(definition) by Webster 1913 Tue Dec 21 1999 at 22:17:53

By"word` (?), n. [AS.biword; bi, E.by+word.]

1.

A common saying; a proverb; a saying that has a general currency.

I knew a wise man that had it for a byword. Bacon.

2.

The object of a contemptuous saying.

Thou makest us a byword among the heathen. Ps. xliv. 14

 

© Webster 1913.

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