| lie (l n.
v. lied, ly·ing, (l
v. tr.
Idiom:
[Middle English, from Old English lyge. See leugh- in Indo-European Roots.]
|
lie \Lie\ (l[imac]), n. [AS. lyge; akin to D. leugen, OHG. lugi, G. l["u]ge, lug, Icel. lygi, Dan. & Sw. l["o]gn, Goth. liugn. See Lie to utter a falsehood.] 1. A falsehood uttered or acted for the purpose of deception; an intentional violation of truth; an untruth spoken with the intention to deceive.
The proper notion of a lie is an endeavoring to deceive another by signifying that to him as true, which we ourselves think not to be so. --S. Clarke.
It is willful deceit that makes a lie. A man may act a lie, as by pointing his finger in a wrong direction when a traveler inquires of him his road. --Paley.
2. A fiction; a fable; an untruth. --Dryden.
3. Anything which misleads or disappoints.
Wishing this lie of life was o'er. --Trench.
To give the lie to. (a) To charge with falsehood; as, the man gave him the lie. (b) To reveal to be false; as, a man's actions may give the lie to his words.
White lie, a euphemism for such lies as one finds it convenient to tell, and excuses himself for telling.
Syn: Untruth; falsehood; fiction; deception.
Usage: Lie,
Untruth.
A man may state what is untrue from ignorance or misconception; hence,
to impute an untruth to one is not necessarily the same as charging him
with a lie. Every lie is an untruth, but not every untruth is a lie. Cf.
Falsity.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
lie n 1: a statement that deviates from or perverts the truth
[syn: prevarication]
2: position or manner in which something is situated v 1: be located or
situated somewhere; occupy a certain position 2: be lying, be prostrate;
be in a horizontal position; "The sick man lay in bed all day"l
"the books are lying on the shelf" [ant: stand,
sit] 3:
originate (in); "The problems dwell in the social injustices in this
country" [syn: dwell,
consist,
belong,
lie
in] 4: be and remain in a particular state or condition; "lie
dormant" 5: tell an untruth; pretend with intent to deceive; "Don't
lie to your parents"; "She lied when she told me she was only
29" 6: have a place in relation to something else: "The fate
of Bosnia lies in the hands of the West"; "The responsibility
rests with the Allies" [syn: rest]
7: assume a reclining position; "lie down on the bed until you feel
better" [syn: lie
down] [ant: arise]
8: assume a resting position, as on a flat surface
Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University
lie an intentional violation of the truth. Lies are emphatically
condemned in Scripture (John 8:44; 1 Tim. 1:9, 10; Rev. 21:27; 22:15).
Mention is made of the lies told by good men, as by Abraham (Gen. 12:12,
13; 20:2), Isaac (26:7), and Jacob (27:24); also by the Hebrew midwives
(Ex. 1:15-19), by Michal (1 Sam. 19:14), and by David (1 Sam. 20:6). (See
ANANIAS.)
Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary