Definition of "byword" [by•word]

• A proverbial expression; a proverb. (noun)
• An often-used word or phrase. (noun)
• One that represents a type, class, or quality: "Polyester got its déclassé reputation in the 1970s after cheap, poorly made double-knit leisure suits became a byword for bad taste” ( Fortune). (noun)
• An object of notoriety or interest: The eccentric poet was a byword in literary circles. (noun)
• An epithet. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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• "The "Manchester school" of political economy has long since passed into reproach if not obloquy with people for whom a byword is a potent weapon, and perhaps the easiest they can handle, and"
• "'All's well' over and over again; 'twas a kind of byword with him."