report

Jane Austenの "pride and prejudice" を読んでいます。

Neither Jane nor Elizabeth were comfortable on this subject. Day after day passed away without bringing any other tidings of him than the report which shortly prevailed in Meryton of his coming no more to Netherfield the whole winter; a report which highly incensed Mrs. Bennet, and which she never failed to contradict as a most scandalous falsehood.
"report" は日本語でもレポートとして頻繁に使われますが、報告（書）あるいは官公庁や報道関係等のある程度公式な見解を含んだ知らせの意味を連想してしまいます。 "pride and prejudice" には "report" が上記の例の様に頻繁に出てきますが、何れも日本語で使っているレポートの意味ではないようです。そこで辞書を見ます。
　
・Oxford English Dictionary:
　A piece of information that is unsupported by firm evidence and that the speaker feels may or may not be true.: reports were circulating that the chairman was about to resign
　dated Rumor.
・Collins Dictionary: If you say that there are reports that something has happened, you mean that some people say it has happened but you have no direct evidence of it.: There were unconfirmed reports of several arrests
"pride and prejudice" で使われている "report" は単なる噂に近い意味の様だ。
ところで "report" には "a sharp explosive sound" の意味もある事を8/8/2008 に取り上げています。