True a. (sb., adv.). World English Historical Dictionary

True a. (sb., adv.). World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1916, rev. 2022. True a. (sb., adv.) Forms: α. 1 (ʓe)triewe), 1–3 tréowe, 1–4 trýwe, 3 treouwe, 3–4 triwe, 3–7 trewe, trew, 4–7 treu, 5 treewe, triew(e. β. 3 (Orm.) trowwe, 5 trowe, 5–6 trow; 5 traw. γ. 3–5 truwe, 4–5 trwe, 4–7 tru, 6 trw, 5– true. [OE. (strict WS. (ʓe)triewe, commonly) tréowe (ME. also truwe) = OS. (gi)trûui, OEFris. triuwe, OWFris. trouwe, (MDu. (ghe)trûwe, (ghe)trouwe, Du. getrouw), OHG. (ga)triuwu, (Ger. treu), ON. tryggr, Goth. triggws; deriv. of OE. sb. tréow:—WGer. *trewwia f., lit. ‘having or characterized by good faith,’ deriv. of sb. OE. tréow, trúw, OHG. triuwa, Goth. triggwa faith, good faith, covenant: see TRUCE.]

1   1.  Of persons: Steadfast in adherence to a commander or friend, to a principle or cause, to one’s promises, faith, etc.; firm in allegiance; faithful, loyal, constant, trusty. Somewhat arch.

2 a. 1000.  St. Guthlac, 1269 (Gr.). Se wuldormaʓo … spræc … to his treowum ʓesiðe.

3 c. 1205.  Lay., 8851. Mildeliche spæc þus Þe treowe cniht Androgeus.

4 c. 1250.  Hymn Virg., 2, in Trin. Coll. Hom., App. 257. Þu ert leuedi swuþe treowe … Þi loue is euer iliche neowe.

5 1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 2320. May y þan trust to þy sawe Þat þou be now my trew felawe?

6 1388.  Wyclif, Luke xvi. 10. He that is trewe in the leeste thing, is trewe also in the more.

7 1450–80.  trans. Secreta Secret., 19. Kepe wel thi feith and thi word euermore … gret worshipe vnto hem þat so trewe are founden in here feith.

8 1476.  Surtees Misc. (1888), 35. To all trewe Christen men.

9 a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, xcv. 307. Ye haue done as a trew subjet ought to do to his lorde.

10 1646.  Hamilton, Papers (Camden), 119. Your Grace’s humblest truest seruant, R. Moray.

11 1821.  Shelley, Bridal Song, i. Never smiled the inconstant moon On a pair so true.

12 1847.  Tennyson, Princess, IV. 80. Bright and fierce and fickle is the South, And dark and true and tender is the North.

13   b.  transf. of personal attributes or actions. Somewhat arch.; often passing into sense 2 or 5.

14 a. 800.  [see TRUE-LOVE 1].

15 c. 1200.  Ormin, Introd. 69. Trigg & trowwe griþþ & friþþ.

16 c. 1275.  Passion our Lord, 45, in O. E. Misc., 38. Alle men he tauhte to holde treowe luue Erest to god almyhti.

17 13[?].  Cursor M., 4422 (Gött.). Ille es þe quit þi treu seruis.

18 1454.  Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889), 281. That they shall do trewe execucion.

19 c. 1560.  A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), ix. 14. Ane trewar hairt may no man haif.

20 1667.  Milton, P. L., III. 104. What proof could they have givn … Of true allegiance?

21 1832.  Tennyson, Miller’s Dau., 216. Round my true heart thine arms entwine.

22   c.  Const. to (in early use with simple dative).

23 Beowulf (Z.), 1165. Æʓ-hwylc oðrum trywe.

24 c. 1200.  Ormin, 6177. Þin laferrd birrþ þe buhsumm beon & hold & trigg & trowwe.

25 c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 596. And be tristy and trew to ȝow for euer-more.

26 c. 1400.  Trevisa’s Higden (Rolls), V. 447 (MS. γ). Þanne doo as þou hast byhote, and be truwe [v.r. trewe] to hym þat so haþ þe i-holpe.

