Definition of: legend

(lej′ənd) noun
1. An unauthenticated story from early times, preserved by tradition and popularly thought to be historical.
2. Such narratives, collectively.
3. A chronicle of the life of a saint, originally to be read aloud in religious services or at meals.
4. Loosely, the fame of a person or place: the Woodrow Wilson legend.
5. An inscription or motto on a coin or monument.
6. A caption for an illustration; an explanatory description or key to a map or chart.
7. Music A composition intended to describe or relate a story, without words. See synonyms under FICTION.
—local legend A story, current in a definite region, which explains some local custom, geographical feature, name, etc., as of lovers' leaps, outlaws, haunted places, buried treasure, etc. [<OF legende <Med. L legenda things read, neut. plural of L legendus to be read, gerundive of legere read]