1: a cock-and-bull story : yarn, fablea Canterbury tale of a leg and an eye and heaven knows what— George Colman †1794
2: a long tedious tale
it grows into a long Canterbury tale of two hours— Richard Steele
History and Etymology for Canterbury tale
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
