| 释义 |
unˈtruth
[OE. untréowþ, untríewþ (un-1 12). Cf. ON. útrygð, also untroth, wantruth.]
1. Unfaithfulness; lack of fidelity, loyalty, or honesty. Now arch. and rare.
c893K. ælfred Oros. iii. xi. §5 He..him wende from Antigones hamfærelte micelra untreowða. Ibid. iv. v. §5. a 1122 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1086, Þa Dænescan..wurdon awende to þære meste untriwðe. 1340Ayenb. 17 Þe uerste boȝ of prede þet is ontreuþe. 1400tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 62 Hold trewly þy fayth hyght, ffor euer moor to all vntreuthe folwys euyl ende. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xvi. 387 Be my suretees, I praye you,..Ye knowe that I dyde never vntrewth. 1559Mirr. Mag. C ij, I through flattery abused his wanton youth, And his fonde trust augmented my vntruth. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, ii. ii. 101, I would to heauen (So my vntruth had not prouok'd him to it) The King had cut off my head.
1859Tennyson Elaine 126 He never spake word of reproach to me, He never had a glimpse of mine untruth. ― Guinevere 537 Too wholly true to dream untruth in thee.
†2. Unbelief; lack of faith. Obs.
c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 45 He shal reprove þe worlde of þe synne of untreuþe. Ibid. II. 20 Crist woundride of his kyn, for þe untreuþe þat þei hadden.
3. Falsehood, falsity.
1439Cases bef. King's Council (Selden) 105 To sey the playn trouth and nouȝt to melle it with eny ontrouth. 1482in Surtees Misc. (1890) 40 To put down all falssett and untrewit. 1559Bp. Scot in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. App. x. 32 Bringinge..others from the truthe unto untruthe. 1577–82Breton Toyes Idle Head Wks. (Grosart) I. 27/2 Such youthes there are..As with vntrueth their Ladies fancies feede. 1587Golding De Mornay Pref., But yet cannot any vntruth preuayle..against truth... For vntruth is contrary to nature. 1632Lithgow Trav. i. 2 This stinging censure of absurd vntrueth. 1748Richardson Clarissa III. 299 For his boldness in hoping to make me..testify to his great untruth. 1843Carlyle Past & Pr. iii. i, A poor braggart; fast hastening to be a falsity and speaker of the Untruth. 1873Spencer Stud. Sociol. xi. (1877) 265 Everyone discovers the untruth of this assumption.
b. A falsehood; a false or incorrect statement.
c1449Pecock Repr. iii. xvii. 396 It is open that tho ij opiniouns, conclusiouns, and holdingis..ben errouris and vntreuthis. 1565Jewel Reply Harding 554 Therefore M. Harding concludeth this mater with twoo vntruethes bothe togeather. 1585in Cath. Rec. Soc. Publ. V. 109 He saythe it is a great untruthe and cannot be prooved. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 2 All Trauellers are subject to imputations of vntruths. 1651Hobbes Leviath. i. viii. 36 So singular a truth (as they think it, though it be many times an untruth they light on). a1716Bp. O. Blackall Wks. (1723) I. 23 A very strange Paradox, or rather a most palpable Untruth. 1756Gentl. Mag. XXVI. 144 The author of three letters..is taken into custody for the virulent abuse, and notorious untruths they contain. 1819Scott Leg. Montrose ii, I would be loath to reply to you with an untruth. 1863P. Barry Dockyard Econ. 215 He..asserts either an impudent or an ignorant untruth.
Comb.1799Southey Devil's Walk liii, He is an untruth⁓telling whoreson.
4. Inexactness.
1869Rankine Machine & Hand-tools Pl. H 9, The washers have sufficient play..to allow them to accommodate themselves to any untruth..on the surface of the nut.
Hence unˈtruther, one who utters untruths.
1889Jerome Three Men in Boat vii, ‘You are an untruther,’ I replied, getting roused. |