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proverb |
5 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Proverb \Prov"erb\, n. [OE. proverbe, F. proverbe, from L. proverbium pro before for + verbum a word See {Verb}.] 1. An old and common saying; a phrase which is often repeated; especially, a sentence which briefly and forcibly expresses some practical truth, or the result of experience and observation; a maxim; a saw; an adage. --Chaucer. Bacon. 2. A striking or paradoxical assertion; an obscure saying; an enigma; a parable. His disciples said unto him Lo now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. --John xvi. 29. 3. A familiar illustration; a subject of contemptuous reference. Thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by word among all nations. --Deut. xxviii. 37. 4. A drama exemplifying a proverb. {Book of Proverbs}, a canonical book of the Old Testament, containing a great variety of wise maxims. Syn: Maxim; aphorism; apothegm; adage; saw. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Proverb \Prov"erb\, v. t. 1. To name in or as a proverb. [R.] Am I not sung and proverbed for a fool ? --Milton. 2. To provide with a proverb. [R.] I am proverbed with a grandsire phrase. --Shak. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Proverb \Prov"erb\, v. i. To write or utter proverbs. [R.] From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: proverb n : a condensed but memorable saying embodying some important fact of experience that is taken as true by many people [syn: {adage}, {saw}, {byword}] From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]: Proverb a trite maxim; a similitude; a parable. The Hebrew word thus rendered (mashal) has a wide signification. It comes from a root meaning "to be like," "parable." Rendered proverb" in Isa. 14:4; Hab. 2:6; "dark saying" in Ps 49:4, Num. 12:8. Ahab's defiant words in answer to the insolent demands of Benhadad, "Let not him that girdeth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth it off," is a well known instance of a proverbial saying (1 Kings 20:11).
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