From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Saying \Say"ing\, noun 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. --Milton.
Syn: Declaration; speech; adage; maxim; aphorism; apothegm; saw; proverb; byword.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Say \Say\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Said} (s[e^]d), contracted from sayed; p. pr. & vb. n. {Saying}.] [OE. seggen, seyen, siggen, sayen, sayn, AS. secgan; akin to OS. seggian, D. zeggen, LG. seggen, OHG. sag[=e]n, G. sagen, Icel. segja, Sw. s["a]ga, Dan. sige, Lith. sakyti; cf. OL. insece tell, relate, Gr. 'e'nnepe (for 'en-sepe), 'e'spete. Cf. {Saga}, {Saw} a 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. --Shak.
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? --Shak.
After which shall be said or sung the following hymn. --Bk. of Com. Prayer.
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. --Milton.
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? --Shak.
{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.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a word or phrase that particular people use in particular situations; "pardon the expression" [syn: {expression}, {locution}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
96 Moby Thesaurus words for "saying": Parthian shot, adage, address, affirmance, affirmation, allegation, ana, analects, announcement, annunciation, answer, aphorism, apostrophe, apothegm, assertion, asseveration, averment, avouchment, avowal, axiom, byword, catchword, collected sayings, comment, conclusion, crack, creed, current saying, declaration, dictate, dictum, distich, enunciation, epigram, exclamation, expression, gnome, golden saying, greeting, interjection, ipse dixit, manifesto, maxim, mention, moral, mot, motto, note, observation, oracle, phrase, pithy saying, position, position paper, positive declaration, precept, predicate, predication, prescript, proclamation, profession, pronouncement, proposition, protest, protestation, proverb, proverbial saying, proverbs, question, reflection, remark, saw, say, say-so, sentence, sententious expression, sloka, stance, stand, statement, stock saying, subjoinder, sutra, teaching, text, thought, truism, utterance, verse, vouch, wisdom, wisdom literature, wise saying, witticism, word, words of wisdom
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