Category:Proverb

Prov"erb, n. Etym: [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.

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.

Proverb Prov"erb, v. i.

Defn: to write or utter proverbs. [r.]

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

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 Isaiah 14:4; Habakkuk 2:6; "dark saying" in Psalms 49:4, Numbers 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).