old wives' tale

noun

1. a traditional belief, story, or idea that is often of a superstitious nature.

old wives' tale

noun

1. a belief, usually superstitious or erroneous, passed on by word of mouth as a piece of traditional wisdom

Word History and Origins

Origin of old wives' tale¹

First recorded in 1670–80

Idioms and Phrases

A superstition, as in Toads cause warts? That's an old wives' tale . This expression was already known in ancient Greece, and a version in English was recorded in 1387. Despite invoking bigoted stereotypes of women and old people, it survives.

Example Sentences

Its government said that there were "no border violations by Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters", and described the accusation as an "old wives' tale".

From BBC

No one's spitting in your dish; that's an old wives' tale.

From Salon

Then I read a trick that sounded like it had to be an old wives' tale: Stick a piece of bread in your mouth.

From Salon

It is where we get the notion of the old wives' tale.

From Salon

Another popular old wives' tale is that a full Moon causes women to go into labour.

From BBC