Forms: α. 1 triewþ, treowþ, trywþ, 2 treothe, 2–3 treouþe, 2–4 trewþe, 2–5 treuthe, 3 treowthe, treoþe, (treweiðe), 3–5 treuþe, 4 treuþ, (tryuþe, treweþe, -ethe, trewht, Sc. treutht, trewcht, 4–5 Sc. trewtht), 4–6 trewth(e, 4–7 treuth, 5 trewþ, (treut, truyt, þreuth, treweth, 6 trewith, -ythe, troeuth, treugth). β. 3–4 truþe, 4 truþ, 4–7 truthe, (5 truwþe, trwth), 6–7 trueth, 4– truth. [OE. tríewþ, tréowþ, trýwþ, ME. trewþe, treuþ(e, f. OE. triewe adj., TRUE: see -TH1. Cf. OHG. triuwida, ON. tryggð.
The β-forms perh. show a different ablaut grade, u beside eu, eo, whence OE. trúwa, trúa, faith, good faith (see TRUCE), trúwian to TROW, trust, confide, and ON. trúr true; but, as trūþ does not appear before the 13th c., when u and eu (ew) in other words had phonetically fallen together, it is possible that ME. truthe really comes from OE. treowþe. See also TROTH.]
I. The quality of being true (and allied senses).
1. The character of being, or disposition to be, true to a person, principle, cause, etc.; faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty, constancy, steadfast allegiance. (See also TROTH 1.) Now rare or arch.
α. c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., V. ii. § 6. Þar dydon þeah Romane lytla triewþa.
c. 1000. Ælfric, On Old Test. (Gr.), 1. Heora ʓemynd þurhwunað … for … heora trywðe wið god.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 103. For ðare gode trewðe ðe ðu him bere.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 98/203. Bi þe treuþe þat i schal to Mahon.
c. 1390. Chaucer, Compl. Damours, 7. On hir,… Which hath on me no mercy ne no rewthe That love hir best, but sleeth me for my trewthe.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, III. 274. I knaw he will do mekill for his kyne; Gentryss and trewtht ay restis him within.
c. 1560. A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), xxvi. 33. Thay wald be rewit, and hes no rewth;… Thay wald be trowit, and hes no trewth.
β. 1530. Palsgr., 283/2. Truthe, uerite, loialte.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 729. The king had alwayes known his truth and fidelitie towarde the crowne of Fraunce.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., V. v. 107. Briefely dye their ioyes, That place them on the truth of Gyrles, and Boyes.
1719. Freethinker, No. 137. ¶ 6. Lucius … preserving still his Truth to Marcia.
1800. Coleridge, Christabel, II. 78. Alas! they had been friends in youth; But whispering tongues can poison truth.
1860. Ruskin, Mod. Paint., V. IX. xii. 345. Truth to himself; that is to say, the resolution to do his duty by his art.
† b. By my truth, as an asseveration. (Cf. TROTH 1 b.) Obs.
13[?]. Guy Warw. (A.), 405. Bi mi trewþe y schal þe swere, Schal y mi fader þe tiding bere.
1563. in Child-Marriages, 59. [He] promysed, bie his faith and treuth, that [etc.].
1605. Camden, Rem., 222. By my trueth, wife (quoth he) [etc.].
12. One’s faith or loyalty as pledged in a promise or agreement; a solemn engagement or promise, a covenant: = TROTH 2. Obs.
α. c. 1000. Ælfric, Exod. vi. 5. Ic ʓemunde minra treowþa þe ic Abrahame behet.
1154. O. E. Chron., an. 1137. Hi hadden him manred maked & athes suoren, ac hi nan treuthe ne heolden. alle he wæron forsworen & here treothes forloren.
c. 1205. Lay., 10631. Heo sworen … & treoðen heo plihten [c. 1275 treuþe him plihte].
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 3584. Þis luþer saxons abbeþ gret dedeyn Vor to holde me treuþe.
a. 1330. Otuel, 311. Selpe me gode…, Eiþer oþer his trewþe pliȝte, Vppon morwen for to fiȝte.
c. 1400. Laud Troy Bk., 877. My trewthe .I. layd, To do al as thow hast sayd.
1460. Capgrave, Chron. (Rolls), 182. He cursed the Kyng of Scottis for brekyng of his treuth, whech he had mad to the Englisch Kyng.
a. 1572. Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 183. To the end, that under treuth thei mycht eyther get the Castell betrayed, or elles some principall men … tackin at unwarres.
