Allegiance
(Al*le"giance) n. [OE. alegeaunce; pref. a- + OF. lige, liege. The meaning was influenced
by L. ligare to bind, and even by lex, legis, law. See Liege, Ligeance.]
1. The tie or obligation, implied or expressed, which a subject owes to his sovereign or government; the
duty of fidelity to one's king, government, or state.
2. Devotion; loyalty; as, allegiance to science.
Syn. — Loyalty; fealty. — Allegiance, Loyalty. These words agree in expressing the general idea of
fidelity and attachment to the "powers that be." Allegiance is an obligation to a ruling power. Loyalty is
a feeling or sentiment towards such power. Allegiance may exist under any form of government, and,
in a republic, we generally speak of allegiance to the government, to the state, etc. In well conducted
monarchies, loyalty is a warm-hearted feeling of fidelity and obedience to the sovereign. It is personal
in its nature; and hence we speak of the loyalty of a wife to her husband, not of her allegiance. In cases
where we personify, loyalty is more commonly the word used; as, loyalty to the constitution; loyalty to
the cause of virtue; loyalty to truth and religion, etc.
Hear me, recreant, on thine allegiance hear me!
Shak.
So spake the Seraph Abdiel, faithful found, . . .
Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,
His loyalty he kept,
his love, his zeal.
Milton.
Allegiant
(Al*le"giant) a. Loyal. Shak.
Allegoric
(Al`le*gor"ic Al`le*gor"ic*al) a. [F. allégorique, L. allegorius, fr. Gr. . See Allegory.] Belonging
to, or consisting of, allegory; of the nature of an allegory; describing by resemblances; figurative. "An allegoric
tale." Falconer. "An allegorical application." Pope.
Allegorical being . . . that kind of language which says one thing, but means another.
Max Miller.
Al`le*gor"ic*al*ly, adv. — Al`le*gor"ic*al*ness, n.
Allegorist
(Al"le*go*rist) n. [Cf. F. allegoriste.] One who allegorizes; a writer of allegory. Hume.
Allegorization
(Al`le*gor"i*za"tion) n. The act of turning into allegory, or of understanding in an allegorical
sense.
Allegorize
(Al"le*go*rize) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Allegorized ; p. pr. & vb. n. Allegorizing.] [Cf. F. allégoriser,
fr. L. allegorizare.]
1. To form or turn into allegory; as, to allegorize the history of a people.
2. To treat as allegorical; to understand in an allegorical sense; as, when a passage in a writer may understood
literally or figuratively, he who gives it a figurative sense is said to allegorize it.
Allegorize
(Al"le*go*rize), v. t. To use allegory. Holland.
Allegorizer
(Al"le*go*ri`zer) n. One who allegorizes, or turns things into allegory; an allegorist.
Allegory
(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. allégorie.]
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.