27 a. 1450.  Knt. de la Tour (1906), 97. Y haue founde you … not true vnto me.

28 1583.  Melbancke, Philotimus, E e j. I will bee as true to thee as the begger to his dishe.

29 1602.  Shaks., Ham., I. iii. 78. This aboue all; to thine owne selfe be true:… Thou canst not then be false to any man.

30 1678.  Wanley, Wond. Lit. World, V. ii. § 82. 472/2. A Prince more just and true to his word.

31 a. 1721.  Prior, Song ‘Still, Dorinda,’ iv. To my vows I have been true.

32 1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ii. I. 258. Hyde had been true to his Tory opinions. Ibid. (1855), xi. III. 1. True … to the cause of civil freedom.

33   d.  fig. of things: Reliable; constant; † sure, secure (obs.).

34 c. 1205.  [see TRULY 1 b].

35 c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 73. Þe pes to ȝeme & gyue with lawes trewe als stele.

36 c. 1425.  Cursor M., 59 (Trin.). For whenne þou wenest hit trewest [v.r. truyst] to be, Þou shalt from hit or hit from þe.

37 a. 1733.  Barton Booth, Song, ‘Sweet are the charms of her I love,’ ii. True as the Needle to the Pole, Or as the Dial to the Sun.

38 1791.  Cowper, Iliad, VI. 60. Steel Of truest temper.

39 1872.  Dora Greenwell, Liber Hum. (1875), 209. To the rock the root adheres, In every fibre true.

40   2.  In more general sense: Honest, honorable, upright, virtuous, trustworthy (arch.); free from deceit, sincere, truthful (cf. 3 d); of actions, feelings, etc., sincere, unfeigned (now passing into or merged in 5). See also TRUEMAN.

41 a. 1012.  Laws of Ethelred, III. c. 9. Buton he habbe tweʓra trywra manna ʓewitnesse.

42 c. 1200.  Vices & Virtues, 45. Be trewe mann and halt tin god.

43 a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 2. Þeos riwle is cherité of schir heorte and cleane inwit, and trewe bileaue.

44 1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 859. Men triwest [v.r. trewest] we [v.r. me] seþ And best me mai to hom truste þat of lest wordes beþ.

45 c. 1380.  Wyclif, Eng. Wks. (1880), 321. As lif of a trew plow man … is betere preyere to god þen preyere of any ordre þat god loueþ lesse.

46 c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 464 (Balade). A trewe man … Hath nat to parte with a theuys dede.

47 1446.  Lydg., Two Night. Poems, ii. 69. Triewe meanyng rooted so withynne, Fer from the conceyte of any maner synne.

48 c. 1460.  Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon., xiii. (1885), 141. iij. or iiij. theves … haue sett apon vj. or vij. trewe men, and robbed hem all.

49 1484.  Caxton, Fables of Alfonce, ii. He is … reputed … for a good man and trewe.

50 1599.  Shaks., Much Ado, I. i. 27. There are no faces truer, then those that are so wash’d, how much better is it to weepe at ioy, then to ioy at weeping?

51 1611.  Bible, Gen. xlii. 11. We are true men: thy seruants are no spies.

52 c. 1614.  Sir W. Mure, Dido & Æneas, I. 715. Her waxen heart, touch’t with a trew remorse.

53 1710.  Addison, Tatler, No. 250, ¶ 8. Good Men and true for a Petty Jury.

54 1847.  Helps, Friends in C., I. 8. A true man does not think what his hearers are feeling, but what he is saying.

55 1865.  Dickens, Mut. Fr., III. v. Your own father has not a truer interest in you.

56   3.  Of a statement or belief: Consistent with fact; agreeing with the reality; representing the thing as it is.

57 c. 1205.  Lay., 4443. Belin ihærde sugge Þurh summe sæȝ treowe Of his broðer wifðinge.

58 1382.  Wyclif, John xxi. 24. We witen, for [1388 that] his witnessing is trewe.

59 1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. I. 100. Al þe world wot wel hit myȝte nat be trywe.

