English Dictionary: proverb | by the DICT Development Group |
5 results for proverb | |
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: | |
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 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). |