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I'm always like, 'I can't believe I sound like my mother.' I remember running out of the house telling, 'Put your shoes on or you're going to get sick!' That's an old wives' tale, but it's like some weird mind control that I would be like that.
Eileen Davidson

Meaning of "old wives' tale" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

PRONUNCIATION OF OLD WIVES' TALE

old wives' tale play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF OLD WIVES' TALE

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Old wives' tale is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES OLD WIVES' TALE MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Old wives' tale

Old wives' tale is a derogatory epithet used to indicate that a supposed truth is actually a superstition or something untrue, to be ridiculed. The phrase comes with the assumption that a story told by old women could not have credibility, regardless of the particulars of the story. The phrase is used in the context of unvalued women's knowledge. It can be said sometimes to be a type of urban legend, said to be passed down by older women to a younger generation. Such "tales" are considered superstition, folklore or unverified claims with exaggerated and/or inaccurate details. Today, some "old wives' tales" have proven to be valid. Old wives' tales often center on women's traditional concerns, pregnancy, puberty, social relations, health, herbalism and nutrition.

Definition of old wives' tale in the English dictionary

The definition of old wives' tale in the dictionary is a belief, usually superstitious or erroneous, passed on by word of mouth as a piece of traditional wisdom.

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE OLD WIVES' TALE

old school
old school tie
old skool
Old Slavic
Old Slavonic
old sod
old soldier
Old South
old Spanish customs
old Spanish practices
old squaw
old stager
Old Stone Age
old style
old sweat
old talk
Old Test.
Old Testament
Old Windsor
old woman

WORDS THAT END LIKE OLD WIVES' TALE

carrytale
daytale
fairy tale
fairy-tale
femme fatale
folk tale
Montale
pitch a tale
scytale
stale
tale
tall tale
tattletale
tell a tale
tell its own tale
telltale

Synonyms and antonyms of old wives' tale in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «old wives' tale» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF OLD WIVES' TALE

Find out the translation of old wives' tale to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of old wives' tale from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «old wives' tale» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

无稽之谈
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

cuento de viejas
570 millions of speakers

English

old wives´ tale
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

नानी की कहानी
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

حكاية الزوجات القديمة /
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

сказка старых жен
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

conto da carochinha
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

পুরাতন স্ত্রীদের গল্প
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

le conte de vieilles femmes
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Kisah isteri lama
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Ammenmärchen
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

老妻物語
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

오래된 전설
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Dongeng lawas
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

câu chuyện vợ cũ ´
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

பழைய மனைவிகள் ´கதை
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

जुनी बायकाची कथा
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

Eski eşlerin hikayesi
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

racconto vecchio mogli ´
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

bajka żon
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

казка старих дружин
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

poveste soțiile vechi /
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

ιστορία των γιαγιάδων »
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

ou vroue se verhaal
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

gammalt skrock
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

gamle kjerringrådet
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of old wives' tale

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «OLD WIVES' TALE»

The term «old wives' tale» is regularly used and occupies the 85.327 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
60
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «old wives' tale» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of old wives' tale
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «old wives' tale».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «OLD WIVES' TALE» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «old wives' tale» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «old wives' tale» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about old wives' tale

EXAMPLES

QUOTES WITH «OLD WIVES' TALE»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word old wives' tale.
1
Eileen Davidson
I'm always like, 'I can't believe I sound like my mother.' I remember running out of the house telling, 'Put your shoes on or you're going to get sick!' That's an old wives' tale, but it's like some weird mind control that I would be like that.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «OLD WIVES' TALE»

