A'dage. n.s. [adagium, Lat.] A maxim handed down from antiquity; a proverb.

Shallow unimproved intellects, that are confident pretenders to certainty; as if, contrary to the adage, science had no friend but ignorance. Glanville's Scepsis Scientifica, c. 2.

Fine fruits of learning! old ambitious fool,
Dar’st thou apply that adage of the school;
As if 'tis nothing worth that lies conceal'd;
And science is not science, till reveal’d? Dryd. Pers. Sat. i.