a. and adv. [OE. untréowe, unʓetréow(e, etc. (UN-1 7, 11 b), = NFris. untraw, WFris. on-, ûntrou, MDu. on(ge)trouwe (Du. ongetrouw, usu. ontrouw), MLG. un(ge)truwe, OHG. un(gi)triuwi, -gitrûwi, -getreowe (MHG. un(ge)triuwe, G. un(ge)treu), ON. útryggr (MSw. otrygger, (M)Da. utryg), Goth. untriggws.]
A. adj. 1. Of persons, etc.: Unfaithful, faithless.
c. 1040. Laws Cnut, in Liebermann, I. 330. ʓyf hwylc man sy swa untrywe ðam hundrede.
c. 1290. St. Edmund, 100, in S. Eng. Leg., I. 434. Ich wot wel, ȝuyt men miȝhten finde … Summan … untreowore to is wiue.
c. 1300. K. Horn, 645. Þe kyng rod on hontynge,… ant Fykenyld bi is syde, Þat fals wes ant vntrewe.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, xxx. 9. To … haf ill susspeccioun of a trew frend, or goed of an vntrew.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 21. The world as of his propre kynde Was evere untrewe.
14[?]. Hoccleve, Of Pride (MS. Laud Misc. 735), fol. 69. Fy vp on tonges vntrew, They displeasaunce in lordis courtes brew.
1446. Lydg., Two Nightingale Poems, ii. 17. To take vengeaunce On false lovers whiche that bien vntriewe.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xii. 285. Ye gretest traytour & the vntruest kyng of the worlde.
a. 1547. Surrey, in Tottel’s Misc. (Arb.), 219. For my vaunt I dare well say my blood is not vntrue.
a. 1548. [see UNTROTH 1].
1611. Shaks., Cymb., I. v. 86. When to my good Lord I proue vntrue, Ile choake my selfe.
1700. Dryden, Flower & Leaf, 564. The Men inglorious Knights, the Ladies all untrue.
1738. Wesley, Ps. V. iii. The Hearts unkind and Hearts untrue Are both abhor’d by Thee.
1802. Leyden, Mermaid, vi. Know that thy favourite fair is dead, Or proves to thee and love untrue.
1818. Wordsw., ‘Not seldom,’ 6. The smoothest seas will sometimes prove, To the confiding Bark, untrue.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xx. 341. He had refused to believe that Labienus could be untrue to him.
absol. a. 1400. Pauline Ep. (Powell), Titus i. 15. To þe fuylyd … and to þe vntrewe no thyng is clene.
1866. Morris, Ayenb., 270, margin. The untrue, the evil, thieves, &c., are dark.
2. Contrary to fact; false; erroneous.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 897. Neuer lesyng ne tale vn-trwe, Ne towched her tonge for no dysstresse.
c. 1370. Hymns Virg. (1867), 108. And ȝif þei talke of tales vn-trewe, Þou torn hem out of þat entent.
c. 1400. Cursor M., 28012 (Cott. Galba). Ȝe traist ouer mekill in thing vntrew.
1446. Lydg., Two Nightingale Poems, ii. 80. Feynt and vntriew thyne exposicioun.
1531. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W.), 187 b. Sooner shall heuen and erth be dissolued, than one … lettre of ye lawe of god sholde be vnfulfylled or founde vntrue.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. 43. Others thinke it an assured remedie…; but Columella thinkes it vntrue.
1612. Sir J. Digbye, Lett., in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 609. But for myne owne parte, I holde this like the reste, to bee alltogeather untrue.
1644. Milton, Areop., 38. When God shakes a Kingdome … ’tis not untrue that many … false teachers are then busiest in seducing.
1765. Museum Rust., IV. 400. I do not apprehend that it any ways tends to prove my assertion untrue.
1802–12. Bentham, Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827), III. 360. The motives by which a man may be urged to give credit to untrue facts.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), IV. 156. There is nothing true which is not from some point of view untrue.
absol. 1807. Wordsw., White Doe, 836. Less would not … be due To us, who war against the Untrue.
1882. N. & Q., 6th Ser. VI. 429/2. Belief in the untrue.
1891. Science-Gossip, XXVII. 1/1. It has all the fascination of the untrue for the popular taste.
3. Dishonest; unfair, unjust; wrong.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. I. 98. And boxes ben broght forþ … To vnder-take þe tol of vntrewe sacrifice. Ibid. (1399), Rich. Redeles, I. 11. By drede, or be dyntis or domes vntrewe.
1444. Rolls of Parlt., V. 105/2. Be cause it was of untrue makyng, and untru stuff, no man sette therby.
1495. Act 11 Hen. VII., c. 24 § 1. Every untrue verdite herafter geven.
1542–3. Act 34–35 Hen. VIII., c. 20. Untrue and fained recoveries to be had against them. Ibid. To thentent by fraude, covyne, and untrue meanes … to bynde and defeate theyre heyres.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 199. To … craue the succour … of God and man against the Romane vntrue tyrannie.
1622. in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1908), II. 44. Wee shall fynde it deficulte to … cleare their demaunds, which what they are or howe untrewe wee are not justly posest.
1865. Pusey, Truth Eng. Ch., 5. Nothing … so dispels untrue prejudice as personal intercourse.
4. Not straight or direct; inexact; not agreeing with a standard.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 77, in O. E. Misc., 3. Ðer he wurdeþ heil & sund,… Ne were his bec untrewe. Ibid., 111. His muð is ȝet untrewe.
1503–4. Act 19 Hen. VI., c. 6 § 1. Deceivable and untrewe Beames and Scales.
a. 1573. Fabyan, Chron., ccxxvi. (1516), 147 b/1. This Henry chastysed the olde vntrewe mesure, and made a yerde of the length of his owne Arme.
1780. Cowper, Progr. Error, 571. None sends his arrow to the mark in view, Whose hand is feeble, or his aim untrue.
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, III. 891. Thereby producing wool of unequal size, and therefore untrue.
1867. A. Barry, Sir C. Barry, ii. 57. The perspective gives an untrue figure.
b. Improper, imperfect.
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Chirurg., C i. There is ii. maners of consolydacyon, one is trewe, and ye other is vntrue consolydacyon.
1884. trans. Lotze’s Metaph., i. 23. One of the oldest thoughts in Philosophy is that of the opposition between true being and untrue being.
B. adv. = UNTRULY adv.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., xlii. 114. Whose loveth untrewe, his herte is selde seete.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 735. Or ellis he moot telle his tale vntrewe Or feyne thyng or fynde wordes newe.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., lxxii. Least your true loue may seeme falce in this, That you for loue speake well of me vntrue.
1622. J. Taylor (Water P.), Merry-Fery-Wherry Voy., Wks. (1630), 13/1. Some fooles would say I flatter’d, spake vntrue.
