Forms: 1 lyʓe, liʓe, 3–4 leȝe, leye, lighe, liyhe (pl. leis), 3–5 legh(e, 4 lyȝe, 4–8 lye, 5–6, 9 (Sc. and north. dial.) lee (pl. lees, 6 leis), 5 le, 5, 7 ly, 6 Sc. ley, 4– lie. [OE. lyʓe str. masc. = OHG. lug (MHG. luc, inflected lug-; mod.G. lug):—OTeut. type *lugi-z, f. *lug- wk.-grade of *leug-, OE. léoʓan: see LIE v.2 Cf. the synonymous OHG. lugîn fem. (MHG., mod.G. lüge), ON. lygi fem. The formal identity between the sb. and the vb. is a result of convergent sound-change. In northern dialects the plural lees is liable to confusion with LEASE sb.2]
1. An act or instance of lying; a false statement made with intent to deceive; a criminal falsehood. Phrase, to tell († formerly to make) a lie. † Also, without lie, no lie, truly (often as an expletive in ME. poetry; cf. without fable).
In mod. use, the word is normally a violent expression of moral reprobation, which in polite conversation tends to be avoided, the synonyms falsehood and untruth being often substituted as relatively euphemistic.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., III. xiv. [xix.] (1890), 212. An is ærest lyʓes [v.r. liʓes] fyr [L. unum (sc. ignem) mendacii].
a. 1000. Cædmon’s Christ & Satan, 53 (Gr.-Wülk. II. 525). Þu us ʓelærdæst þurh lyʓe ðinne.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter v. 7. That lighe [MS. Harl. liyhe] spekes leses tou mare and lesse. Ibid., lviii. 13. Of legh, and of cursinge, Sal þai be schewed in endinge.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 13941 (Cott.). Sal yee na leis here o mi toth.
c. 1300. Havelok, 2117. Mo þan an hundred, with-uten leye.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (Rolls), 10587. Of Arthure ys seid many selcouþ … Al ys nougt soþ, ne nought al lye.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, xxvi. 18. A wicked spekere delited is in his leghe.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 304. Much to blame … Þat louez [read leuez] oure lorde wolde make a lyȝe.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., Prol. 12. Men schal nat wenyn euery thyng a lye For that he say it nat of ȝore a-go.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 12594. Thies foure in hor falshode had forget a lie.
c. 1470. Harding, Chron. VII. vii. Iubiter gate Dardanus no lee.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lix. 13. [Who] in my name all leis recordis.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, xlvi. 155. Oberon neuer as yet made any lye to you.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., III. iv. 74. And twentie of these punie lies Ile tell.
a. 1618. Raleigh, Mahomet (1637), 146. He was never known to make a Ly.
a. 1651. Calderwood, Hist. Kirk (1843), II. 153. They doe receave but the lees of men for the truthe of God.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., I. xi. 51. Able to make a man both to believe lyes, and tell them.
1727. De Foe, Hist. Appar., i. (1840), 11. Sarah was the first … that ever told God a lie to his face.
a. 1764. Lloyd, Ep. to C. Churchill, Poet. Wks. 1774, I. 88. Shrewd Suspicion … To truth declar’d, prefers a whisper’d lye.
1791. Boswell, Johnson, an. 1781 (1848), 670/1. Johnson had accustomed himself to use the word lie, to express a mistake or an errour in relation … though the relater did not mean to deceive.
1796. Nelson, 24 July, in Nicolas, Disp. (1846), VII. xciii. The lie of the day is, that Archduke Charles has requested an Armistice, which the French General positively refused.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxi. For they were queer hands the monks, unless mony lees is made on them.
1820. Coleridge, Lett., Convers., etc. I. 119. I am almost inclined to reverse the proverb and say ‘What every one says must be a lie.’
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xx. 339. It was perhaps a lie invented by political malignity.
b. White lie: a consciously untrue statement that is not considered criminal; a falsehood rendered venial or praiseworthy by its motive.
