Canterbury tale
noun
variants or Canterbury story
1
: a cock-and-bull story : yarn, fable
a Canterbury tale of a leg and an eye and heaven knows what
George Colman †1794
George Colman †17942
: a long tedious tale
it grows into a long Canterbury tale of two hours Richard Steele
Richard Steele
Word History
Etymology
from The Canterbury Tales, literary work by Geoffrey Chaucer †1400 English poet, consisting mostly of narrative poems which he puts into the mouths of persons on a pilgrimage to Canterbury