subs. (colloquial).—A lie; a tarradiddle. Hence, as verb = ‘to lie pleasantly, to Stretch in Discourse.’—B. E. (c. 1696).

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  1651.  EVELYN, Diary, 6 Sept. The knight was … not a little given to ROMANCE when he spake of himselfe.

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  d. 1721.  PRIOR, An English Padlock.

        A Staple of ROMANCE and Lies,
False Tears and real Perjuries.

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  d. 1742.  N. BAILEY, trans. The Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 53. I hear others ROMANCING about Things they never heard nor saw … with that Assurance that … they persuade themselves they are speaking Truth all the While.

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