proverbialismn.
/prəˈvəːbɪəlɪz(ə)m/, U.S. /prəˈvərbiəˌlɪz(ə)m/ A proverbial saying. Also: the quality of being proverbial.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > saying, maxim, adage > proverb > [noun]
byspelc1000
bywordc1050
forbysena1250
riotc1330
proverbc1375
sayingc1390
paroemia1550
nayworda1616
diverb1624
proverbial1645
sooth1655
proverbialism1830
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > saying, maxim, adage > proverb > [noun] > quality of being proverbial
proverbiality1843
proverbialism1935
1830 W. R. Prince Treat. on Vine 140 They have established a proverbialism in the district where it is cultivated, that ‘this vine makes the father laugh and the son weep’.
1832 W. Motherwell in A. Henderson Sc. Prov. p. xiv Zachary Boyd, Rector of Glasgow University, has..given quite a cento of common proverbialisms.
1935 Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Dec. 854/4 We pick them [sc. proverbs] up every now and then from great men's epigrammatic sayings and above all from books... This aspect of modern proverbialism should not be ignored.
1976 Hiroshima Stud. Eng. Lang. & Lit. 21 72 His resort to such proverbialisms indicates his dependence on the world of experience.
1996 New Republic 5 Feb. 27 A densely packed anthology of homilies, proverbialisms, epigrams, couplets and Latinisms that could tongue-tie the most fluent of actors.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1830