anthology
(ænˈθɒlədʒɪ)
[ad. L. anthologia, a. Gr. ἀνθολογία (f. ἄνθο-ς flower + -λογια collection, f. λέγ-ειν to gather), applied to a collection of poems. Cf. mod.Fr. anthologie. Later Gr. had also the homonym ἀνθολόγιον applied to a hymnal.]
1. A collection of the flowers of verse, i.e. small choice poems, esp. epigrams, by various authors; originally applied to the Greek collections so called.
| 1640 Chilmead tr. Ferrand's Love-Melanch. 334 This clause..is found..both in Diogenes Laertius, in his life, and also in the anthology. 1756 J. Warton Ess. Pope (1782) II. §14. 402 [The sepulchral inscriptions]..of Meleager on his wife, in the Greek Anthology. 1793 Ritson (title) The English Anthology. 1851 Sir F. Palgrave Norm. & Eng. I. 119 Anthologies are sickly things. |
2. Extended to other literary collections. Also transf., esp. of paintings, songs, etc., and other art forms.
| 1856 R. Vaughan Mystics I. Pref. 8 A kind of anthology from the writings of the leading mystics. 1878 Geo. Eliot Coll. Breakf. P. 410 Anthology of causes and effects. 1961 Listener 21 Dec. 1068/1 The quays..bore an anthology of western European coastal traffic: Bilbao, Stockholm, Hamburg, Glasgow. 1965 Ibid. 11 Nov. 760/1 Fry put on his second and even more demanding anthology of post-Impressionism. 1967 Ibid. 3 Aug. 129 Some of the LPs that Sinatra began bringing out in the mid-Fifties..are virtually anthologies of pop songs from the previous 20 years. |
3. With some reference to the original meaning (in Greek) of a flower-gathering.
| 1755 Johnson, Anthology, a collection of flowers. 1822 De Quincey Confess. Wks. V. 223 In the anthologies of earth..one flower beyond every other is liable to change, which flower is the countenance of woman. |
4. A hymnal [= Gr. ἀνθολόγιον].
| [1727–51 Chambers Cycl., Anthologion.] 1775 Ash, Anthology, in the Greek Church, a collection of devotional pieces. |
† 5. A treatise on flowers. [A distinct use, on the analogy of zoology, ornithology, etc.: also in Fr.] Obs.
| 1678 Phillips, Anthologie, a treating of flowers, also a florid discourse. 1706 ― Anthology, a Discourse or Treatise of Flowers, or of the Florist's Art. [So in Bailey, etc.] |
6. anthology-piece.
| 1935 Scrutiny IV. 168 A favourite anthology-piece When the lamp is shattered. 1965 Listener 2 Sept. 350/2 The..‘Battle of San Romano’ by Uccello..is an anthology piece so familiar from countless small reproductions that its gigantic scale when one sees it again is breathtaking. |