| 释义 |
falsehood|ˈfɔːls-, ˈfɒlshʊd|
Also † falsehead. Forms: α. 3–6 fals(e)-, (4 falce-, fauls- south. dial. vals-), hed(e, -ed, (4 -ede, -heed, -id, 5 -hedd, 6 -heade), 6–7 -head. β. 4–6 fals- (6 false-) hod(e, (4 Sc. -ade), 6– falsehood.
[f. false a. + -head, -hood.]
†1. As an attribute of persons: Falseness, deceitfulness, mendacity, faithlessness. Obs.
1297R. Glouc. (1724) 454 Of falshede, ne of trecherye, in þe worl hys per nys. a1340Hampole Psalter xi. 2 Sothfastnes is lessed & falshede waxis. c1440Generydes 1539 A sotilte To hide your falshede. 1534Ld. Berners Huon lxxxii. 253 Me thynke he is full of falshede for I se none other but he purchaseth for your deth.
2. Want of conformity to fact or truth; falsity. Now almost always implying intentional falsity.
c1340Cursor M. 22865 (Trin.) Mony wenen þat ben not wise þat þat flesshe shal not hool vprise. Þat to wene is but falshede. c1440Generydes 5221 Ffalshede and trougth is euer atte debate. 1530Rastell Bk. Purgat. i. viii, Truthe and falshed be two contraryauntes. 1611Bible Job xxi. 34 In your answeres there remaineth falshood. 1742Johnson L.P., Sydenham, The falshood of this report. 1793Beddoes Scurvy 46 He has..shewn the falsehood of the conclusion. 1809–10Coleridge Friend (1865) 20 The shameless assertion, that truth and falsehood are indifferent in their own natures.
b. That which, or something that, is contrary to fact or truth; an untrue proposition, doctrine, belief, etc.; untrue propositions, etc. in general.
1393Gower Conf. III. 136 Logique hath eke in his degree Betwene the trouthe and falshode The pleine wordes for to shode. c1449Pecock Repr. iii. xiv. 373 Out of a treuthe folewith not a falshede. 1691Hartcliffe Virtues 289 Such Minds, as shall have as clear Conceptions of Falshoods, as they have of Truths. 1845S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. II. 278 Truth would be suppressed together with falsehood. 1847Helps Friends in C. (1854) I. 6 Each age has to fight with its own falsehoods. 1861M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 32 It would be easy..to exaggerate this truth..into a falsehood.
†c. An error, mistake (in writing); a slip of the pen. Obs. rare.
c1440Promp. Parv. 148 Falsheed yn boke, for yvel wrytynge, menda.
3. Deception, falsification, imposture; a forgery, counterfeit. Obs. or arch.
1340Ayenb. 40 Notaryes þet makeþ þe ualse lettres, and..to uele oþre ualshedes. c1394P. Pl. Crede 616 Þanne [he] ..fyeþ on her falshedes þat þei bifore deden. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 122 Hee..Artificer of fraud..was the first That practisd falshood under saintly shew. Ibid. iv. 812 No falshood can endure Touch of Celestial temper.
4. The intentional making of false statements; lying. (Occasionally with wider sense adopted from ancient philosophy: see quot. 1810.)
1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. i. iv. §10 Herodotus was..suspected of falshood. 1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xvi, Add not the audacity of falsehood to the headlong passions of youth. 1810Bentham Packing (1821) 135 Your logical falsehood is—where, for example, you speak of a thing which is not true as if it were true, whether you think it true or not: your ethical falsehood is—where you speak of a thing as true, believing it not to be true, whether it be really true or not. a1839Praed Poems (1864) II. 394 Fraud in kings was held accurst, And falsehood sin was reckoned. 1841Lane Arab. Nts. I. 24 Falsehood is permitted by their religion. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 74 He who loves involuntary falsehood is a fool.
5. An uttered untruth; a lie. Also, false statements, uttered untruth, in general.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. 42/288 Alas, alas, þe deolfole cas: to heore so muche falshede! c1380Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 140 He seies, as blaspheme falsehed þat he makes medeful to slee Cristen men. c1450Gesta Rom. xlix. 223 (Harl. MS.) He with his sotil cautellis & falshedes blindithe & disseyuithe þe soule. 1593Shakes. Rich. II, iv. i. 39, I will turne thy falshood to thy hart, Where it was forged, with my Rapiers point. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xii, Why did you accuse me of having told a falsehood. 1849Ruskin Sev. Lamps ii. §15. 42 To cover brick with cement, and to divide this cement with joints that it may look like stone, is to tell a falsehood. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. iv. 314 A small element of truth may furnish a substructure for a considerable edifice of falsehood.
†6. Arith. rule of falsehood = ‘False Position’: see position. Obs.
1542Recorde Gr. Artes (1575) 439 The rule of Falsehode, whiche beareth his name..for that by false numbers taken at all aduentures, it teacheth howe to finde those true numbers that you seeke for.
7. Sc. Law. (See quot.): in mod. law books for the older falset.
1699Sir G. Mackenzie Laws Cust. Scot. xxvii. 134 Falsum, Falshood..a fraudulent suppression, or imitation of Truth, in prejudice of another. 1773in J. Erskine Instit. Law Scot. iv. iv. §66. 1861 in W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 378/2.
8. Comb., as falsehood-free, falsehood-monger.
1839Lady Lytton Cheveley (ed. 2) I. xii. 293 What will not those falsehood-mongers, the poets, have to answer for. 1850Mrs. Browning Poems, Exile's Return iii, How change could touch the falsehood-free And changeless thee! |