ppl. a.
1. Much worn or used; fig. trite, hackneyed.
1621. T. Williamson, trans. Goulart’s Wise Vieillard, 53. It is a well worne saying, That [etc.].
1786. Burns, Tam Samson, Epit. Tam Samson’s weel-worn clay here lies.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xii. The old man was seated by the fire with his well-worn pocket Bible in his hands.
1842. Tennyson, Gard. Dau., 108. A well-worn pathway.
1849. Sir F. B. Head, Stokers & Pokers, iii. 39. That variety of free and easy well-worn costumes in which quiet-minded people usually travel.
1858. Merivale, Rom. Emp., liv. (1863), VI. 411. The mind of the educated classes still flowed freely enough in the well-worn channels of literature.
1905. ‘G. Thorne,’ Lost Cause, v. It is a trite and well-worn aphorism that no event is trivial, yet it is extraordinarily true.
2. Becomingly carried or displayed.
1814. Byron, Lara, I. xxvii. To whom he showed nor deference nor disdain, But that well-worn reserve which proved he knew No sympathy with that familiar crew.
