Meanings (ES + gloss)
proverbial
Of, resembling, or expressed as a proverb, cliché, fable, or fairy tale.
The beaver in this instance upheld the reputation of the proverbial one: her output was prodigious.
The busyness of a beaver is proverbial.
proverbial
Widely known; famous; stereotypical.
I grew up in a prefab house on Main Street in 1950s suburbia, the second and last child of a proverbial nuclear family.
Mr. Obama has presented himself as a fresh face, unsteeped in Washington and the proverbial “politics as usual.”
Phrases
Word forms