60 c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xvii. 396. ‘Syr, wyte that charlemagne is come wyth his oost.’… ‘Is it true?’ said mawgis.

61 a. 1529.  Skelton, Dk. Albany, 4. These tidinges newe Whiche be as trewe As the gospell.

62 a. 1584.  Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae, 1018. I … Thocht all thair tales was trew.

63 1608.  Willet, Hexapla Exod., 839. The truer opinion.

64 1710.  Bingham, Chr. Antiq., XX. vii. § 10. The fact was too true, and the charge too well-grounded, to be denied of them all in general.

65 1759.  Johnson, Rasselas, xlvii. The same proposition cannot be at once true and false.

66 1858.  Lardner, Handbk. Nat. Phil., etc. 16. This will be true, however shallow the vessel … and however narrow the tube.

67   b.  Often in phr. it is true (also inverted, true it is), introducing a statement; also ellipt. or interjectionally, true, introducing or in reply to a statement; usually in concessive sense: = truly, verily, certainly, doubtless.

68 1594.  T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 13. True it is, that we haue now taken in hand a very long piece of worke.

69 1604.  Shaks., Oth., I. iii. 79. That I haue tane away this old mans Daughter, It is most true: true I haue married her.

70 1611.  Bible, Dan. iii. 24. They answered and said vnto the king: True, O king.

71 1724.  De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1840), 173. It is true, we were all but young in the War.

72 1784.  Cowper, Task, III. 210. True; I am no proficient, I confess, In arts like yours.

73 1859.  Ruskin, Two Paths, i. § 1. It is true that the art which carves and colours the front of a Swiss cottage is not of any very exalted kind; yet [etc.].

74   c.  Come true: to be verified or realized in actual experience; to be fulfilled. Hold true: see HOLD v. 23 c.

75 1819.  Shelley, Questions, 7. To patch up fragments of a dream, Part of which comes true.

76 1875.  Morris, Æneid, VIII. 580. While yet my fear is unfulfilled, and hope may yet come true.

77 1879.  M. J. Guest, Lect. Hist. Eng., xxi. 206. His prophecy had come true.

78   d.  transf. Speaking truly, telling the truth; trustworthy in statement; veracious, truthful. (Not always distinguishable from 2.) Also fig.

79 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 6599 (Cott.). All er yee tru, þis es your saghes, Es nan of yow þat þis calf knaues.

80 c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 503/2. Truwe mann, or woman, verax.

81 c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., vii. 77. That thay be traw of thare tong, And bere no fals witnes.

82 1526.  Tindale, Matt. xxii. 16. Master, we knowe that thou arte true, and that thou teachest the waye of god trueli.

83 1611.  Bible, Prov. xiv. 25. A true witnesse deliuereth soules: but a deceitfull witnesse speaketh lyes.

84 1634.  Milton, Comus, 170. This way the noise was, if mine ear be true.

85 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Past., II. 33. If the Glass be true, With Daphnis I may vie.

86 1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., lxxxv. 50. O true in word, and tried in deed.

87   4.  Agreeing with a standard, pattern, or rule; exact, accurate, precise; correct, right.

88 c. 1550.  Cheke, Matt. x. 5. (1843), 46. An Apostol, if ye wold have ye trutorn of ye naam is as much to sai as a frosent.

89 1570.  Dee, Math. Pref., a iv b. Of the Variacion of the Compas, from true North.

90 1583.  Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 77. Such as can scarcely read true English.

91 1651.  Hobbes, Leviath., III. xxxv. 217. The truest Translation is the first.

92 1674.  Ray, Collect. Words, Smelting Silver, 114. Where the furnace is come to a true temper of heat.

93 a. 1721.  Prior, Protogenes & Apelles, 54. Apelles drew A Circle regularly true.

94 1782.  Cowper, Gilpin, 72. He … hung a bottle on each side To make his balance true.

95 1822.  Imison, Sc. & Art, I. 98. Clocks and watches … so regulated as to measure true equal time.

96 1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., xcvi. 8. One indeed I knew … Who touch’d a jarring lyre at first, But ever strove to make it true.

