Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

True

True (trṳ), a. [Compar. Truer; superl. Truest.] [OE. trewe, AS. treówe faithful, true, from treów fidelity, faith, troth; akin to OFries. triuwe, adj., treuwa, n., OS. triuwi, adj., trewa, n., D. trouw, adj. & n., G. treu, adj., treue, n., OHG. gitriuwi, adj., triuwa, n., Icel. tryggr, adj., Dan. tro, adj. & n., Sw. trogen, adj., tro, n., Goth. triggws, adj., triggwa, n., trauan to trust, OPruss druwis faith. Cf. Trow, Trust, Truth.]

1. Conformable to fact; in accordance with the actual state of things; correct; not false, erroneous, inaccurate, or the like; as, a true relation or narration; a true history; a declaration is true when it states the facts.

2. Right to precision; conformable to a rule or pattern; exact; accurate; as, a true copy; a true likeness of the original.

Making his eye, foot, and hand keep true time. Sir W. Scott.

3. Steady in adhering to friends, to promises, to a prince, or the like; unwavering; faithful; loyal; not false, fickle, or perfidious; as, a true friend; a wife true to her husband; an officer true to his charge.

Thy so true, So faithful, love unequaled. Milton.

Dare to be true: nothing can need a lie. Herbert.

4. Actual; not counterfeit, adulterated, or pretended; genuine; pure; real; as, true balsam; true love of country; a true Christian.

The true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. John i. 9.

True ease in writing comes from art, not chance. Pope.

☞ True is sometimes used elliptically for It is true.

Out of true, varying from correct mechanical form, alignment, adjustment, etc.; — said of a wall that is not perpendicular, of a wheel whose circumference is not in the same plane, and the like. [Colloq.] — A true bill (Law), a bill of indictment which is returned by the grand jury so indorsed, signifying that the charges to be true. — True time. See under Time.

True, adv. In accordance with truth; truly. Shak.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.