refel

refel

English

Alternative forms

• refell

Etymology

From Latin refellere, from re- + fallere (“to deceive”).

Verb

refel (third-person singular simple present refels, present participle refelling, simple past and past participle refelled)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To refute, disprove (an argument); to confute (someone).
   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, (please specify |partition=1, 2, or 3):

     , I.iii.3:

     Averroes scoffs at Galen for his reasons, and brings five arguments to refel them: so doth Hercules de Saxonia […]

   • William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure

     How I persuaded, how I pray'd, and kneel'd,
     How he refell'd me, and how I reply'd […]

Anagrams

• Freel, fleer