Obs. or arch. [f. TROTH sb. or aphetic f. BETROTH v.] trans. To plight one’s troth to; to engage in a contract, esp. of marriage: = BETROTH 1, 2, 4 a. Hence Trothed ppl. a., Trothing vbl. sb. and ppl. a. (See also TRUTH v. 2.)
1422. trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 190. A gentill-man of the contrey had hyr trouthid.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Coemplio,… a solemnitie of the ciuill lawe where the woman and man commyng together at a trothyng, as it were, bye one the other.
1567. Drant, Horace, Epistles, II. ii. H iv. Too Orators … th’one was to the other, In mutuall prayse for both their gaynes a faste ytrothed brother.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, III. i. 38. So saies the Prince, and my new trothed Lord.
1605. Tryall Chev., II. i., in Bullen, O. Pl., III. 288. I scorne … to give answere to such a trothing question.
1893. F. Thompson, Love in Dian’s Lap, I. Poems 4. I reach back through the days A trothed hand to the dead.