β. c. 1450. Metham, Wks. (E.E.T.S.), 42/1114. To serue yow be-ffore alle odyr my trwth I plyght.
? 16[?]. Young Beichan, xiii., in Child, Ballads, II. (1884), 470. I’ll give thee the truth of my right hand, The truth of it I’ll freely gie.
† b. spec. in reference to marriage; also, in quot. a. 1300, betrothal. Obs.
α. c. 1275. Lay., 2251. Locrin was on foreward Hire habbe to wife And he hire hafde treouþe i-pliþt.
β. a. 1300. K. Horn, 674. Muchel was þe ruþe Þat was at þare truþe.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., xii. 37 (Harl. MS). The maide saide, she wold consent; and þer they pliȝt hire truthe.
3. a. Faith, trust, confidence. (Cf. TROTH 3 a.) Obs.
α. a. 1300. Cursor M., 14072 (Cott.). Þi mikel treuth Has þe saued.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, IV. 223 (Cambr. MS.). He wes fule,… That gaf treuth [Edin. MS. throuth; ed. 1620 traist] to that Creature.
β. 13[?]. Cursor M., 21406. Thoru þair stedfast truth in dright.
1677. Marvell, Corr., Wks. (Grosart), II. 552. You shall not repent any truth you repose in me.
† b. Belief; a formula of belief, a creed. (Cf. TROTH 3 b.) Obs.
13[?]. Cursor M., 4246 (Gött.). Putyfar … held ioseph in mensk and lare Al þou þair treuthes sundri ware.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 8. The hard hertis, and untrewe treuth of the pagans.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, ix. 57. The Articulis of Trewth,—in God to trow,… And in his haly blissit Sone, Jesu.
4. Disposition to speak or act truly or without deceit; truthfulness, veracity, sincerity; formerly sometimes in wider sense: Honesty, uprightness, righteousness, virtue, integrity.
α. 13[?]. Cursor M., 13891 (Cott.). Þat neuer leigh, ne neuer sale, For wijt and treuth he has ai hale.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XII. 284. Trewth þat trespassed neuere ne transuersed aȝeines his lawe, But lyueth as his lawe techeth.
c. 1400. Non-Cycle Myst. Plays, Pride of Life, 330. Dred of God is al ago And treat is go to ground. Ibid., 334. And truyt is don of dau.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xii. 30. Fredome returnis in wrechitness, And trewth returnis in dowbilness.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. cxviii. [cxix.] 30. I haue chosen the waye of treuth.
a. 1657. Sir W. Mure, Sonn., i. 12. Extold by treuth of thy most loyall word.
β. 13[?]. Cursor M., 9661 (Cott.). Dom þan com foluand in hi, And luged þam in sothfast truth.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 775. [They] lacked eyther wit or truth.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 804. Loue is all truth, lust full of forged lies. Ibid. (1596), Merch. V., IV. i. 214. Malice beares downe truth.
1611. Bible, Ps. li. 6. Thou desirest trueth in the inward parts.
1680. Burnet, Rochester (1692), 55. Truth is a Rational Natures acting in conformity to itself in all things.
1750. Gray, Elegy, 69. The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. iii. 16. Do you doubt my truth?
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xx. ‘La, there an’t any such thing as truth in that limb,’ said Rosa, looking indignantly at Topsy.
II. 5. Conformity with fact; agreement with reality; accuracy, correctness, verity (of statement or thought).
α. 1570. Levins, Manip., 96/5. Trewth, veritas. Vntruth, error.
β. 1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., X. (S.T.S.), II. 422. Tha declair the truth of the Catholick religioune.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., V. iv. 124. If there be truth in sight, you are my daughter.
1628. Prynne, Cens. Cozens, 65. I haue here sufficiently euidenced the trueth of this Assertion.
1718. Prior, Solomon, Pref. In this case Probability must attone for the want of Truth.
a. 1829. J. Young, Lect. Intell. Philos., xxxviii. (1835), 382. Truth is the agreement of our ideas and words with the nature of things.
1849. G. P. R. James, Woodman, vii. There is some truth in what you say.
b. Agreement with the thing represented, in art or literature; accuracy of delineation or representation; the quality of being ‘true to life.’ Also, in Arch., absence of deceit, pretence, or counterfeit, e.g., of imitation of stone in paint or plaster.
