Modifying Another Word

• almost: Nor do I want to pretend to explain fully what Jesus left hanging in the air as a provocative, almost proverbial saying.

• now: Major events like hurricanes might be determined by tiny causes in the past such as the now proverbial flap of a butterfly's wing.

Preposition: without

• paddle: Or should that be - up the proverbial without a paddle!

Modifies a noun

• saying: In future lets remember that old proverbial saying " What's good for the goose is good for the gander " .

• iceberg: Well, like the proverbial iceberg, what you see on the surface is only a fraction of what exists.

• straw: The proverbial last straw is Brother Will's plan to make Crystal his fifth wife.

• creek: Without manufacturing, our economy will be up the proverbial creek.

• parrot: Having seen the less than satisfactory second half of the game, they must be as sick as the proverbial parrot.

• pinch: Others best taken with the proverbial pinch of salt.

Used with adjective complement

• become: The outburst of national grief on account of his death became proverbial ( Zech.