saying

From say + -ing.

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈseɪ.ɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪɪŋ
• Hyphenation: say‧ing

saying

1. present participle and gerund of say

saying (plural sayings)

1. A proverb or maxim.
   • 1983, James C. H. Shen, “Rejoining the Government”, in Robert Myers, editor, The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally‎^[1], Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 30:

     There is a Chinese saying: "One who does not know how to smile has no business to be in business." How much truer is this of people engaged in the business of diplomacy!

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Citadel:

     Garrus: Fist knows you're coming. We'll have a better chance if we all work together.
     Wrex: My people have a saying: Seek the enemy of your enemy, and you will find a friend.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:saying.
2. (obsolete) That which is said; an utterance.
   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     And I'll be sworn you would believe my saying,
     Howe'er you lean to th' nayward.

• maxim, proverb, saw, expression
• See also Thesaurus:saying

• “saying”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “saying”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.