97   b.  In more general sense: Of the right kind, such as it should be, proper. (Cf. 5.)

98 1340–70.  Alex. & Dind., 513. Þat þou miht trystli trye þe treweste lawe … Þat þou miht … þe beste lawe kenne.

99 1435.  Coventry Leet Bk., 182. Yif the cardwiredrawer were … disseyued withe ontrewe wire … then wold he sey vnto the smythier … ‘Sir, amende your honde, or, in feithe, I wille no more bye of you.’ And then the smythier, lest he lost his Custemers, wolde make true goode.

100 c. 1600.  Shaks., Sonn., lxii. Me thinkes no face so gratious is…, No shape so true.

101 1677.  Yarranton, Eng. Improv., 51. The Land in this Mannor is sound, rich, dry, and good, and that is the true Land to bear Flax.

102 a. 1770.  Jortin, Serm. (1771), II. i. 12. To place things in their true order.

103 1911.  H. Wace, Proph. Jew & Chr., v. 92. These facts, thus placed in their true bearings, are left to produce their natural result upon the mind.

104   c.  That is rightly or lawfully such; rightful, legitimate.

105 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 5411. How Thelaphus tide to be treu kyng.

106 1593.  Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., I. ii. 23. An Oath is of no moment, being not tooke Before a true and lawfull Magistrate.

107 1681.  Dryden, Abs. & Achit., 921. The true successor from the court removed.

108 1790.  Burke, Fr. Rev., 322. By the laws of nature the occupant and subduer of the soil is the true proprietor.

109   d.  Accurately placed, fitted, or shaped; exact in position or form, as an instrument, a part of mechanism, or the like.

110 1474.  Coventry Leet Bk., 400. That his weyghtes be sised & sealed and true beme.

111 1551.  Recorde, Pathw. Knowl., I. xxiv. More easyly … may you … make any suche line with a true ruler.

112 1664.  Butler, Hud., II. iii. 1019. I’ll make them serve for perpendiculars As true as e’er were us’d by bricklayers.

113 1726.  Leoni, trans. Alberti’s Archit., I. 38/2. We must use a Square Rule … of a very large Size, that our strait Lines may be the truer.

114 1875.  Carpentry & Join., 43. A strip required to be cut and planed up perfectly true and even on its sides and ends.

115 1897.  A. C. Pemberton, et al. Complete Cyclist, iii. 85. A second trueing at the end of a week will take up any slack in them [spokes], and result in a wheel which will remain permanently true.

116   e.  True to: consistent with, exactly agreeing with, ‘faithful to’ (cf. 1 c).

117 1715.  Arbuthnot, Lett. to Pope, 9 July. I was strangely disappointed in my expectation of a translation nicely true to the original.

118 1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, i. Be true to your time in the morning.

119 1883.  Morfill, Slavonic Lit., i. 15. The dialects of a language are truer to its spirit than its literary form.

120 1885.  Athenæum, 23 May, 661/2. The incident is very true to life and graphically described.

121   f.  Conformable to reality, natural: = true to nature.

122 1870.  Huxley, Lay Serm., i. That truest of fictions, ‘The History of the Plague Year.’

123 1894.  S. G. Green, in Sunday at H., June, 527. I do not object to fiction provided it be true.

124   g.  Remaining constant to type; not subject to variation. (Cf. C. 3 b.)

125 1839.  Darwin, Voy. Nat., viii. (1873), 146. This breed is very true. Ibid. (1859), Orig. Spec., iv. (1860), 84. Can we wonder, then, that Nature’s productions should be far ‘truer’ in character than man’s productions?

126   h.  Of the wind: Steady, constant, uniform in direction and force.

127 1894.  Dundee Advertiser, 11 July, 6/1. The Britannia was now 400 yards ahead…. The wind was continuing true.

128   5.  Real, genuine; rightly answering to the description; properly so called; not counterfeit, spurious, or imaginary; also, conforming or approaching to the ideal character of such.

129 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. xlvii. (Bodl. MS.), lf. 176/2. Stones … þat bene fals … seme moste liche … to ham þat bene trew.

