an opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to conduct; an admonition; a warning: Timely advice kept them from making a mistake.

n.

1. Opinion about what could or should be done about a situation or problem; counsel.

2. often advices Information communicated; news: advices from an ambassador.

n

1. recommendation as to appropriate choice of action; counsel

2. (sometimes plural) formal notification of facts, esp when communicated from a distance

See Also: FRIENDSHIP, FUTILITY

1. Advice after an evil is done is like medicine after death —Danish proverb

   It’s quite common to substitute the word’mischief for ‘evil.’

2. Advice is like kissing: it costs nothing and is a pleasant thing to do —Josh Billings
3. Advice is like snow; the softer it falls … the deeper it sinks into the mind —Samuel Taylor Coleridge
4. Advice, like water, takes the form of the vessel it is poured into —Punch, August 1, 1857
5. The advice of old age gives light without heat, like winter sun —Marquis de Luc de Clapiers Vauvenargues
6. Advice is like castor oil, easy enough to give but dreadful uneasy to take —Josh Billings
7. Good advice is like a tight glove; it fits the circumstances, and it does not fit other circumstances —Charles Reade
8. His (Ariel Sharon’s) advice on that subject (Lebanon 1984-1985) … was akin to a man with seven traffic accidents opening a driving school —Abba Eban, New York Times, February, 1986
9. It [excellent advice] is a good deal like giving a child a dictionary to learn a language with —Henry James
10. A proposal is like a flashlight. It’s completely useless in the spotlight, but in the shadows it can do lots of good —Professor Steven Carvell, Wall Street Journal, December 11, 1986

    Professor Carvell’s simile was specific to a proposal for investment research.

11. Telling a runner he can’t run … is a bit like being advised not to breathe —Thomas Rogers on runner Fred Lebow’s being so advised for medical reasons, New York Times, 1986
12. To heed bad advice is like eating poisoned candy —Anon
13. To listen to the advice of a treacherous friend, is like drinking poison from a golden cup —Demophilus

don’t let anyone sell you a wooden nutmeg This bit of advice to the unwary to be on the lookout for fraudulent sales schemes derives from the 19th-century practice of selling imitation nutmegs made of wood.

A Yankee mixes a certain number of wooden nutmegs, which cost him 1-4 cents apiece, with a quantity of real nutmegs, worth 4 cents apiece, and sells the whole assortment for $44; and gains $3.75 by the fraud (Hill, Elements of Algebra, 1859)

This practice was supposedly prevalent in Connecticut, “The Nutmeg State,” although whether the sellers were itinerant peddlers or natives of Connecticut is debatable.

don’t take any wooden nickels According to Wentworth and Flexner (Dictionary of American Slang), an Americanism equivalent to “Good-bye, take care, protect yourself from trouble.” A wooden nickel is a wooden disc or souvenir which costs a nickel but has no legal value. The exhortation may have originated as a reminder not to be duped into buying such a worthless thing. Popular in the early 1900s, don’t take any wooden nickels is less frequently heard today.

In the mean wile [sic]—until we meet again—don’t take no wood nickels and don’t get impatient and be a good girlie and save up your loving for me. (Ring W. Lardner, The Real Dope, 1919)

keep your breath to cool your porridge This Briticism is an oblique admonition to “mind your own business” or “practise what you preach.”

kitchen cabinet A group of unofficial, personal advisers to an elected official. The original kitchen cabinet consisted of three friends of President Andrew Jackson who met with him frequently for private political discussions. They reportedly entered by the back door (perhaps through the kitchen) so as to avoid observation and were believed to have had more influence than Jackson’s official Cabinet. Use of the expression dates from at least 1832.

One of the most important members of Gov. Stevenson’s kitchen cabinet will be the new head of the State Department of Labor. (The Chicago Daily News, December, 1948)

reck one’s own rede To follow one’s own advice; to “practice what you preach.” Reck ‘heed, regard’ appears only in negative constructions. Rede ‘advice, counsel’ is now archaic and limited to poetical or dialectal use. This expression is found in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,
Whilst, like a puffed and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede. (I,iii)

Today reck one’s own rede is met only in literary contexts.

the tune the old cow died of Advice instead of aid, words in lieu of alms. This expression alludes to the following old ballad:

There was an old man, and he had an old cow,
But he had no fodder to give her, So he took up his fiddle and played her the tune;
“Consider, good cow, consider, This isn’t the time for the grass to grow,
Consider, good cow, consider.”

Needless to say, the old cow died of hunger. Occasionally the tune the old cow died of is used to describe unmelodious or poorly played music.

The tune the old cow died of throughout, grunts and groans of instruments. (Countess Harriet Granville, Letters, 1836)

1. 'advice'

Advice /ɑd'vaɪs/ is a noun. If you give someone advice, you tell them what you think they should do.

Take my advice – stay away from him!

She promised to follow his advice.

Advice is an uncountable noun. Don't talk about 'advices' or 'an advice'. However, you can talk about a piece of advice.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

Could I give you one last piece of advice?

2. 'advise'

Advise /ɑd'vaɪz/ is a verb. If you advise someone to do something, you say that you think they should do it.

He advised her to see a doctor.

He advised me not to buy it.

If you say to someone 'I advise you to...', you are telling them that you think they should do it.

The operation will be tiring so I advise you to get some rest.

Be Careful!
Don't use 'advise' without an object. Don't say, for example, 'He advised to leave as quickly as possible'. If you don't want to say who is receiving the advice, you say 'His advice was to leave as quickly as possible'.

Diego's advice was to wait until the morning.