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old saw
Idioms and Phrases
A proverb or maxim, as in Mom's always repeating the old saw, “Haste makes waste.” This term uses saw in the sense of “saying,” and old in the sense of “wise” rather than old-fashioned. [Second half of 1400s]Example Sentences
The old saw in presidential campaigns was: which candidate would you rather have a beer with?
The old saw that "states are the laboratories of democracy" has long been one of the rationales for states' rights adherents to excuse their anti-democratic behavior.
The old saw that "states are the laboratories of democracy" has long been one of the rationales for states' rights adherents to excuse their anti-democratic behavior.
“The first casualty when war comes is truth,” as the old saw has it.
That tired old saw goes back to the Reagan administration which popularized a quack theory called "supply side economics" championed by economist Arthur Laffer.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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