130 [c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 503/2. Trvwe, in belevynge, catholicus.]

131 c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, I. 22. His forbearis … Of hale lynage, and trew lyne of Scotland.

132 1526.  Tindale, 1 John ii. 8. The darknes is past, and the true lyght nowe shyneth.

133 1535.  Coverdale, 1 John v. 20. This is the true God, and euerlastinge life.

134 1562.  A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), i. 21. Caus his trew Kirk be had in reuerence.

135 1589.  Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, I. xii. (Arb.), 43. Vntrue praise neuer giueth any true reputation.

136 1680.  Otway, Orphan, I. i. The World has not A truer Soldier, or a better Subject.

137 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 598. He turns agen To his true Shape.

138 1781.  Cowper, Truth, 176. True Piety is cheerful as the day.

139 1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, ii. The best armourer that ever made sword, and the truest soldier that ever drew one.

140 1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. II. 16. It was thought that the flocks … would soon return to the true fold.

141 1854.  Moseley, Astron., xx. (1874), 93. About the equinox the time of true noon precedes the time of mean noon.

142 1891.  Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, liii. You may yet find the true criminals.

143   b.  In scientific use: Conformable to the type, or to the accepted idea or character of the genus, class, or kind; properly or strictly so called.

144 1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, III. lxviii. 408. True Maydenheare, Ladies heare, Venus heare.

145 1704.  F. Fuller, Med. Gymn. (1711), 201. The true skin, and all its innumerable Glands.

146 1741.  Monro, Anat. Bones (ed. 3), 222. The Ribs are commonly divided into True and False. The True Costæ are the seven superior of each Side.

147 1809.  Med. Jrnl., XXI. 274. In all cases of true hydrophobia.

148 1841.  Penny Cycl., XXI. 415/1. The Lanianæ, or true Shrikes.

149 1855.  Phillips, Man. Geol., 513. Masses of true granite.

150 1899.  Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 825. True nerve tumours are exceedingly rare.

151   c.  True bill (in Law), a bill of indictment found by a Grand Jury to be supported by sufficient evidence to justify the hearing of a case: see BILL sb.3 4. Hence allusively, a true statement or charge (true being loosely taken in sense 3).

152 1591.  Lambarde, Eiren., IV. v. 484. An Enditement in their [Jurors’] finding of a Bill of accusation to be true.

153 1659.  Termes de la Ley, 135 b. Indictment … is a Bill … exhibited by way of accusation … and preferred unto Jurors, and by their verdict found presented to be true before a Judge.

154 1769.  Blackstone, Comm., IV. xxiii. 305. If they [the grand jury] are satisfied of the truth of the accusation, they then endorse upon it, ‘a true bill’; antiently, ‘billa vera.’ The indictment is then said to be found.

155 1809.  Malkin, Gil Blas, IX. vi. (Rtldg.), 321. Him they taxed with the plotted massacre, and the bill was a true one.

156 1852.  Smedley, L. Arundel, lii. A true bill, by all that’s unlucky!

157   B.  sb. (absol. use of the adj.)

158   † 1.  A faithful, loyal, or trusty person; a ‘true man.’ Obs.

159 13[?].  Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 2354. Trwe mon [= must] trwe restore.

160 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 11976. A! traytor vntrew, how toke þou on honde Þat trew to be-tray?

161 c. 1470.  Golagros & Gaw., 356. Thus with trety ye cast yon trew vndre tyld.

162   † b.  spec. Nickname for a member of the Protestant or Whig party in the 17th c.: cf. true blue (see BLUE sb. 8). Obs.

163 a. 1734.  North, Exam., II. v. § 68 (1740), 357. Most of the eminent Fanatics in England, with all their Trues and True-blues.

164   2.  The true: That which is true; truth, reality.

165 1812.  Crabbe, Tales, xi. 388. If sleep one moment closed the dismal view, Fancy her terrors built upon the true.

166 1874.  Geo. Eliot, Coll. Breakf. P., 13. Yearning for that True Which has no qualities.

167   3.  Accurate position or adjustment (in phr. out of the true): cf. sense 4 d above, and TRUTH sb. 6.

