All 5 Uses

proverb
in
Middlemarch
(Auto-generated)

—Italian Proverb.†
Chpt 1 *

proverb = a well-known, short saying that is thought to communicate wisdom
You don't know what it is to want spiritual tobacco—bad emendations of old texts, or small items about a variety of Aphis Brassicae, with the well-known signature of Philomicron, for the 'Twaddler's Magazine;' or a learned treatise on the entomology of the Pentateuch, including all the insects not mentioned, but probably met with by the Israelites in their passage through the desert; with a monograph on the Ant, as treated by Solomon, showing the harmony of the Book of Proverbs with the results of modern research.†
Chpt 2 *

The Book of Proverbs = a work of wisdom literature found in both the Christian and Hebrew Bibles
—Spanish Proverb.†
Chpt 5

proverb = a well-known, short saying that is thought to communicate wisdom
In the absence of any precise idea as to what railways were, public opinion in Frick was against them; for the human mind in that grassy corner had not the proverbial tendency to admire the unknown, holding rather that it was likely to be against the poor man, and that suspicion was the only wise attitude with regard to it.†
Chpt 6

proverbial = of a well-known metaphor or proverb
Solomon's Proverbs, I think, have omitted to say, that as the sore palate findeth grit, so an uneasy consciousness heareth innuendoes.†
Chpt 3

Definitions:

(1) (proverb as in: the well-known proverb)
a short saying -- typically well-known and accepted by many as offering good advice

The adjective, proverbial, may refer to a proverb or to anything that is well-known -- as in "It is a proverbial fish story exaggeration."
(2) (Proverbs as in: from The Book of Proverbs)
a work of wisdom literature found in both the Old Testament of the Christian Bible and the Hebrew Bible
(3) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)