plain-dealingadj.

1567 W. Painter Palace of Pleasure II. xxxi. f. 376^v He..like a plaine dealing man, beleued what she promised.

1591 J. Harington tr. L. Ariosto Orlando Furioso Pref. Hauing dealt plainly with some of my plaine dealing frends, to tell me frankly what they heard spoken of it.

1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing i. iii. 30 In thi[s] (thogh I cannot be said to be a flatering honest man) it must not be denied but I am a plain dealing villaine. View more context for this quotation

a1626 N. Breton Wks. (1979) 9 True plaine-dealing hearts in quiet die, And faithfull loue doth liue Eternally.

1662 Duchess of Newcastle Wits Cabal ii. ii. ix, in Playes Written 302 If I were to choose, I would choose a man for a Husband that were an honest and plain-dealing man, patient and wise, that I might neither be deceiv'd by his falshood, nor troubl'd with his quarrels.

1732 H. Fielding Mod. Husband ii. i. 14 Most Husbands are like a plain-dealing Looking-glass, which sullies all the Compliments we have receiv'd abroad, by assuring us we do not deserve 'em.

1787 W. Beckford Jrnl. 22 Dec. in Jrnl. Portugal & Spain (1954) (modernized text) 298 Selma is an honest plain-dealing man.

1832 J. Clare Let. (1885) 560 Those which put together the ‘ayes’ & ‘noes’ of Mr. Cobbett may be very useful to plain dealing people.

1847 R. W. Emerson Poems 183 Found I true liberty, The home of homes plain dealing Nature gave.

1914 F. W. Chandler Aspects Mod. Drama xvii. 403 Cæsar does not assume melodramatic poses, as does Bonaparte. He is a plain-dealing conqueror, honest with himself and with others.

1968 Times 23 Oct. 6 e There is no doubt that the father is preferable as a plain dealing rogue after his release from his prison than as the respectable hypocrite we meet in the first act.

2004 Herald Sun (Melbourne) (Nexis) 29 Apr. 69 In a profession where equivocation is the norm, she was plain-dealing and had an integrity that made her universally trusted.