a. rare. [a. Fr. adagial; see ADAGE and -AL. Cf. proverbial.] Of the nature of an adage, proverbial.
a. 1677. Barrow, Serm. (1687), I. 93. That adagial verse, Ἄμʹ ἠλέηται καὶ τέθνηκεν ἡ χάρις, No sooner the courtesie born than the resentment thereof dead.
1722. Wollaston, Relig. Nat., § 4, 64. Aristotle goes further than that old adagial saying (ἀρχὴ ἥμισυ παντός).
