apocryphaladj.n.
/əˈpɒkrɪfəl/ A. adj. Of doubtful authenticity; spurious, fictitious, false; fabulous, mythical.
a. originally of a writing, statement, or story.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > forgery, falsification > faking of documents > [adjective]
falsec1000
Apocrypha1387
counterfeit1393
surmised?1518
apocryph1549
unauthentical1549
suborned1550
apocryphal1590
disauthentic1591
suppositive1598
supposititious1600
surreptitious1615
spurious1624
unauthentic1631
ungenuine1665
ingenuine1675
nothal1716
apocryphical1719
fabricate1755
doctored1853
1590 H. Barrow & J. Greenwood Coll. Sclaunderous Articles B ij b We hold them..not only a babling, but apochriphall & Idolatrous.
1678 S. Butler Hudibras: Third Pt. iii. i. 29 If but one word be true..In all th' Apocryphal Romance.
1868 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest II. App. 569 The tale has a somewhat apocryphal sound.
b. spec. Of or belonging to the Jewish and early Christian uncanonical literature.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > Bible, Scripture > Testament > Apocrypha > [adjective]
apocryph1549
Apocrypha1590
apocryphal1615
apocryphous1677
1615 E. Hoby Curry-combe ii. 93 Peremptory..against the Canonizing of these Apogriphall bookes.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 28. ¶6 Our Apocryphal Heathen God [sc. Bel]..in Conjunction with the Dragon.
1865 W. E. H. Lecky Hist. Rationalism (1878) I. 210 The apocryphal gospels..were for the most part of Gnostic origin.
c. gen. Unreal, counterfeit, sham, ‘imitation’.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > forgery, falsification > [adjective]
counterfeitedc1385
counterfeitc1386
trothlessa1393
bastard1397
forged1484
apocryphate1486
adulterate?a1509
mockisha1513
sophisticate1531
adulterine1542
adulterous1547
mock1548
forbate1558
coined1582
firking1594
feigned1598
adulterated1610
apocryphal1612
spurious1615
usurpeda1616
impostured1619
mock-madea1625
suppository1641
affictitious1656
pasteboard1659
sophisticated1673
flam1678
Brummagem1679
sham1681
belieda1718
fictitious1739
Birmingham1785
pinchbeck1790
brummish1803
Brum1805
flash1812
spurious1830
bogus1839
imitative1839
dummy1846
doctored1853
postiche1854
pseudo1854
Brummagemish1855
snide1859
inauthentic1860
fake1879
bum1884
Brummie1886
tin1886
filled1887
duff1889
faked1890
shicec1890
margarine1891
dud1904
Potemkin village1904
mocked-up1919
phoney baloney1936
four-flushing1942
bodgie1956
moody1958
disauthentic1960
bodgied1988
bodgied-up1988
1612 B. Jonson Alchemist i. i. sig. B2v A whoresonne, vpstart, Apocryphall Captayne. View more context for this quotation
1649 C. Walker Anarchia Anglicana ii. 226 This Agreement was..complained of in the apocryphal House of Commons.
1842 D. Jerrold xx, in Punch 3 239 He lived by putting off pencils, with apocryphal lead in them.
An apocryphal writing. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > aspects of faith > Bible, Scripture > Testament > Apocrypha > [noun] > part of
apocryphal1661
1661 Grand Deb. Rev. & Alteration Bk. Common Prayer 13 Some Psalm or Scripture Hymn..instead of that Apocryphal [the Benedicite].
1677 J. Hanmer Αρχαιοσκοπια 419 Nicephorus P.C. and Anastasius..did rank these Epistles in the number of Apochryphals.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online June 2020).
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adj.n.1590