1828. Duppa, Trav. Italy, etc., 105. The interior of the two houses of Pansa and Sallust … restored … with great apparent truth.
1840. C. O. Müller’s Hist. Lit. Greece, xi. § 7. 135. These pictures … had a striking truth.
1890. C. H. Moore, Gothic Archit., viii. 286. In truth and skill of modelling even the sculptures of Chartres and St. Denis … surpass these of Wells.
6. Agreement with a standard or rule; accuracy, correctness; spec. accuracy of position or adjustment; often in phrase out of truth.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., V. i. 2. This Instrument will come to the Truth, as well as a Needle of greater charge.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 43. To make them [ploughs] … go true depends much upon the truth of the Iron-work.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 590. Otherwise the door, when put together, will be out of truth.
1854. Poultry Chron., I. 609. The best fowls … as to truth of feather, condition, and general character.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 5831. The friction … allows the wheels to rotate with perfect truth and freedom.
7. Genuineness, reality, actual existence.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., IV. iii. 14. Thou art fram’d of the firme truth of valour. Ibid. (1603), Meas. for M., III. i. 166. She (hauing the truth of honour in her).
1842. Tennyson, Morte D’Arthur, 291. On to dawn, when dreams Begin to feel the truth and stir of day.
1844. Mrs. Browning, Lost Bower, xlvii. The golden-hearted daisies Witnessed … To the truth of things,… And I woke to Nature’s real.
III. Something that is true.
8. True statement or account; that which is in accordance with the fact: chiefly in phr. to say, speak, or tell the truth (also arch. without the), to speak truly, to report the matter as it really is (see also SAY v.1 11, SPEAK v. 23, TELL v. 18). Cf. sense 11, from which this is not always distinguishable.
Prov. Tell (say, speak) the truth and shame the devil: see SHAME v. 4 d.
α. 1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. I. 133. Þis I trouwe beo treuþe! hose con teche þe betere, Loke þou suffre him to seye.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2338. Yf ye wilne for to witte how hit worthe shulde, I shall telle you the trewthe.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 152. Þerfore, levyth ȝoure lesynges, & spekyth trewthe.
β. 1548. Patten, Exped. Scotl., Pref. a v. An Epigram…, the whiche I had, or rather (to saie truth and shame the deuel, for out it wool) I stale … from a frende of myne.
1576. Gascoigne, Philomene, xcviii. Truth is truth, and muste be tolde.
1610. Shaks., Temp., I. i. 137. The truth you speake doth lacke some gentlenesse, And time to speake it in.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 632. A man to say truth well skilled in antiquities.
1735–8. Bolingbroke, On Parties, Ded. 18. Truth may sometimes offend.
1823. Byron, Juan, XIV. ci. Truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction.
1869. Lowell, Lett. (1894), II. 42. Tell us the truth as much as you like,… but tell it in a friendly way.
b. loosely. Mental apprehension of truth (in sense 10); knowledge.
1644. Milton, Educ., Wks. (1847), 98/1. Assertions, the knowledge and the use of which cannot but be a great furtherance … to the enlargement of truth.
1843. Lowell, Glance behind Curtain, Poems (1844), 176. Men … Made wiser by the steady growth of truth.
9. True religious belief or doctrine; orthodoxy. Often with the, denoting a particular form of belief or teaching held by the speaker to be the true one; esp. in Quaker language. Cf. also sense 10.
α. c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, i. (Petrus), 607. Twa knychttis … Þe quhilk petir … Conuertit…. And fra thay þe treutht had tane [etc.].
1562. Winȝet, Cert. Tract., iii. Wks. (S.T.S.), I. 25. I can espy na thing thairin abhorring fra the treuth.
1567. Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 8. Heir him that preiche the word of treuth.
β. 1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 205. Þere is no verrey martirdom bot it be by meynteninge of truþe [v.r. truwþe].
1556. Olde, Antichrist, 9 b. Fauourers of the gospelles truthe.
1655. Milton, Sonn. Massacher Piemont, 3. Them who kept thy truth so pure of old When all our Fathers worship’t Stocks and Stones.
1662. in Extr. S. P. rel. Friends, II. (1911), 144. It is ordered that there be a Collectione this month for the seruis of the truth.
