adage
nounAU, CA, US, UK /ˈæd.ɪd͡ʒ/
Etymology Borrowed from Middle French adage, from Latin adā̆gium.
1
An old saying which has obtained credit by long use.
- According to an old adage, oysters are best in months containing the letter R.
- He describes the operation thus: "The heavy ram employed to impart the finishing strokes, hoisted up with double purchase and snail's pace to the summit of the Piling Engine, and then falling down like a thunderbolt on the head of the devoted timber, driving it perhaps a single half inch in to the stratum below, is well calculated to put to the test the virtue of patience, while it illustrates the old adage of—slow and sure."1952 July, W. R. Watson, “Sankey Viaduct and Embankment”, in Railway Magazine, page 487:
2
Rhetoric An old saying which has been overused or considered a cliché; a trite maxim.
- Like the poore Cat i’ th’ Addage.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene vii], page 135:
- Derived terms
- adagial