† 1. Of persons, their actions, etc.: Full of or characterized by FAITH (sense 3); believing. Obs. exc. absol.: see 7.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 5348 (Cott.). Faithful abraham.
1542. Becon, Pathw. Prayer, Wks. 141. Inflame … mens hearts with the love of faithful prayer.
a. 1555. Latimer, Serm. & Rem. (1845), 155. The poor faithful man is more sure of his living, than if he had the same in his chest; for God’s promises are not vain; they are most certain.
1610. B. Jonson, Alch., II. i.
| You are not faithfull, sir. This night, I’ll change | |
| All, that is mettall, in thy house, to gold. |
1611. Bible, Gal. iii. 9. Faithful Abraham.
1759. Dilworth, Pope, 66. He saw no … difficulty for a faithful mind to believe the trinity.
2. Firm in fidelity or allegiance to a person to whom one is bound by any tie; constant, loyal, true. Const. to.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 19799 (Cott.). Þair he fand a faithful frend.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 307.
| So faithfulle þei bisemed | |
| Boþe erles and barons. |
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. II. 15. To be faith-ful to hym he ȝaue ȝow fynde wittes.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxxii. 221. Full faithfull schall ȝe fynde me.
1576. A. Fleming, A Panoplie of Epistles, 162. The chiefest and faythfullest of your fauourers.
1639. Dk. Hamilton, in H. Papers (Camden), 104. Whatsomever might happen, my cariage should still be such as became your faithfullst servant.
1711. Sewel, Hist. Quakers (1795), I. Let. to King, 4. No small part of his faithful subjects.
1727. De Foe, A System of Magic, I. iii. (1840), 80. I should determine it in favour of the Devil, and that mankind were the aggressors, first sought the acquaintance, implored his infernal majesty’s assistance, proposed a league or confederacy with him, offensive and defensive, and vowed themselves to be his faithful allies, and to serve him to the utmost of their power.
1732. Pope, Ess. Man, I. 109.
| To Be, contents his natural desire, | |
| He asks no Angel’s wing, no Seraph’s fire; | |
| But think admitted to that equal sky, | |
| His faithful dog shall bear him company. |
1832. Ht. Martineau, Demerara, iii. 35. Cease to be a slave as soon as you can; but while you are here, be faithful to your master.
1856. Grindon, Life, ii. (1875), 13. Truly to understand anything of God’s government and providence, we must first of all be faithful to His revealed law.
b. transf. of things.
1651. trans. Bacon’s Life & Death, 51. The Remedies Faithfull to the Intentions.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 762. His faithful Bed is crown’d with chaste Delight.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 8.
| If chance at length he find a greensward smooth | |
| And faithful to the foot, his spirits rise. |
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xxxii. Whose hand was faithful to his sword.
3. True to one’s word or professed belief; abiding by a covenant or promise, steadfast. Const. to.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xii. 139. Ffor the sarazines ben gode and feyþfulle, ffor thei kepen entierly the commaundement of the holy book Alkoran.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 187. God is so often in the holy Scriptures called Faithfull, in respect of vs, because he neuer falsifieth his faith.
1611. Bible, Deut. vii. 9. The faithfull God, which keepeth Couenant and Mercy with them that loue him, and keepe his Commandements, to a thousand generations.
1690. Dryden, Don Sebast., V. 114.
| Of easy temper, naturally good, | |
| And faithfull to his word. |
1841. Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 100. Are ye remaining faithful to your covenant?
† b. Of a covenant, promise, etc.: Containing a pledge of fidelity, binding. Obs.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. xii. 59.
| Đat bwndyn ware wyth faythful Band | |
| To succoure þe Fredwme of Scotland. |
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, xlviii. 162. I haue made a faythfull vow.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., V. i. 117.
| My soule the faithfull’st offrings haue breath’d out | |
| That ere deuotion tender’d. |
4. Of persons and their conduct: Conscientious, thorough in the fulfilment of duty.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 337. Be feiȝtful & fre & euer of faire specne.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. VI. 253. Þe freke þat fedeth hym-self · with his feythful laboure.
1529. More, Dyaloge, III. Wks. 238/2. So faythfull a prince.
1851. Carlyle, Sterling, III. ii. (1872), 180. Faithful assiduous studies I do believe;—of which, knowing my stubborn realism, and savage humour towards singing by the Thespian or other methods, he told me little, during his visits that summer.
1892. Law Times, XCII. 144/2. The faithful and conscientious discharge of his duties.
b. Often used (? after Prov. xxvi. 6) with reference to the duty of telling unwelcome truths or giving unwelcome counsel. Chiefly colloq.
1655. T. Stanley, Hist. Philos., I. II. v. 17. Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions, but those who reprove thy faults.
5. Of persons and their actions: That may be believed or relied upon; trustworthy, veracious. † Also, of things: Reliable.
1340–70. Alexander and Dindimus, 65. I haue founde ȝou folk · faiþful of speche.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XIX. 141.
| That suche a surgeyn setthen · yseye was þer neuere, | |
| Ne non so faithfol fysician. |
1611. Bible, Ps. cxix. 138. Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithfull.
1678. Prideaux, Lett. (Camden), 65. The faithfullest relators … are the Grecians.
1742. Fielding, J. Andrews, II. xvii. Unless I had much faithfuller interest, [he] advised me to give over my pretensions.