1741. in Gentl. Mag., XI. 647. I am told that a certain Lady of the highest Quality next to Royalty, makes a judicious Distinction between a white Lie and a black Lie. A white Lie is That, which is not intended to injure any Body in his Fortune, Interest, or Reputation, but only to gratify a garrulous Disposition and the Itch of amusing People by telling Them wonderful Stories.
1785. Paley, Mor. Philos. (1818), I. 187. White lies always introduce others of a darker complexion.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, xxxiv. All lies disgrace a gentleman, white or black.
1857. C. Reade (title), White Lies.
c. transf. Something grossly deceptive; an imposture.
1560. Bible (Geneva), Ps. lxii. 9. Yet the children of men are vanitie, the chief men are lies [1611 men of high degree are a lie].
1649. Bp. Reynolds, Hosea, iv. 59. The very formality of an Idol is to be a lye, to stand for that which it is not.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XI. v. How is it possible for a Man to maintain a constant Lie in his Appearance [etc.]?
1842. Miall, in Nonconf., II. 177. Homage the most indirect paid to the state church is … the worship of a lie.
1851. Ruskin, Stones Ven. (1874), I. i. 28. The sculptor of this base and senseless lie [the Vendramin statue].
2. To give the lie (to): to accuse (a person) to his face of lying. Also transf. of facts, actions, etc.: to prove the falsity of, to contradict (appearances, professions).
1593. Abp. Bancroft, Daung. Posit., I. iii. 13. They gaue the Queene the lie.
1599. H. Buttes, Dyets drie Dinner, C ij. Though Galen saith,… yet experience gives him the lye.
1610. Shaks., Temp., III. ii. 85. Giue me the lye another time.
c. 1600. Raleigh, The Farewell, 6. Go, since I needs must die, And give them all the lie.
1638. R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. II.), 83. Tertullian … therein gives the lie to all antiquitie.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 99, ¶ 7. The great Violation of the Point of Honour from Man to Man, is giving the Lye.
1768. [W. Donaldson], Life & Adv. Sir B. Sapskull, II. 110–1. He was continually telling her she did not eat at all …. but she gave him the lie for his civility, by assuring him she eat very hearty.
1805. T. Lindley, Voy. Brasil (1808), 115. Replies … that nearly gave the lie to his pretended superior knowledge.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxvi. Francis the First, and the Emperor Charles, gave each other the lie direct.
1856. Reade, Never too late, xxiv. Am I to understand that you give Mr. Hawes the lie?
b. Hence occas. the lie is used for: The action of giving the lie; the charge of falsehood.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., IV. i. 66. That Lye, shall lie so heauy on my Sword, That [etc.].
1600. Rowlands, Lett. Humours Blood, iii. 61. Astronomers … By common censure somtimes meete the lie.
1705. Hickeringill, Priest-cr., I. (1721), 17. The other gives him the Lye … and follows his Lye with a Stab.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., III. § 2. He abhors to take the Lye but not to tell it.
3. attrib. and Comb.; chiefly objective, as in lie-giving, -hater, -monger, -teller, -writer; lie-consuming adj.; † lie-bill nonce-wd., a distortion of LIBEL sb.; lie-tea, said to be a transl. of the name given by the Chinese to teas colored for the European market.
1620. Melton, Astrolog., 61. Pasquil and Morphirius, on whose brests were written no *Lie-Bills, as the Popes called them, but True-Bills of their villanies.
1822. Shelley, Hellas, 985. Thy *lie-consuming mirror.
1848. Thackeray, Bk. Snobs, xxxix. *Lie-givings, challenges, retractations.
1900. York Powell, in St. George, III. 66. We at least will be a people of truth-lovers and *lie-haters.
1830. G. P. R. James, Darnley, xxxiv. The tales that were circulated by the *liemongers of the court.
1876. A. H. Hassall, Food, 114. This article has received the name of *‘lie-tea’ because it is spurious, and, for the most part, not tea at all.
1552. Huloet, *Lye teller, or liynge knaue or queane.
a. 1641. Bp. Mountagu, Acts & Mon. (1642), 215. The end and purpose of the lye-teller.
1863. N. & Q., 3rd Ser. III. 300. We would advise him to give more attention to the contemporary libellers and *lie-writers.
