belie
English
WOTD – 26 July 2007
Alternative forms
- bely
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /bɪˈlaɪ/, /bəˈlaɪ/
- (General American) IPA(key): /bɪˈlaɪ/, /bəˈlaɪ/, /biˈlaɪ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -aɪ
Etymology 1
From Middle English belyen, beliggen, from Old English belicgan, bilicgan (“to lie around, surround, hedge in, encompass”). Equivalent to be- (“around, by”) + lie (“to be positioned”).
Verb
belie (third-person singular simple present belies, present participle belying, simple past belay, past participle belain)
- (transitive, obsolete) To lie around; encompass.
- (transitive, obsolete, of an army) To surround; beleaguer.
Etymology 2
From Middle English belyen, beleoȝen, from Old English belēogan (“to deceive by lying, be mistaken”), from Proto-West Germanic *bileugan (“to belie”). Equivalent to be- (“about”) + lie (“to deceive”). Compare Dutch beliegen (“to lie about, tell lies”), German belügen (“to tell a lie”).
Verb
belie (third-person singular simple present belies, present participle belying, simple past and past participle belied)
- (transitive, archaic) To tell lies about. [from 13th c.]
- Synonyms: slander, calumniate
- c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iii], page 51:
- Thou do’ſt bely him Percy, thou doſt bely him; / He never did encounter with Glendower:
- (transitive) To give a false representation of. [from 17th c.]
- Synonym: misrepresent
- 1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, OCLC 213833262, [Act II, scene ii]:
- Should I do ſo I ſhould bely my thoughts, / Comfort's in heauen, and we are on the earth […]
- c. 1596, William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene iv], page 12, column 1:
- Pand. Lady, you vtter madneſſe, and not ſorrow.
Con. Thou art [not] holy to belye me ſo,
I am not mad: This haire I teare is mine
- 1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy. […], 5th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed [by Robert Young, Miles Flesher, and Leonard Lichfield and William Turner] for Henry Cripps, OCLC 932915040, partition II, section 2, member 6, subsection iv, page 198:
- He found it by experience, and made good uſe of it in his owne perſon, if Plutarch bely him not […].
- 2013 April 3, Patrick Heenan, The Southeast Asia Handbook, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 132:
- Cambodia's apparent relative insignificance belied its geopolitical importance.
- 2020 November 18, Paul Bigland, “New infrastructure and new rolling stock”, in Rail, page 49:
- Opposite, the Loram site contains a real ragbag of yellow, blue or rust-streaked kit whose appearance belies their importance in keeping the railways running.
- (transitive) To contradict, to show (something) to be false. [from 17th c.]
- Synonyms: contradict, give lie to, give the lie to
- Her obvious nervousness belied what she said.
- 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 6484883, Act III, page 43:
- Their trembling Hearts bely their boaſting Tongues.
- 2001, Arun Kaul, “Kesar: The cultural geography of Kashmir”, in The Human Landscape, page 227:
- Early Chinese Buddhist travellers like O'Kong (AD 759-763) mention the use of kesar in Buddhist Viharas for various rituals, and also in making paint for Buddhist scrolls and thankas. This fact belies the earlier myth that would have us believe that kesar was not known prior to Lalitaditya's reign.
- (transitive, rare) To call a liar; to accuse of falsehood. [from 17th c.]
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Jeremiah 5:12, column 1:
- They haue belyed the Lord, and ſaid; It is not he, neither ſhall euill come vpon vs, neither ſhal we ſee ſwoꝛd noꝛ famine.
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- (transitive, rare) To fill with lies; to lie to.
- 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene iv], page 382, column 2:
- No, ’tis Slander, / Whoſe edge is ſharper then the Sword, whoſe tongue / Out-venomes all the Wormes of Nyle, whoſe breath / Rides on the poſting windes, / and doth belye All corners of the World.
- 2002 May 1, Bethesda Softworks, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, OCLC 986706305, Microsoft Windows, scene: Ashlander Informant:
- Three belied you, three betrayed you! One you betrayed was three times true! Lord Voryn Dagoth, Dagoth Ur, steadfast liegeman, faithful friend, bids you come and climb Red Mountain!
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- (transitive, perhaps nonstandard) To conceal the contradictory or ironic presence of (something).
- His calm demeanor belied his inner sense of guilt.
- 2013 August 31, Elizabeth Koh, “Fighting Pest, Farmers Find Strange Ally: A Drought”, in New York Times:
- The rosy outlook belies a struggle to achieve statewide eradication that has persisted since the insect first crossed the border from Mexico around 1892.
- 2019, Li Huang; James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, DOI:, page 8:
- At NIE the virtually monolingual linguistic landscape basically belies a quite different multilingual reality.
- (transitive, perhaps nonstandard) To show, evince or demonstrate (something) to be present, particularly something deemed contradictory or ironic.
- 1993, Carol A. Mossman, Politics and Narratives of Birth: Gynocolonization from Rousseau to Zola, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 28:
- A host of evidence is adduced by the accused, evidence whose sometimes self-contradictory nature belies a certain desperation
- 2016 August 3, Jeanne Marie Laskas, “Inside the Federal Bureau Of Way Too Many Guns”, in GQ Online:
- […] a low, flat, boring building that belies its past as an IRS facility […]
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- (obsolete) To mimic; to counterfeit.
- 1660, [John] Dryden, Astraea Redux:
- Which durſt with horſes hoofs that beat the ground / And Martial brass bely the thunders ſound.
- 1700, [John] Dryden, “Ceyx and Alcyone”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 228732415, page 373:
- The Shape of Man, and imitated beſt; / The Walk, the Words, the Gesture cou'd ſupply, / The Habit mimick, and the Mien bely […]
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Translations
to give a false representation
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to tell lies about
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to contradict or show to be false
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Anagrams
- Elbie