SAYING • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Saying

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/sˈeɪɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Say v. t. (past & past part. said; pres. part. saying)

1.

To utter or express in words; to tell; to speak; to declare; as, he said many wise things. "Arise, and say how thou camest here."

2.

To repeat; to rehearse; to recite; to pronounce; as, to say a lesson. "Of my instruction hast thou nothing bated In what thou hadst to say?" "After which shall be said or sung the following hymn."

3.

To announce as a decision or opinion; to state positively; to assert; hence, to form an opinion upon; to be sure about; to be determined in mind as to. "But what it is, hard is to say."

4.

To mention or suggest as an estimate, hypothesis, or approximation; hence, to suppose; in the imperative, followed sometimes by the subjunctive; as, he had, say fifty thousand dollars; the fox had run, say ten miles. "Say, for nonpayment that the debt should double, Is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble?"

It is said, or They say, it is commonly reported; it is rumored; people assert or maintain.

That is to say, that is; in other words; otherwise.

Say v. i. (past & past part. said; pres. part. saying) To speak; to express an opinion; to make answer; to reply. "You have said; but whether wisely or no, let the forest judge." "To this argument we shall soon have said; for what concerns it us to hear a husband divulge his household privacies?"

noun

Saying n. That which is said; a declaration; a statement, especially a proverbial one; an aphorism; a proverb. "Many are the sayings of the wise, In ancient and in modern books enrolled."

Synonyms: Declaration; speech; adage; maxim; aphorism; apothegm; saw; proverb; byword.

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Etymology of 'Saying'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Saying" Quotes from Famous Books

... your saying so," he said. "My personal emotions are not subject to your interpretation. But Martian wives are expected to obey their husbands with deference and, by Saturn, I'm going to break her of ...

— Rebels of the Red Planet • Charles Louis Fontenay

... older man was saying as Bob unfolded his paper, "it's the niftiest little proposition I ever saw mapped out. We can't fail. Best of all, it's within the law—I've been reading up on the Oklahoma statutes. There's been a lot of new legislation rushed ...

— Betty Gordon in the Land of Oil - The Farm That Was Worth a Fortune • Alice B. Emerson

... So saying, Falconer went to a side-table, heaped up with books and papers, maps, and instruments of various kinds, apparently in triumphant confusion. Without a moment's hesitation, notwithstanding, he selected the paper he ...

— David Elginbrod • George MacDonald

... great translucence, or of great muddiness, but in the latter there may be hidden possibilities. Some accuse Brahms' orchestration of being muddy. This may be a good name for a first impression of it. But if it should seem less so, he might not be saying what he thought. The mud may be a form of sincerity which demands that the heart be translated, rather than handed around through the pit. A clearer scoring might have lowered the thought. Carlyle told Emerson that some of his paragraphs didn't cohere. Emerson wrote by sentences ...

— Essays Before a Sonata • Charles Ives

... told him, namely, that Francis had entered the army and was missing. It was no business of the old Mynheer if Francis was in the Intelligence, so I didn't tell him that. Van U. is a staunch friend of the English, but you know the saying that if a man doesn't ...

— The Man with the Clubfoot • Valentine Williams

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