1710. O. Sansom, Acc. Life, 40. The Friend was declaring the Truth, when the Priest … came in.
1795. Macknight, Epist. (1820), III. 147. The inspired writers often call’d the Gospel Revelation, The Truth.
1893. A. Birrell, Res Judicatæ, 134. The Church became a Living Witness to the Truth.
b. Conduct in accordance with the divine standard; spirituality of life and behavior. (Cf. sense 4.)
α. 1382. Wyclif, John iii. 21. He that doth treuthe, cometh to the liȝt, that his workis be schewid, for thei ben don in God. Ibid., 1 John i. 6. If we shulen seie, for [1388 that] we han felauschip with him, and we wandren in derknessis, we liȝen, and we don not treuthe. Ibid., 2 John 4. I ioyede ful miche, for I foond of thi sones goynge in treuthe, as we receyueden maundement of the fadir.
β. 1526. Tindale, John iii. 21. He that doth the trueth [1534 Tindale, Geneva, doth truth; Cranmer, 1611 trueth] commeth to the light.
10. That which is true, real, or actual (in a general or abstract sense); reality; spec. in religious use, spiritual reality as the subject of revelation or object of faith (often not distinguishable from 9).
α. c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 13. Crist is a corner stoon, and groundiþ al treuþe. Ibid. (1382), John viii. 32. Ȝe schulen knowe the treuthe, and the treuthe schal delyuere ȝou [1388 make you fre]. Ibid., xiv. 6. I am weye, treuthe, and lyf.
1458. in Parker, Dom. Archit., III. 44. Now God geve us grace to folowe treuthe even That we may have a place in the blysse of heven.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 31. The trewth, will, and commaundement of the heauenly father must be accomplished.
β. 1547–64. Bauldwin, Mor. Philos. (Palfr.), 145. Forasmuch as God is the trueth, & that truth is God, hee that departeth from the one departeth from the other.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., I. v. 18. In knowledge there is no slender difficulty,… truth … wise men say doth lye in a well.
1785. Reid, Intell. Powers, 277. The light of truth … fills my mind.
1819. Keats, Ode Grecian Urn, 49. Beauty is truth, truth beauty.
1855. Brewster, Newton, II. xxiv. 340. Truth has no greater enemy than its unwise defenders.
1895. H. R. Reynolds, in Expositor, Jan., 75. God’s thought is our most conclusive definition of truth.
1895. Vern. Lee, in Contemp. Rev., March, 346. Truth is perceived by flashes.
b. Personified; spec. each of the two goddesses of truth in ancient Egyptian mythology.
α. 1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. I. 12. Þis Tour & þis Toft … treuþe is þer-inne,… he is Fader of Fei, þat formed ow alle.
β. 1553. Bale, Gardiner’s De vera Obed., H j b. I … am compelled to take my wyfe Truthe to me.
1644. Milton, Areop. (Arb.), 74. So Truth be in the field, we do injuriously by licencing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falshood grapple.
1858. Wilkinson, in Rawlinson, Herodotus, II. lviii. II. 101, note. The sacred beetle of the sun, overshadowed by the wings of two figures of the goddess Thmei, or ‘Truth.’
1910. Mrs. H. M. Tirard, Bk. of Dead, v. 125. The weighing of the soul takes place in the great hall of the two truths in the Heliopolis of the nether-world. The two goddesses of truth at the eastern and western ends of the hall.
11. The fact or facts; the actual state of the case; the matter or circumstance as it really is. (Cf. sense 8.)
α. c. 1450. Mankind, 831, in Macro Plays, 31. The prowerbe seyth ‘þe trewth tryith þe sylfe.’
β. 1340–70. Alex. & Dind., 275. Or þat þou senteste, sire king, to say þe truthe Of al þe lore of our lif … haue vs exkused, For we ne konne þe nouht kenne our costomus alle.
c. 1537. De Benese, Measurynge Lande, X iv. They make the square therof muche lesse than the truthe.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., IV. xiv. 126. She sent you word she was dead: But fearing since how it might worke, hath sent Me to proclaime the truth.
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., 52. The said Commissioners are to report to this Board the Truth of the Fact.
1748. Hartley, Observ. Man, I. ii. 202. We judge the Distances to be less than the Truth.
1908. R. Bagot, A. Cuthbert, xxvii. 362. If he does not know, he more than suspects the truth.
b. The real thing, as distinguished from an imitation; the genuine article; the reality corresponding to a type or symbol, the antitype. Now rare or Obs.
