old wives' tale

noun

a traditional belief, story, or idea that is often of a superstitious nature.

Origin:
1670–80

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins

World English Dictionary

old wives' tale

—n
	a belief, usually superstitious or erroneous, passed on by word of mouth as a piece of traditional wisdom

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10

Old wives' tale is always a great word to know.

So is bezoar. Does it mean:

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

old wives' tale

A superstition, as in Toads cause warts? That's an old wives' tale. This expression was already known in ancient Greece, and a version in English was recorded in 1387. Despite invoking bigoted stereotypes of women and old people, it survives.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Example sentences

When they made camp that night, they laid a rope all the way around it following an old wives' tale.

For several decades, scientists have believed what the old wives' tale has always declared: that chicken soup is good for colds.

Eating carrots to improve eyesight is an old wives' tale that's off base.

And that, according to a local old wives' tale, was a sure sign they were to be wed.

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