[a. Fr. adage, ad. L. adagium a proverb, f. ad to + *agi- root of ajo = agio I say. (Fick I. 481.) A by-form was ADAGY.] ‘A maxim handed down from antiquity; a proverb.’ J.
1548. Hall, Chron. Edw. IV., an. 9, 209. He forgat the olde adage, saynge in tyme of peace prouyde for warre.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., I. iv. 126. Vnlesse the Adage must be verifi’d, That Beggers mounted, runne their Horse to death. Ibid. (1605), Macb., I. vii. 45. Letting, I dare not, wait vpon I would, Like the poore Cat i’th’Addage.
1642. Howell, For. Trav., 25. Every Nation hath certain Proverbs and Adages peculiar to it selfe.
a. 1733. North, Lives of Norths (1826), II. 355. According to the philosophic adage, omnes stulti insaniunt, all fools are out of their wits.
1847. Barham, Ingol. Leg. (1877), 6. That truest of adages—‘Murder will out.’
1872. Jenkinson, Guide to Eng. Lakes (1879), 189. Tourists in their anxiety to cut off a corner are sometimes induced to cross the valley, but … discover the truth of the adage ‘most haste, least speed.’
