turn into Silicon Valley lore. - 2025, Karen Hao, Empire of AI, New York City: Penguin Press, →ISBN:
  2. The backstory, especially for a character or setting, created around a fictional universe.
    • Lore documents reveal that she was backstabbed by her subordinate, who wanted to become king, and she feels vengeful about it.
    • You might have stumbled upon discussions of Bloodborne's lore - there are plenty of discussions about Bloodborne's lore - which can be more than a little dense and, to the outsider, off-putting. - 2018 March 6, Martin...

    Coordinate Terms: canon

    1. (by extension, Internet slang) Trivia shared by a person about themself.

      • It's Ashot lore that I used to have a priv where I posted pictures of weird animals I found on the street.
      • Most new followers don't know about my marching band lore.

      Coordinate Terms: canon

  3. Workmanship.
    • In her right hand a rod of peace shee bore, / About the which two serpents weren wound; / Entrayled mutually in lovely lore, / And by the tailes together firmely bound […] - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the...

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *leys- Proto-Indo-European *(le-)lóys-e Proto-Germanic *lizaną Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Germanic *-janą Proto-Germanic *laizijaną Proto-Germanic *laizō Proto-West Germanic *laiʀu Old English lār Middle English lore English lore From Middle English lore, from Old English lār, from Proto-West Germanic *laiʀu, from Proto-Germanic *laizō, from *laizijaną (“to teach”). Cognate with Dutch leer, German Lehre, Swedish lära and Danish lære. See also learn.

Forms

lores

Derived

angel-lore beer-lore birdlore booklore catlore childlore Cokelore computerlore copylore deathlore demonlore devil-lore doglore dragonlore druglore earthlore elflore fairylore fanlore faxlore fieldlore filmlore fishlore flaglore

Noun anatomy, medicine

  1. The region between the eyes and nostrils of birds, reptiles, and amphibians.
    • He’s sticky and encrusted on one side below his beak and amongst the lores around his eyes by the pips and juices he has dined upon, the pith and pulp of feeding. - 2022, Jim Crace, eden, Picador, page 40:
  2. The anterior portion of the cheeks of insects.

Origin

From Latin lorum (“thong, strap”).

Forms

lores

Derived

loral loreal lored

Verb

  1. simple past and past participle of lose
  2. simple past and past participle of lose, used in the sense of "left"
    • Neither of them she found where she them lore. - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 44:
  3. simple past and past participle of lese