1814. Scott, Wav., iii. Memoirs scarcely more faithful than romances.
1891. M. E. Wilkins, Humble Romance, 280. Her husband kept the house tidy and did the cooking, and he was as faithful at it as a woman.
6. True to the fact or original, accurate.
1529. More, Dyaloge, III. Wks. 241/1. Any good verteous man hath hadde the mynde in faithful wise to translate it.
1660. H. More, An Explanation of the Grand Mystery of Godliness, V. xvii. 211. This is the faithfullest Account that I can give of the affairs of Christendome.
1709. Pope, Ess. Crit., 484.
| When the faithful pencil has design’d | |
| Some bright Idea of the master’s mind. |
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, I. vi. Mrs. Deborah having succeeded beyond her hopes in her inquiry, returned with much triumph, and, at the appointed hour, made a faithful report to Mr. Allworthy, who was much surprised at the relation.
1781. Cowper, Truth, 161.
| In faithful memory she records the crimes, | |
| Or real, or fictitious, of the times. |
1809–10. Coleridge, The Friend (1865), 59. O that my readers would look round the world, as it now is, and make to themselves a faithful catalogue of its many miseries!
1841. F. Myers, Cath. Th., III. § 42. 159. The Latin, though incomparably more faithful than the Septuagint, is far from being perfect; and came to its present maturity by no sudden birth, but only after the growth of centuries.
1857. H. Miller, Test. Rocks, iii. 153. If in the map or globe the proportions be faithfully maintained, and the scale, though a minute one, be true in all its parts and applications, We pronounce the map or globe, notwithstanding the smallness of its size, a faithful copy.
7. absol. Chiefly pl. a. In sense 1 (but with some notion of 2, 3): ‘True believers’; the believing members of the church; the orthodox of any religious community. Often as transl. Arab. al-mūminūm (genit. -īn), the designation given by Mohammedans to those of their own faith.
Father of the faithful (after Rom. iv. 11): Abraham. Commander or Father of the Faithful: titles applied by Mohammedans to the Caliph.
1558. Bp. Watson, Sev. Sacram., xv. 95. Hee was one of the number of the faithfull and familiars with Christ.
1563. Man, trans. Musculus’ Commonpl., 275. The Sacraments … be giuen unto the faithful only.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. xliv. (1611), 275. Their Error, who think, that the faithful which departed this life before the coming of Christ, were never till then made partakers of joy, but remained all in that place which they term the Lake of the Fathers.
1609. Bible (Douay), Hist. Table, II. 1073. Seths children and other faythful were called the sonnes of God.
1635. Pagitt, Christianogr., I. iii. (1636), 102. We beleeve the faithfull to eate Christs body.
a. 1711. Ken, Hymnotheo, Poet. Wks. 1721, III. 77.
| The Faithful, who retrieve baptismal Flame, | |
| Re-seal’d for Bliss with the Triunal Name. |
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Faithful, a designation the mahometans assume to themselves.
1782. Priestley, Corrupt. Chr., II. VI. 14. The faithful received the eucharist every Lord’s day.
1840. Comic Almanac (Hotten), I. 248. The Sultan of Turkey … the Father of the Faithful.
1841. Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 71. Another custom required of the faithful on this festival is the giving of alms.
1846. Edin. Rev., LXXXIV. 68. The Commander of the Faithful repaired … to the tomb of the Prophet.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 159. A communion service at which the faithful might sit. Ibid., 555. Sufficient evidence that he was not one of the faithful [the covenanters].
† b. transf. as a slang term for drunkards.
1609. W. M., Man in Moon, B 3/2. One of the faithfull, as they prophanely terme him … he will drinke many degrees beyond a Dutchman.
† B. adv. = FAITHFULLY. Obs. in educated use.
1556. Aurelio & Isab. (1608), A vj. I love her … faythfuller then you.
1645. Milton, Tetrachordon, Wks. 1738, I. 233. The law is not to neglect men under greatest sufferances, but to see Covenants of greatest moment faithfullest perform’d.
1651. Sir E. Nicholas, in The Nicholas Papers (Camden), I. 216. I doe faithfull promise and ingage myselfe that [etc.].
C. as sb. A faithful person. a. A true believer, one of ‘the faithful.’ b. A trusty adherent.
a. 1571. Hanmer, Chron. Irel. (1633), 54. What faithfull soever being penitent, shall bee buried there, shall not after this life, feele the torments of hell.
1588. A. King, trans. Canisius’ Catech., 15. No work of godlines suld be æstemit of ane trew faithful hard.
1849. Cdl. Wiseman, Miracles N. T., Essays, 1853, I. 188. Nor is there reason to suppose, that every simple faithful was a Thaumaturgus.
b. 1648. British Bell-man, 2. Whilest the King and his Faithfuls retained their Places of Dominion. Ibid., 4. Your out-cries against those his [the king’s] old faithfulls.
1890. H. M. Stanley, Darkest Africa, II., List of Illustrations, p. xiii. The Faithfuls at Zanzibar.
