adv. Forms: 1 forsoóð, 3–4 forsoþ(e, 4 south. vorzoþe, 3–6 forsoth(e, (3 forsotht(h, 4 for-suth, 4 forsoothe), 4–5 Sc. for-suth, (4 Sc. fursuth, 5 for-sute, Sc. -suith), 6 forsouth, (Sc. -soith), 6– forsooth. [OE. forsóð, f. FOR prep. + sóð, SOOTH sb., written as one word.]
1. † a. In truth, truly. Also in phrase, forsooth to say, forsooth and forsooth (cf. verily, verily), forsooth and God. Obs. b. Now only used parenthetically with an ironical or derisive statement.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xiv. § 3. Wite þu forsoþ þæt nan ȝod ne deraþ þam þe hit ah.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 88. Auh forsoðe so hit is.
c. 1300. Harrow. Hell, 40.
| He nam him the right way | |
| Vnto helle for soþe to sei. |
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XVII. 303. And when a man swereþ for soþ · for soþ he hit troweþ.
c. 1481. Plumpton Corr., 42. For sute, madam, I lost all that I payd for him.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., Pref. 2. Forsothe and god, this hath moued me at the highe comaundement of my moost redouted souerayne lorde kynge Henry the viii. kyng of Englande.
1547. Homilies, I. Of Faith (1859), 43. He confirmeth with a double oath, saying, Forsooth and forsooth I say unto you, He that believeth in me hath everlasting life.
1642. R. Carpenter, Experience, I. xiv. 107. After every word, even when they speake to young greene Boyes, they come with, yes forsooth, and no forsooth; their Caps being off, and a courteous forme of duty expressed: and forsooth, with, yes pray if you please, and no forsooth pray.
1667. Pepys, Diary, 25 March. By and by comes Mr. Lowther and his wife and mine, and into a box, forsooth, neither of them being dressed, which I was almost ashamed of.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 79, 31 May, ¶ 9. She has no Secrets, forsooth, which should make her afraid to speak her Mind, and therefore she is impertinently Blunt to all her Acquaintance, and unseasonably Imperious to all her Family.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France, I. 109. A friend shewed me one evening from my own box at the opera, fifty or a hundred low shop-keepers wives, dispersed about the pit at the theatre, dressed in men’s clothes, per disimpegno as they call it; that they might be more at liberty forsooth to clap and hiss, and quarrel and jostle, &c.
1809–10. Coleridge, The Friend (1865), 202. He reproaches me with treachery, because forsooth I had not sent him a challenge!
1842. Browning, Waring, I. ii.
| How, forsooth, was I to know it | |
| If Waring meant to glide away | |
| Like a ghost at break of day? |
1863. P. Barry, Dockyard Econ., 165. Reserve forsooth!
1880. Mrs. Forrester, Roy & Viola, I. 21. A very happy couple we should have made, forsooth!
2. quasi-sb. An act of saying forsooth.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 266, 4 Jan., ¶ 4. Her innocent forsooths, yes’s, and ’t please you’s and she would do her Endeavour, moved the good old Lady to take her out of the Hands of a Country Bumkin her Brother, and hire her for her own Maid.
Hence Forsooth sb., one who uses the word frequently, an affected speaker. Forsooth v. trans. to say ‘forsooth’ to, treat ceremoniously.
1604. B. Jonson, Penates, Wks. (Rtldg.), 541/1.
| I’ll never fear you, for being too witty, | |
| You sip so like a forsooth of the city. |
1660–1. Pepys, Diary, 16 Jan. The sport was how she had intended to have kept herself unknown, and how the Captaine (whom she had sent for) of the Charles had forsoothed her, though he knew her well and she him.
