diverb

English

Etymology

Latin diverbium (“the colloquial part of a comedy, dialogue”).

Noun

diverb (plural diverbs)

  1. (obsolete) A proverb or set expression.
    • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, partition II, section 2, member 4:
      By this means you many define ex ungue leonem, as the diverb is, by his thumb alone the bigness of Hercules […]
  2. (obsolete) A saying in which two members of the sentence are contrasted.
    • Burton
      Italy, a paradise for horses, a hell for women, as the diverb goes.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for diverb in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Anagrams
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