▪ I. chronicle, n.
(ˈkrɒnɪk(ə)l)
Forms: 4 cronykle, -ikle, -ecle, kronykele, 4–6 cronycle, -icle, 5 cronycull, -kyl(le, (Sc.) cornykyl, cronikill, -col, 5–6 cronakle, -acle, 6 crownycle, -acle, cronickill, chronacle, -ickle, 6– chronicle.
[ME. cronikle, -ykle, a. AF. cronicle = OF. cronique, see chronique. Here and in some other words, the non-etymological and non-phonetic -icle may have been due to association with words such as article in which this ending was etymological. The spelling with ch dates to the Renascence.
(Occasional spellings crownicle, -acle in 16th c., appear to imply a fancied connexion with crown, as in occasional med.L. coronicula. Sc. writers often had a form cornicle.)]
1. a. A detailed and continuous register of events in order of time; a historical record, esp. one in which the facts are narrated without philosophic treatment, or any attempt at literary style.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 9239 Yn þe Kronykeles hyt ys wryte. c 1330 ― Chron. (1810) 248 Þei brouht þe cronykles, þat wer in Scotland. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 77 (Mätz.) Broþer Ranulf..compiled and made þis present cronicle. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 104 Cronycle or cronykylle, cronica, historia. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. cii. 85 Abbots, Pryours, & men of relygyon wryten the lyues & the dedes of kynges..And therof made grete bokes and lete calle hem cronycles. 1530 Lyndesay Papyngo 311 The Cronecklis to knaw I the exhorte. 1541 Barnes Wks. (1573) 186/1 Out of Autenticke crownycles. 1555 Eden Decades W. Ind. (Arb.) 319 As theyr crownacles make mention. 1727 Swift Gulliver ii. i. 99 Recorded for ever in the chronicles of that empire. 1841 D'Israeli Amen. Lit. (1867) 246 Chronicles were written when the science of true history had yet no existence. 1867 Stubbs Benedict's Chron. Pref. 11. |
b. fig.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. iv. 126 The old folke (Times doting Chronicles). 1606 ― Tr. & Cr. iv. v. 202 Let me embrace thee [Nestor] good old Chronicle, Thou hast so long walk'd hand in hand with time. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. V. 121 The progress and improvement of society..is a chronicle of inestimable value. 1821 Byron Sardan. ii. i. (1868) 360 The stars, Which are your chronicles. |
2. spec. Chronicles: name of two of the historical books of the Old Testament.
| 1535 Coverdale, The first boke of the Cronicles, called Paralipomenon. 1764 T. H. Croker, etc. Dict. Arts. s.v., In effect, the..chronicles are an abridgement of sacred history to the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity. 1837 Penny Cycl. VII. 129/2 Ezra..is supposed to have died a year or two after compiling the Chronicles. |
3. a. gen. A record, register, narrative, account.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 299 Lesyngis, fablis and veyn cronyclis. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, i. ii. 74 Ignorant Tongues, which neither know My faculties nor person, yet will be The Chronicles of my doing. 1878 Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. i. Byron 216 The long chronicle of its manifold experiences. |
b. Hence: A frequent title of newspapers, e.g. The Daily Chronicle, Weekly Chronicle, etc.
4. attrib. and Comb., as chronicle-sheet, chronicle-writer. In chronicle drama, etc., used in imitation of † chronicle history, an Elizabethan descriptive title for plays based on historical matter such as is found in Edward Hall and Ralph Holinshed.
| 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. I. 32/1 The common opinion of our chronicle-writers. 1600 (title) The Cronicle History of Henry the fift. 1608 (title) M. William Shak-speare: His True Chronicle Historie of the life and death of King Lear and his three Daughters. 1634 Ford (title) The Chronicle Historie of Perkin Warbeck. 1837 Sir F. Palgrave Merch. & Friar i, Our chronicle sheet which hangs in the refectory. [1886 F. G. Fleay (title) A Chronicle History of the Life and Work of William Shakespeare.] 1902 F. E. Schelling English Chronicle Play 30 The English Chronicle Drama falls naturally into two groups. 1903 Hardy Dynasts Pref. p. ix, In devising this chronicle-piece no attempt has been made to create that completely organic structure of action, and closely-webbed development of character and motive, which are demanded in a drama strictly self-contained. 1927 Observer 12 June 15/2 ‘Martha Washington’ is a chronicle piece, after the manner of ‘Abraham Lincoln’, but there is no drama in it from start to finish. |
▪ II. chronicle, v.
(ˈkrɒnɪk(ə)l)
[f. prec.]
To enter or record in a chronicle.
| a 1440 Sir Eglam. 1339 In Rome thys geste cronyculd ys. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 1329, I wyll have cronekyllyd þe ȝer and þe reynne. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxxviii. (1887) 171, I beleeue that..which is cronicled of them. 1798 Southey Occas. Pieces xi, Whose obscurer name No proud historian's page will chronicle. 1881 J. Russell Haigs Introd. 9 We do not write the history of a nation when we have chronicled its battles and tabulated its kings. |
b. gen. To put on record, to register.
| 1460 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 16 Now shall oure treson be cornicled for evar. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. i. i. 41 He that is so yoked by a foole, Me thinkes should not be chronicled for wise. 1604 ― Oth ii. i. 161 To suckle Fooles, and chronicle small Beere. 1781 Cowper Lett. 6 Oct., There is nothing agreeable..in being chronicled for a dunce. 1866 Liddon Bampt. Lect. viii. (1875) 489 Christ's victory is chronicled..in the conventional standard of modern society. |
Hence chronicled ppl. a.; ˈchronicling vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1826 Scott Woodst. iii, She shall have chronicled example for it. 1851 D. Wilson Preh. Ann. (1863) II. iv. i. 168 Genealogical chroniclings of earlier periods. 1862 D. Wilson Preh. Man i. (1865) 8 Chronicled memorials of an older..civilisation. 1885 Athenæum 24 Oct. 529/1 There is quite enough candid chronicling and sharp criticism in these volumes. |