[ad. med.L. crēdibilitās, f. crēdibilis CREDIBLE: cf. F. credibilité (Academy’s Dict. 1694).] The quality of being credible; an instance or case of this.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., II. iv. § 1 (1845). Sith the ground of credit is the credibility of things credited; and things are made credible either by the known condition and quality of the utterer, or by the manifest likelihood of truth which they have in themselves.
1659. Pearson, Creed (1839), 4. The credibility of objects … is distinguishable … according to the different authority of the testimony on which it depends.
1663. Jer. Taylor, Fun. Serm. Abp. Bramhall. If this be not sufficient credibility in a matter of fact … then we can have no story credibly transmitted…. Then we may be as sure that Christ … is already risen as all these credibilities can make us.
1797. Bewick, Brit. Birds (1847), I. p. x. The extraordinary powers of the gizzard would exceed all credibility.
1883. Froude, Short Stud., IV. II. iv. 205. Christianity, Catholic and Protestant alike, rests on the credibility of the Gospel history.
