[a. F. confronte-r in same senses, = Pr. and Sp. confrontar, It. confrontare, med.L. confrontāri (12th c.), f. L. con- together + front-em forehead, face. Cf. AFFRONT.]
† 1. intr. To adjoin with a mutual frontier; to border upon (also against). Obs. [med.L. confrontāri cum, F. confronter à.]
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 113. Phrygia … confronteth on the North side vpon part of Galatia.
1611. Speed, Theat. Gt. Brit., xiii. (1614), 25/1. The North [of Sussex] confronts upon Surrey and Kent … Wiltshire … upon the West is confronted against partly by Glocester, and the rest by Somersetshire.
1614. [see CONFRONTING ppl. a.].
2. trans. To stand or come in front of (any one); to stand or meet facing, to face. (Often with a shade of sense 3.) Also fig. of things.
a. 1568. Regent Murray, in H. Campbell, Love-lett. Mary Q. Scots (1824), App. 46. February … 9, she confronted the King and my Lord of Halyruidhouse.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 367. We foure indeed confronted were with foure In Russia habit: Heere they stayed an houre And talk’d apace.
1863. Holland, Lett. Joneses, xi. 159. Many a man on reaching wealth has found himself confronted by the great problem of his life.
1883. G. Lloyd, Ebb & Flow, II. 98. She was confronted by Frank’s original crayon sketch of her.
b. To front or face in situation.
1610. Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God, 299. Magna Grecia … confronteth the Hadriatique sea.
1611. Coryat, Crudities (1776), I. 220. There are two very goodly and sumptuous rowes of building … which doe confront each other.
3. esp. To face in hostility or defiance: to present a bold front to, stand against, oppose. lit. and fig.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., IV. iv. 3. Was euer seene An Emperour in Rome thus ouerborne, Troubled, Confronted thus.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, V. 637. He spoke, and then confronts the bull.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., 245. This [i.e., Difficulty] it has been the glory of the great masters in all the arts to confront, and to overcome.
1840. Macaulay, Clive, 48. The little band of Frenchmen, who alone ventured to confront the English. Ibid. (1848), Hist. Eng., I. 91. John Hampden … had the courage to step forward, to confront the whole power of the government.
b. To face as accuser or as a witness in a trial.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia (1655), II. 170. Hee seeing himself confronted by so many (like a resolute Orator) went not to denial, but to justifie his cruel falshood.
1681. Trial S. Colledge, 103. Ld. Chief Justice. Is this man sworn? Mr. Att. Gen. Yes. L. C. J. Now call Bolron to confront him.
1737. Hist. of Clorana, 156. I challenge you to confront me, to prove our Innocence.
1767. S. Paterson, Another Trav., I. 461. An Irish officer … would have confronted me at last, that I had never been there at all.
1818. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. V. ii. 377. Mr. Hastings, instead of choosing to confront his accuser … resisted enquiry.
c. fig. Said of things.
a. 1600. Hooker, Eccl. Pol. (1604), IV. 192. In these two things the East & West churches did interchangeably both confront the Iewes, and concur with them.
1605. Camden, Rem. (1637), 32. His devise … that Tyranne Custome hath so confronted that it will never be admitted.
1713. Derham, Phys.-Theol., III. iv. (R.). It is fitter … to be … jealous of our own judgment, when it thus confronteth infinite wisdom.
1736. Butler, Anal., II. vii. Wks. 1874, I. 253. This evidence may be confronted by historical evidence on the other side.
† d. intr. (Const. against.) rare.
1612. R. Sheldon, Serm. St. Martin’s, 58. Let Leo an Ancient Pope confront against these latter Pontificians.
1643. R. O., Man’s Mort., v. 40. Now … to resolve all occurrent Objections thereon, as shall confront.
4. trans. To bring together face to face; to bring (a person) face to face with (a person or thing); esp. an accused and his accusers, or the different witnesses in a trial, for examination.
1627. Lisander & Cal., VII. 112. Berontus being come … was … confronted with Clarinda.
1678. trans. Gaya’s Art of War, II. 41. [The Provost Marshal] brings in Inditements, interrogates and confronts the witnesses.
1709. Steele & Addison, Tatler, No. 103, ¶ 10. Confronting him with several Witnesses.
1783. Burke, Rep. Affairs India, Wks. XI. 130. When and where the parties might be examined and confronted.
1843. Prescott, Mexico, VI. ii. (1864), 342. When his forces were one day confronted with those of the enemy.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 527. To send a man to the gallows as a traitor, without confronting him with his accusers.
b. To set (a thing) face to face or side by side with another for purposes of comparison, etc.
1613. R. C., Table Alph. (ed. 3), Confront, oppose, compare one to another.
1641. Milton, Prel. Episc. (1851), 92. Confronting, and parallelling the sacred verity of Saint Paul with the offals and sweepings of antiquity.
1790. Paley, Horæ Paul., i. 5. To enable us … to confront them [different accounts] one with another.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 174. The old order of things makes so poor a figure when confronted with the new.
5. To cause to front, to place (a thing) fronting or facing to.
1848. J. H. Newman, Loss & Gain, 368. He still confronted it [a crucifix] to Dr. Kitchens, while he kept it out of Dr. Kitchens’s reach.
† b. To set in contrast or opposition to. Obs.
1649. Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., ix. 26. ‘A casting off the works of darkness’ … to it he confronts ‘making provision for the flesh.’
1673. Lady’s Call., I. § 2. 12. After the mention of all the exquisit and costly deckings of art, this one ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is confronted to them.