Discover the use of old wives' tale in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to old wives' tale and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
The Old Wives' Tale
Arnold Bennett. I~ CHAPTER V. END OF CONSTANCE. I. _ WHEN, on a June afternoon about twelve months later, Lily Holl walked into Mrs. Povey's drawing- room overlooking the Square, she found a calm, somewhat optimistic old ...
Arnold Bennett, 1909
2
The Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book
This volume of sixty enchanting and enduring tales, collected by master storyteller Angela Carter.
Angela Carter, 1995
3
Shakespeare and His Contemporaries: Essays in Comparison
Whether or not Shakespeare had Peele's Old Wives Tale in mind when he was writing The Winter's Tale, the resemblances are striking.1 Peele's play (of uncertain date, published in 1595) twice mentions 'winter's tale' in its induction: a merry ...
E. A. J. Honigmann, 1986
4
The Tragicomic Novel: Studies in a Fictional Mode from ...
4 The Old Wives' Tale "Not Knowing Whether to Laugh or Cry" The focus of The Old Wives' Tale is considerably broadened from that of either Diana of the Crossways or The Awkward Age. The drawing rooms and endless talk of London are ...
Randall Craig, 1989
5
Modernism, Modernity, and Arnold Bennett
This book delineates the unique role of Arnold Bennett in the transformation of the British novel from the aesthetic, psychological, and sociopolitical assumptions of modernity to those of modernism.
Robert Squillace, 1997
6
Public Opinion and Changing Identities in the Early Modern ...
... as their royal founding father, is equally dismissed as an old wives' tale.18 In contrast, Van Slichtenhorst offers his own interpretation of the Batavian past, which is based not only on references to classical authors, but also on archaeological ...
Judith Pollmann, Andrew Paul Spicer, 2007
7
Arnold Bennett: A Biography
' Thus begins Margaret Drabble's biography of a man whose most famous achievement was to re-create, in such novels as The Old Wives' Tale and Clayhanger, the life, atmosphere and character of the 'Five Towns' region in which he was born and ...
Margaret Drabble, 2012
8
Narrating the Visual in Shakespeare
Perhaps more so than in any play by Shakespeare, we are asked to believe in happenings that are only described to us - what Howard Felperin has called 'the evidence of things not seen'.2 1 George Peele's The Old Wives Tale ( 1 595) is ...
Richard Meek, 2009
9
Virginia Woolf
... writes of Virginia Woolf "she could seldom so portray a character that it was remembered afterwards on its own account, as Emma is remembered, for instance, or Dorothea Casaubon, or Sophia and Constance in The Old Wives' Tale." Nor is ...
Joan Bennett, 1964
10
Black Cats & Four-Leaf Clovers: The Origins of Old Wives' ...
This popular old wives' tale is of quite recent origin, but comes from older beliefs linking storks to childbirth and the family. A monogamous and faithful bird, the stork is rumored to have a special emotional bond with its children, and to weep ...
Harry Oliver, 2010

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «OLD WIVES' TALE»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term old wives' tale is used in the context of the following news items.
1
How to stop cracking knuckles
... they are to crack. But Kawchuk calls bull. “There is no research to support that idea, which seems to be more of an old wives' tale,” he said. «Fusion, Jul 15»
2
How Having Oily Skin Might Help Prevent Wrinkles
Have you ever heard the old wives' tale that people with oilier skin get fewer wrinkles? There may be some small grain of truth in that after all, ... «TIME, Jul 15»
3
1st-Time Falls Church Candidates Tape Their Cable TV Speeches
... comfortable as possible,” so they can put their “best foot forward” on the air. (“It's an old wives' tale that television adds ten pounds,” he said.). «Falls Church News Press, Jul 15»
4
How to Have a Healthy Vagina: 7 Myths Vs. Musts
... regarding your vaginal health and I'm sure everyone has a grandmother with some far fetched old wives' tale of how to keep a vagina clean. «Cambio, Jul 15»
5
Mums defeated by kids in the cold war over warm clothing
She thought not, shooting down that old wives' tale for getting kids to rug up. I suspect this has been a source of intergenerational conflict since ... «The Daily Telegraph, Jul 15»
6
Alexandria People at Work: Midwife Says Full Moons Bring on the …
And she added, "Although it is an old wives' tale about more babies coming during a full moon, it is actually true and we get prepared. Also big ... «Virginia Connection Newspapers, Jul 15»
7
Carrot tops not just for composting
Turns out that old wives' tale was slightly misguided. While it is true that carrot tops contain alkaloids and nitrates to which some people can be ... «Press Herald, Jul 15»
8
6 Pool Safety Questions You Need Answered Before You Dive In
In fact, a 2005 New York Times article called it "yet another old wives' tale that should be laid to rest." The theory behind the supposedly ... «Huffington Post, Jul 15»
9
Get ready for the novelty: The best new beauty products of the season
It sounds like an old wives' tale, but Iluminage Skin Rejuvenating Eye Mask (£25; 0800 123400), which is embedded with copper oxide, ... «Express.co.uk, Jul 15»
10
6 Creative Ways to Use Your Produce That's Almost Past Its Prime
... have heard that cool temperatures can produce mealy temperatures and mild flavors, but science thoroughly disproves this old wives' tale. «Paste Magazine, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Old wives' tale [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/old-wives-tale>. Apr 2024 ».
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