Obs. or dial. Also 4–5 contrarie(n, 4–6 contrarye. [a. F. contrari-er (11th c. in Littré), ad. late L. contrāriāre, f. contrārius CONTRARY a. cf. CONTRARIATE.]
I. trans. 1. To oppose, strive against, thwart.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, IX. 470. He the king contraryit ay.
c. 1430. trans. T. à Kempis, 138. Þe lawe of synne contrarieng þe lawe of my mynde.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 98/4. Ye contrarye alleway the holy goost.
1586. J. Hooker, Girald. Irel., in Holinshed, II. 143/2. The more noble were his good and worthie attempts, the more he was crossed and contraried.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Hist. Jas. V., Wks. (1711), 103. The winds contrarying his course.
1653. H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., xxii. 78. Whosoever shall contrary me therein I must take him for mine enemy.
b. To impugn.
1586. A. Day, Eng. Secretary, I. (1625), 41. Any one thing was never found contrarying, blemishing, or … impugning his honour.
1633. J. Done, Hist. Septuagint, 217. And if they could have contraried him for any falsity.
2. To contradict, gainsay, to speak, write, or argue against: a. a person.
1382. Wyclif, Ruth i. 16. Ne contrarye thou me, that y forsake thee.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XV. 100. How þow contrariedest cleregie with crabbede wordes.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 276. Redy to breke sylence, & apte to contrary theyr prelates or heddes in euery mater.
1690. W. Walker, Idiomat. Anglo-Lat., 115. Do not you contrary me.
b. what is said, enjoined, etc.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Wife’s T., 188. Ne was ther wyf, ne mayde … that contraried that he sayde.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxx. (1887), 110. It is graunted by the best though contraried by some of the soryest Physicians.
1656. Sanderson, Serm. (1689), 242. The Devilishness of the Doctrine in contrarying the Ordinance of God.
1808. W. B. Hewetson, Blind Boy, I. i. 3. Why, dang it, neighbour Molino, I see nothing to contrary it.
3. To do what is contrary to or the reverse of.
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 763. They contraried the Jewes, in that they confessed Jesus to be the sonne of God.
1586. A. Day, Eng. Secretary, II. (1625), 65. If I should not owe unto you all honest … fidelity, I should much contrary your great curtesie.
1594. Mirr. Policy (1599), H. Who so contrarieth his sex [as Sardanapalus], ought to die as he did.
1659. B. Harris, Parival’s Iron Age, 158. She contraried their proceedings: For, they would have war … and she declares her desire of Peace.
II. intr. 4. To act in opposition, be opposed (to); to act inconsistently.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 342. Ȝif þis pope contrarieþ to Cristis lyf.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XI. 244. Kynde folweþ kynde and contrarieþ neuere.
c. 1450. Merlin, vii. 112. He sholde be kynge … who-so-euer ther-to wolde contrarye.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, iv. (1887), 17. He would haue him learne with such a man: some cause contrarieth.
b. To act perversely, be cantankerous; ‘to grumble’ (Skeat).
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XX. 320. Þei han cause to contrarien by kynde of here syknesse.
5. To speak or write in opposition; to maintain an opposite opinion; to argue, debate.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. I. 59. For couetise of copes contrariede som doctors.
1477. Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 139. To contrarye and argue with a foole.
1552. Latimer, Serm. Lord’s Prayer, v. Wks. II. 93. The very school doctors … never contraried in that.
6. a. To be (self-) contradictory. b. To change to the opposite, be reversed. rare.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., V. iii. 154. It semeþ to repugnen and to contrarien gretly þat god knoweþ byforn alle þinges, and þat þer is any fredom of liberte.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, III. 271. That fortoun contraryit fast, And come to purposs at the last.
