Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A proverbial phrase or saying.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A proverbial phrase.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
proverbial phrase .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
proverbial + -ism
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Examples
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The accumulation of materials had been so great, and their weight was so heavy in proportion, that they were promoted to honours of proverbialism; and Abon Casem's slippers became a favourite comparison when a superfluity of weight was the subject of discourse.
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So also "eine bose Suppe einbrocken" (einbrocken denotes the act of breaking bread into the soup, and the whole phrase may be translated, "to prepare a disagreeable mess") has a meaning cognate to the English proverbialism "to put a rod in pickle" for one.
The Big Apple 2009
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