168 1890.  W. J. Gordon, Foundry, 51. The bottom member would be out of the true as it expanded unequally.

169   C.  adv.

170   1.  Faithfully; † honestly; † confidently: = TRULY 1, 1 b, 2.

171 1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 1912. Þere ys no solas vndyr heuene … Þat shuld a man so moche glew As a gode womman þat loueþ trew.

172 13[?].  [see B. 1].

173 a. 1425.  Cursor M., 4913 (Trin.). Þing þat we truly bouȝt And so is oure trewe geten þing.

174 c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, I. 86. Ressawide he was and trastyt werray trew.

175 c. 1555, 1633.  [see true-dealing, true-meaning, in D. 2].

176   2.  In accordance with fact; truthfully; rightly: = TRULY 3.

177 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 18420 (Cott.). I hight þe tru þat þou þis ilk dai sal be … in paradis wit me.

178 c. 1450.  Merlin, i. 7. The gode woman that spake with me seyde full trewe.

179 1525.  Tindale, John xix. 35. He knoweth that he sayth true.

180 1638.  Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. II.), 142. Tell mee true, Did you not [etc.]?

181 1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 58, ¶ 13. If he tells me true.

182 1883.  Athenæum, 17 Feb., 217/1. If report speak true.

183   3.  Exactly, accurately, correctly: = TRULY 4.

184 1539.  Palsgr., 698/2. Sauf vostre grace, or saulue vostre grace, for I fynde bothe, but saulue is trewer written.

185 1660.  Bloome, Archit., A c. Sima being made true Square.

186 1687.  A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 35. They shoot at a mark very true with a Bow and Arrow.

187 1765.  Wesley, Wks. (1872), XIV. 335. I want the people called Methodists to sing true the tunes … in common use.

188 1835.  Sir J. Ross, Narr. 2nd Voy., viii. 119. The wind had continued true north.

189 1850.  Lynch, Theo. Trin., xii. 232. Thy love in ours is imaged true As skies in water clear.

190   b.  In agreement with the ancestral type; without variation: in phr. to breed true. (Cf. A. 4 g.)

191 1859.  Darwin, Orig. Spec., i. (1860), 19. Every race that breeds true. Ibid. (1868), Anim. & Pl., I. vii. 242. The Spanish breed has long been known to breed true.

192   4.  Really, genuinely; authentically. (Cf. TRULY 5.)

193 a. 1586, 1847.  [see true-felt, true-heroic, in D. 2].

194 1895.  Daily News, 17 Dec., 5/1. Miss Rushton does not say what paper or letter is true signed.

195   D.  Combinations.

196   1.  The adj. in comb.: a. parasynthetic, as true-blooded, -breasted, -eyed, -paced, -souled, -spirited, -stamped (having the true stamp, genuine), -toned, -tongued adjs.: see also TRUE-HEARTED; b. with other adjs., as true-like, -seeming; c. with sbs.: true-metal a., like that of genuine metal; † true-stitch, a kind of embroidery exactly alike on both sides (obs.); true-tongue, one having a true tongue, a truthful person, truth-teller; † true-wit (tru-witt), a genuinely witty person, a real ‘wit’ (obs.).

197 1818.  Cobbett, Pol. Reg., XXXIII. 598. They are more *true-blooded.

198 1605.  1st Pt. Ieronimo, I. iii. O my *true brested father.

199 1883.  Mrs. Plunkett, in Harper’s Mag., Jan., 240/2. Some *true-eyed artist.

200 1588.  Fraunce, Lawiers Log., I. ii. 5. Plato … ascribeth truth to God and Gods children, leaving nothing but *truelike to mortall men.

201 1611.  Shaks., Cymb., I. vi. 168. He is one The *truest manner’d.

202 1868.  J. H. Blunt. Ref. Ch. Eng., I. 449. This is the *true-metal ring of the Book of Common Prayer.

203 1648.  Herrick, Hesper., Fare-well to Sack, 35. Before they sing Their *true-pac’d numbers.

204 1590.  Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 38. The falsest twoo, And fittest for to forge *true-seeming lyes.