1531. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., VI. 20. Item, for romaney buge to lyne the samyn goune, all truth … xiij li. ix s.
a. 1653. Gouge, Comm. Heb. ix. 23. (1655), 390. His body was the truth of the Tabernacle:… His mediation the truth of the incense:… He the truth of most types.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), V. 270. [The parrot’s] voice … is more like a man’s than that of any other [bird]; the raven is too hoarse, and the jay and magpie too shrill, to resemble the truth.
c. ? Actual property or nature (of something). rare.
1552. Bk. Com. Prayer, Communion, Rubric (ad fin.). It is against the truthe of Christes true naturall body, to be in mo places then in one, at one tyme.
12. with a and pl. A true statement or proposition; a point of true belief, a true doctrine; a fixed or established principle; a verified fact; a reality.
α. c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 94. Prelatis constreynen men of symple vnderstondyng … to assente to here dampnacion of treuþes of goddis lawe.
β. c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 293. Þe creature þat telliþ hem a truþe in name of god.
1613. Jackson, Creed, I. 42. Some notable truth, whose beleefe did concerne vs.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 6. The truths of religion are many times above reason, but never against it.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., IV. xii. 210. That women are menstruant, and men pubescent, at the year of twice seven, is accounted a punctual truth.
1758. S. Hayward, Serm., i. 3. This is not a fancy,… but is a truth built upon divine testimony.
1858. O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., iii. Leave your friend to learn unpleasant truths from his enemies.
1876. G. Macdonald, T. Wingfold, xiii. Something at the root of all facts—namely, truths, or eternal laws of being.
IV. 13. Phrases. (See also 6, 8.) In truth, of a truth (arch.), † of truth, † for a truth (obs.): in fact, as a fact; truly, verily, really, indeed: mostly used to strengthen or emphasize a statement.
α. 14[?]. Why I can’t be a Nun, 191, in E. E. P. (1862), 143. Hyt was a howse of nunes in trewthe,… But not welle gouernede, and þat was rowthe.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 226. And for a treugth at thys season there was mortal warre betwee king Lewes and the duke of Borgoyne.
c. 1560. A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), ii. 2. The grit Debait and Turnament Off trewth no toung can tell.
β. 1526. Tindale, Matt. xiv. 33. Of a truth thou arte the sonne of God.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. § 67. They did in truth desire it.
1727. De Foe, Syst. Magic, I. iii. (1840), 84. These people pretend to blame him, whereas in truth they ought only to blame themselves.
1795. Burke, Corr. (1844), IV. 327. In truth, all these distempers pass my skill.
1873. ‘Ouida,’ Pascarèl, I. 57. Of a truth I loved you.
1884. Pae, Eustace, 6. It was in truth a scene of great beauty.
† b. Of (a) truth (predicatively): True; actually or really so. Obs. rare.
c. 1566. J. Alday, trans. Boaystuau’s Theat. World, I j b. It is of a truth, that the Priests of the Heathen … were chosen [etc.].
1590. Webbe, Trav., Epist. (Arb.), 13. In this booke there is nothing mentioned … but that which is of truth: and what mine own Eies haue perfectly seene.
c. ellipt. or as int. Truth! either as an expression of assent (cf. TRUE a. 3 b), or as intensive (= in truth). Cf. TROTH sb. 4 c. arch.
1534. Tindale, Matt. xv. 27. She answered and sayde: truthe Lorde: neverthelesse the whelpes eate of the crommes.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 69. Truth said he, my predecessors … were much both better and greater than I.
1854. Tennyson, Geraint & Enid, 289. Arms? truth! I know not.
V. 14. Combinations. a. attrib., as truth-breach, -gold, -light, -world, -worship. b. instrumental, as truth-dictated, -filled, -led, -shod, -tried, -writ. c. objective and obj. gen., as truth-finder, -hunter, -lover, -revealer, -seeker, -speaker, -teller, -unraveller; truth-bearing, -bringing, -denying, -desiring, -loving, -obscuring, -painting, -passing, -perplexing, -revealing, -saying, -seeking, -speaking, -telling, etc., sbs. and adjs. See also TRUTHLIKE.
