• (British) IPA: /ˈpɹɒvɜːb/
• (America) IPA: /ˈpɹɑːvɝːb/

proverb (plural proverbs)

1. A phrase expressing a basic truth which may be applied to common situations.
2. A striking or paradoxical assertion; an obscure saying; an enigma; a parable.
   • Bible, John xvi. 29

     His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.

3. A familiar illustration; a subject of contemptuous reference.
   • Bible, Deuteronomy xxviii. 37

     Thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by word, among all nations.

4. A drama exemplifying a proverb.

• (phrase expressing a basic truth) adage, apothegm, byword, maxim, paroemia, saw, saying, sententia
• See also Thesaurus:saying

• French: proverbe
• German: Sprichwort, Denkspruch, Redensart; (uncommon) Proverbium
• Italian: proverbio
• Portuguese: provérbio
• Russian: посло́вица
• Spanish: proverbio, refrán, paremia

proverb (proverbs, present participle proverbing; past and past participle proverbed)

1. To write or utter proverbs.
2. To name in, or as, a proverb.
   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes, lines 203-205:

     Am I not sung and proverbed for a fool / In every street, do they not say, "How well / Are come upon him his deserts?"

3. To provide with a proverb.
   • c. 1591–1595, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act I, scene iv]:

     I am proverbed with a grandsire phrase.