205 1824.  Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. I. (1863), 222. The equally apocryphal but still truer-seeming History of the Plague.

206 1854.  Grace Greenwood, Haps & Mishaps, 37. A *true-souled old man.

207 1684.  Otway, Atheist, I. i. A dozen … jolly, *true-spirited … Friends.

208 1678.  Dryden, All for Love, I. i. The … rugged Virtue Of an old *true-stampt Roman.

209 1598.  B. Jonson, Case is Altered, II. iii. What, *true-stitch, sister! both your sides alike!

210 1664.  F. Hawkins, Youths Behav., II. 7. True-Stitch, Sattin stitch, Queen-stitch [etc.].

211 1907.  Daily Chron., 21 Nov., 5/3. Her … E flat rang out clear and perfect like a *true-toned bell.

212 1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. III. 320. Thanne worth *trewe-tonge a tidy man þat tened me neuere.

213 c. 1369.  Chaucer, Dethe Blaunche, 927. Of eloquence was neuer founde So swete a sownynge facounde, Ne *trewer tonged.

214 1651.  Charleton, Ephes. & Cimm. Matrons, II. (1668), 60. Transformed from an Ideot, a Bartholmew-Cokes, a Clown, to a Bon Esprit, a Virtuoso, a *Truwitt.

215   2.  The adv. in comb.: a. with ppl. adj., as true-begotten, -dealing, -derived, -devoted, -disposing, -divining, -felt, -made, -meaning, -meant, -ringing, -run, -speaking, -spelling, -strung; see also TRUE-BORN, -BRED; b. with other adjs., as true-heroic, -noble, -sweet, -sublime.

216 1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., II. ii. 36. O heauens, this is my *true begotten Father.

217 1708.  Mrs. Centlivre, Busie Body, I. i. He … scarce believes there’s a true-begotten child in the city.

218 c. 1555.  Harpsfield, Divorce Hen. VIII. (Camden), 94. Like an honest *true-dealing man.

219 1594.  Shaks., Rich. III., III. vii. 200. To draw forth your Noble Ancestrie … Vnto a Lineall *true deriued course. Ibid. (1591), Two Gent., II. vii. 9. A *true-deuoted Pilgrime is not weary To measure Kingdomes with his feeble steps. Ibid. (1594), Rich. III., IV. iv. 55. O vpright, iust, and *true-disposing God. Ibid. (1588), Tit. A., II. iii. 214. To proue thou hast a *true diuining heart.

220 a. 1586.  Sidney, Arcadia, I. (1622), 40. Such tokens of *true-felt sorrow.

221 1847.  Tennyson, Princess, Concl. Why Not make her *true-heroic—true-sublime?

222 1598.  Drayton, Heroic. Ep., O. Tudor to Q. Cath., 44. By Frances conquest, and by Englands oth, You are the *true made dowager of both.

223 1633.  T. Adams, Exp. 2 Peter ii. 18. A thief lighting into *true-meaning company.

224 1603.  Shaks., Meas. for M., I. iv. 55. Of an infinite distance from his *true meant designe.

225 1601.  Chester, Love’s Mart., Poet. Ess., Title-p., The *true-noble Knight.

226 1907.  Daily Chron., 23 Feb., 3/2. These *true-ringing, rough-hewn epistles.

227 1893.  Bailey’s Mag., Oct., 273/1. Was the race a *true-run one?

228 1570–6.  Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 290. The opinion of any one *true speaking man.

229 1604.  Middleton, Father Hubburd’s T., Wks. (Bullen), VIII. 53. A *true-spelling printer.

230 1598.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. i. III. Furies, 55. This mighty World did seem an Instrument *True-strung, well-tun’d. Ibid. (1593–4), Profit Imprisonm., 766. That this world’s fained sweet … Should be preferr’d before these seeming-sowrs, that make us Taste many *true-sweet sweets.

231 c. 1600.  Shaks., Sonn., lxxxii. Thy *true telling friend.

232 1821.  Clare, Vill. Minstr. (1823), I. 26. *True-thought legends.

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