6 uses
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Definition
a short saying — typically well-known and accepted by many as offering good advice
- *Do you know the proverb?Book One — 1805 (56% in)
- * A German knows how to skin a flint, as the proverb says," remarked Shinshin, moving his pipe to the other side of his mouth and winking at the count.Book One — 1805 (52% in)
- 'One man though undone is but one,' as the proverb says, but with thirteen in your family and all the property....Book Ten — 1812 (9% in)
- Dans le doute, mon cher," he paused, "abstiens-toi" *(2)—he articulated the French proverb deliberately.Book Ten — 1812 (46% in)
- And above all," thought Prince Andrew, "one believes in him because he's Russian, despite the novel by Genlis and the French proverbs, and because his voice shook when he said: 'What they have brought us to!' and had a sob in it when he said he would 'make them eat horseflesh!'Book Ten — 1812 (47% in)
- The proverbs, of which his talk was full, were for the most part not the coarse and indecent saws soldiers employ, but those folk sayings which taken without a context seem so insignificant, but when used appositely suddenly acquire a significance of profound wisdom.Book Twelve — 1812 (74% in)
There are no more uses of "proverb" in War and Peace.
Typical Usage
(best examples)