Forms: 1 beléoʓan, 2–3 -leoȝen, 4–7 belye, 6–8 -ly, 6– belie. Pa. t. 1 beléaʓ, 6– belied. Pa. pple. 1 beloʓen, 3–4 belowen, 6– belied. [OE. beléoʓan OFris. biliuga, OHG. biliugan to lie about, f. bi-, BE- + OE. léoʓan = Gothic liugan to LIE, tell lies. Originally, like the simple LIE, a strong vb., but rare exc. in present in ME.] Always trans.
† 1. To deceive by lying. Obs.
a. 1000. Gregory’s Dial. (Bosw.), I. 14. Beloʓen beon, falli.
2. To tell lies about; esp. to calumniate by false statements.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 68. Þe treowe is misleued, and te sakelease ofte bilowen, uor wone of witnesse.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. II. 22. She hath … ylakked my lemman, and bilowen hire to lordes. Ibid., V. 414. I haue leuere … lesynges to laughe at and belye my neighbore.
1481. Caxton, Reynard (Arb.), 96. He belyeth me falsely.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 490. Wherein you doe unhonestlye slaunder him and belye him, without cause.
1667. Pepys, Diary (1879), IV. 396. Saying that he had belied him to our King.
1762. Hume, Hist. Eng. (1806), IV. lxiv. 762. It was rendered criminal to belie the subjects of the king.
1876. Holland, Sev. Oaks, xv. 213. I think she is shamefully belied.
† b. To belie the truth. Obs.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. X. 22. Þei lede lordes with lesynges and bilyeth treuthe.
1635. Austin, Medit., 123. The Judge of Heaven is judg’d; the Truth be-lide.
† 3. To assert or allege falsely, or with a lie.
1561. Daus, trans. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573), 123. He belyed hymselfe to be the Prophet of God.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 110 b. Whiche … is most falsely belyed upon him.
1659. Milton, Hirelings, Wks. 1738, I. 570. To belye divine Authority, to make the name of Christ accessory to Violence.
4. To give a false representation or account of, to misrepresent; to present in a false character.
1601. Cornwallyes, Ess., xxii. It is a strange thing how men bely themselves: every one speaks well, and meanes noughtily.
1649. Milton, Eikon., 143. He a declar’d Papist, If his own letter to the Pope belye him not.
1709. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., lxiv. II. 106. I know not … how much my face may belie my heart.
1814. Byron, Lara, I. xxi. His brow belied him if his soul was sad.
1851. Kingsley, Yeast, xv. You are an Englishman … unless your physiognomy belies you.
absol. 1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, x. 16. They grow quantities, if report belies not.
† b. To disguise (a person or thing) so as to make it appear something else. Obs.
1711. Pope, Temp. Fame, 154. His hornéd head bely’d the Libian God. Ibid. (a. 1725), Odyss., IV. 618. A boar’s obscener shape the god belies.
1810. Cromek, Nithsd. & Galloway Song, App. (1880), 225. To belie the form of God in the unholy semblance of cats.
† c. To assume falsely the character of; to counterfeit. Obs. rare.
1660. Dryden, Astræa Redux, 197 (J.).
| Which durst with horses hoofs that beat the ground | |
| And Martial brass bely the thunders sound. |
† 5. To give the lie to, call false, contradict as a lie or a liar; to reject as false, deny the truth of.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., III. 1158/1. This that I haue said, I will stand vnto, for I will neuer beelie my selfe.
1611. Bible, Jer. v. 12. They haue belyed the Lord, and said; It is not he.
1626. T. H., trans. Caussin’s Holy Crt., 21. I will not be-lye the law of my Maister.
1649. Alcoran, 45. If they bely thee, know, they belyed the Prophets that were before thee.
6. To call (a thing) false practically, to treat it as false by speaking or acting at variance with it; to be false or faithless to.
1698. Norris, Pract. Disc., IV. 27. If a Man … does not appear to bely his Discourse by his Practice.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., 356. Who in his last acts does not wish to belye the tenour of his life.
1810. Shelley, Q. Mab, 22. Those who dare belie Their human nature.
1868. G. Duff, Pol. Surv., 196. Her life as a nation will not belie her great gifts as a country.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), II. viii. 207. But … he grossly belied his faith.
7. To show to be false, prove false or mistaken; to falsify (expectations, etc.).
1685. trans. Gracian’s Courtier’s Orac., 7. It is the victory of an able man to correct, or at least bely the censure.
1781. Cowper, Retirem., 714. Novels … Belie their name, and offer nothing new.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Tale of Tyne, iii. 53. There was … a quaver of the voice which belied what he said.
1857. Buckle, Civiliz., vi. 296. The subsequent actions of Arthur did not belie his supernatural origin.
† 8. ? To fill with lies. Obs. rare.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., III. iv. 38. ’Tis Slander … whose breath Rides on the posting windes, and doth belye All corners of the World.
