Truth

Truth, n.; pl. Truths (#). [OE. treuthe, trouthe, treowpe, AS. treówð. See True; cf. Troth, Betroth.] 1. The quality or being true; as: — (a) Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been; or shall be.

(b) Conformity to rule; exactness; close correspondence with an example, mood, object of imitation, or the like.

Plows, to go true, depend much on the truth of the ironwork. Mortimer.

(c) Fidelity; constancy; steadfastness; faithfulness.

Alas! they had been friends in youth, But whispering tongues can poison truth. Coleridge.

(d) The practice of speaking what is true; freedom from falsehood; veracity.

If this will not suffice, it must appear That malice bears down truth. Shak.

2. That which is true or certain concerning any matter or subject, or generally on all subjects; real state of things; fact; verity; reality.

Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor. Zech. viii. 16.

I long to know the truth here of at large. Shak.

The truth depends on, or is only arrived at by, a legitimate deduction from all the facts which are truly material. Coleridge.

3. A true thing; a verified fact; a true statement or proposition; an established principle, fixed law, or the like; as, the great truths of morals.

Even so our boasting . . . is found a truth. 2 Cor. vii. 14.

4. Righteousness; true religion.

Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. John i. 17.

Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth. John xvii. 17.

In truth, in reality; in fact. — Of a truth, in reality; certainly. — To do truth, to practice what God commands.

He that doeth truth cometh to the light. John iii. 21.

Truth, v. t. To assert as true; to declare. [R.]

Had they [the ancients] dreamt this, they would have truthed it heaven. Ford.