1. ăvĭa, or in late Lat., ăva, ae, f. [avus], a grandmother on the father’s or the mother’s side: Matres duas habet et avias duas, Plaut. Truc. 4, 3, 34: anus avia, Curt. 3, 11, 25; Vulg. 2 Tim. 1, 5: avia tam paterna quam materna, Dig. 38, 10, 10: Inter avam et neptem tu mediata agas, Ven. Fort. 8, Carm. 18, 8.
Meton., a prejudice, as it were, inherited from a grandmother: dum veteres avias tibi de pulmone revello, old wives’ fables, Pers. 5, 92, ubi v. Gildersleeve.