1847. Cdl. Wiseman, Ess., Unreality Anglican Belief (1853), II. 394. Such vivid, *truth-bearing phrase.
1597. Beard, Theatre God’s Judgem. (1612), 279. A grieuous crime of disloyaltie and *truth-breach.
1895. Church, Pascal Serm., xix. 319. Imagination is at once the most misleading and the most *truth-bringing of mental powers.
1895. Sayce, Egypt of Hebr. & Herod., 94. Ameni the *truth-declaring name.
1850. O. Winslow, Inner Life, iv. 119. *Truth-denying,… soul-destroying error.
1871. E. F. Burr, Ad Fidem, vi. 92. A *truth-desiring spirit.
1830. Gen. P. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), I. 278. The noxious and *truth-destroying practice of oath-taking.
a. 1770. Chatterton, On Mr. Alcock, Poet. Wks. (1886), 107. In *truth-dictated lays.
a. 1847. Eliza Cook, Poems, II. Pref. 7. Many a brave, *truth-filled mind.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, VI. i. The *truth-finder, and the gold-finder.
1839. Bailey, Festus, xix. (1848), 211. Some grains of *truth-gold.
1892. A. Birrell, Res Judicatæ (1893), 157. The anxious *truth-hunter.
1839. Bailey, Festus, vi. (1848), 61. *Truth-led in Time’s darkest hour.
1853. Reade, Chr. Johnstone, vi. We’ll fight for nature-light, *truth-light, and sun-light.
1852. Tennyson, Ode Death Wellington, 189. *Truth-lover was our English Duke.
1856. N. Brit. Rev., XXVI. 16. Reasonable and *truth-loving men.
1847. Emerson, Repr. Men, Napoleon, ¶ 11. He is a realist, terrific to all talkers and confused *truth-obscuring persons.
1612. Selden, Illustr. Drayton’s Poly-olb., i. 16. *Truth-passing reports of Poeticall Bards.
1735–6. Thomson, Liberty, v. 610. *Truth-perplexing metaphysick wits.
1867. Miss Braddon, Aur. Floyd, vii. He could have dashed that double-barrelled *truth-revealer [an opera-glass] to the ground.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, V. lxvi. Ere *truth-reuealing time … Bewraid her act.
1895. Jas. Kidd, Moral. & Relig., x. 426. Truth-revealing teaching.
1552. Huloet, *Trought sayinge, or spekinge, or tellyng, ueridicentia, ueriloquentia.
1864. Bowen, Logic, vii. (1870), 225. The inductive *truth-seeker.
1852. Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. xvi. 207. He is responsible … for the way in which he arrived at them [opinions]—whether in a slothful and selfish, or in an honest and *truth-seeking manner.
1876. Blackie, Songs Relig. & Life, 130.
| Erect before their God they stood | |
| A *truth-shod Christian brotherhood, | |
| And winged with high desire. |
1552. Huloet, *Trought speker, ueridicus.
1711. Pope, Lett. to Jas. Craggs, 19 July. Their Method of Revenge on the Truth-Speaker is to attack his Reputation.
1552. *Truth-speaking (sb.) [see truth-saying].
1856. S. J. Rigaud, Serm. Inspir. Script., i. 20. According to that general law of truth-speaking, which exacts not that a statement should be verbally correct, but that it should convey a true impression.
1552. Huloet, *Trought speking, or sayinge, ueridicus.
1872. Tennyson, Gareth & Lynette, 415. Bounteous, merciful, Truth-speaking, brave.
1552. Huloet, *Trought teller, and trought speker.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. CI. v. For truth-tellers I will search the land.
1852. Tennyson, Ode Death Wellington, 188. Truth-teller was our England’s Alfred named.
1552. *Truth-telling (sb.) [see truth-saying].
1803. Mary Charlton, Wife & Mistress, IV. 273. His system of truth-telling.
1847. Helps, Friends in C., I. i. 8. Truth-telling in its highest sense requires a well-balanced mind.
1756. C. Smart, trans. Horace, Sat., I. iv. (1826), II. 43. When *truth-telling Bacchus opens the secrets of his heart.
1908. R. Bagot, A. Cuthbert, viii. Impressions … confirmed by the truth-telling light of day.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 56. The calm of *truth-tried love.
1850. Bushnell, God in Christ, 59. Whosoever … would have the *truth-world overhang him as an empyrean of stars.
1879. Geo. Eliot, Theo. Such, iii. 55. This sort of *truth-worship.
