A dictionary of English proverbs and proverbial phrases: With a Copious Index of Principal Words

About this book

This work is a reference volume that gathers English proverbs and proverbial phrases, arranging them by their principal words and supplying a copious index of secondary terms. The opening pages explain the compiler’s intent to avoid the pitfalls of earlier collections, which often indexed proverbs under articles such as “A” or “The,” creating unwieldy sections of useless entries. Instead, each entry is numbered and placed under the most salient word, while the index cross‑references every other significant term, ensuring that a reader who remembers only a fragment can still locate the full saying. The dictionary draws chiefly from Ray’s 1670 compilation, supplementing it with material from both ancient and modern literature, and occasionally includes proverbs not found elsewhere. The introductory remarks stress the moral and practical value of these concise maxims, while also acknowledging that some older sayings have been omitted for their questionable advice or outdated language.

The tone is scholarly yet conversational, reflecting the Victorian‑era sensibility of its editors, who aim for both precision and readability. Its systematic alphabetical arrangement and extensive indexing will appeal to scholars, writers, and anyone who enjoys hunting for familiar sayings or discovering new ones. Readers with an interest in linguistic history, folklore, or the evolution of everyday wisdom will find the volume both a handy research tool and an entertaining companion for leisurely perusal.

Opening lines

The late Earl Russell very aptly described a proverb as "The wisdom of many and the wit of one." We value proverbs chiefly as moral maxims teaching some practical lesson set forth in concise, pithy sentences, which are fixed in the memory without effort, and retained without being burdensome. They have been found useful for guidance in almost every condition of life; but, on the other hand, it is quite true that many dangerous precepts have been propounded in proverbs, and some of the older ones gave such questionable advice, or were couched in such objectionable language, that they have been very properly omitted from every collection intended, as this is, for general use. Other old proverbs have become obsolete, and as their meaning is now obscure, they have not been included in the Dictionary. …

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