| 释义 |
falseness|ˈfɔːls-, ˈfɒlsnɪs|
Also 4–7 falsnes(s(e, 4–8 false- (south. dial. vals-) nesse.
[f. false a. + -ness.]
The quality of being false.
1. Contrariety to fact; want of reality or truth; falsehood, unreality. † Also quasi-concr. anything false.
1303R. Brunne Handl. Synne 1497 Ȝyf he deme fals iuggement, Þere falsnes ys, he shalle be shent. 1340Ayenb. 256 Ualsnesse me ne ssel zigge. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. vi. (1495) 52 Racio or reason demyth bitwene..sothe and falsnesse. 1597Shakes. Lover's Compl. 105 His rudeness..Did livery falseness in a pride of truth. 1655Sir E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camden) II. 170, I noe whit repent me of the Collogne newes I sent you, since I was..confident of the falsnes. 1847C. G. Addison Contracts ii. vii. §1 He.. did not know of the falseness of the affirmation at the time it was made. 1877Mrs. Forrester Mignon I. 6 The falseness of its illusions.
2. Deceitfulness, duplicity, imposture. Also quasi-concr. a deceit, an imposture.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 265 He sent vnto þe pape, &..a new falsnes did schape. c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 423 His infinite falsenesse Ther coude no man writen. c1449Pecock Repr. i. i. 7 Se ȝe that no man bigile ȝou bi..veyn falsnes. 1513Act 5 Hen. VIII, c. 4 §1 The said Deceits and Falseness. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 196 He was..arreigned and judged for his falsenesse. 1649Bp. Reynolds Hosea ii. 71 The falsenes..of our corrupt hearts. 1732Waterland Christ. Vind. 38 They that reject Superstition in Theory, and yet retain it in Life..do but expose their own Folly and Falseness. 1846Trench Mirac. xx. (1862) 329 Another part of his falseness was, that [etc.].
3. Faithlessness, inconstancy, treachery. Also an instance of this.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 55 Falsnes brewes bale. 1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xix. 173 Falsnesse ich [Iesus] fynde in þy [Iudas] faire speche. c1470Henry Wallace i. 39 It was lost with tresoune and falsnes. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cclxxx. 171 a, He wolde make y traytours derely abye their falsnesse. 1658Whole Duty Man iv. §8. 40 Some inward guilt of falseness, for which that oath must be the cloak. 1709Prideaux Lett. (Camden) 203 Beeing for his falsenesse in the management of that trust broken and discarded. 1876Bancroft Hist. U.S. IV. x. 386 His predecessor..had recorded their falseness and cruelty.
†4. The fact of failing or ‘giving way’. Obs.
1552Huloet, Falsenes of herte, demissio. 1580Baret Alv. F 111 A falsenesse of heart, and feeble courage. |